Ad Rates and Ratings--CW 2017-18


If you missed it, AdAge has posted the ad rates for all fall shows and some midseason shows (click here to see them). In the case of The CW, only fall shows are listed. Between the ad rates and the shows listed, I have a few guesses as to what happens going forward.

First, though, it's important to put these ad rates into context; for convenience, here are the show's ad rates in terms of percentage of the average; meaning, if a show has a 120 next to it, its ad rate is 120% of the average show's ad rate on The CW.

Show
Relative Ad Rate
The Flash
171
Supergirl
138
Dynasty
105
Legends of Tomorrow
103
Arrow
103
Valor
98
Supernatural
94
Riverdale
90
Jane the Virgin
58
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
39

Riverdale's Boost Was Not Predicted
Riverdale premiered as The CW's #2 show last week, yet it's their #8 show in ad rates. Sure, maybe it will fall back down as more people revert to streaming it instead of watching it the day it originally airs, but for now it's certainly overachieving. While the network gave it a nice push over the summer, including making it readily available on Netflix, that 0.8 rating--which probably went up to a 0.9-1.0 in C3--was not predicted. 

Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are in a League of Their Own
Riverdale's #8 placement is still 32 percentage points ahead of Jane's #9 placement, which itself is way ahead of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Those types of numbers will probably translate to C3 projections of around 0.2 for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and 0.3 for Jane the Virgin. Renewals will likely depend on streaming numbers and other extraneous factors. 

Superheroes Still Rule, As Does Dynasty
The Flash is far and away the highest-priced CW show to place an ad, with Supergirl a distant but very respectable 2nd. Unless it sees big boosts between L+SD and C3, or rebounds, the latter may be subject to make-goods given it will be underperforming. Despite that, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow are looking fine, making for The CW's strongest night despite heavy competition from the other networks. Dynasty, though, is a bit more of a disappointment in L+SD ratings, and most certainly isn't living up to that ad rate at all.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

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