'Riverdale' Ratings Explode Among Young Viewers
by EG
Networks very often are cagey when it comes to putting their shows on streaming services. They negotiate for good deals, hold back episodes to generate demand, and sometimes go as far as creating their own streaming services for their content. But The CW tried something different with some of its content over the summer. The network put the just-ended seasons of its series on Netflix so that viewers could binge on all the episodes right away.
The strategy appears to have paid off, especially for one new series. Riverdale, the dark teen drama based on characters from the Archie comics, The series was a moderate success during its first season on the network, but it caused a much bigger stir when it hit Netflix. Even better for The CW, viewers followed the series from the streamer to its second-season premiere on the network last week. Ratings for the season premiere were up by more than half over those of the series premiere last year.
Riverdale, The CW's teen noir about those once-wholesome Archie comics characters, managed a feat no other returning series has accomplished this season: Live ratings for its Oct. 11 sophomore premiere grew an unprecedented 60 percent from its launch nine months earlier.
It's the first ironclad evidence of a linear windfall that broadcasters have hoped for since studios started making deals to put current series on streamers (Netflix, Amazon and Hulu) for the off-season.
As soon as Riverdale's first season concluded, all 13 episodes dropped on Netflix — where, sources say, it was a summer breakout. But that success presented an obstacle.
"Probably more people watched it on Netflix thinking it was a Netflix show," says The CW executive vp marketing and digital Rick Haskins. "Our real challenge was taking those viewers and moving them over to The CW."
Haskins and his team did that with a slightly bigger marketing campaign for a second-year show, one that hinged on the simple pitch that new episodes are "only" available on The CW and its app. Viewers appear to have gotten the message.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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