What Will Happen To The DC TV Arrowverse If The CW Is Sold?

With The CW up for sale, what is next for its popular Arrowverse franchise? Read on to find out more about the business of the sale, how this might affect programming, and the opportunities the Arrowverse might still offer to audiences, businesses, broadcasters  and advertisers alike. 

What is the Arrowverse? 

The Arrowverse is the fan-coined term to describe the universe of shows based on DC Comics, most of which were launched from Arrow. Though not all of these shows were originally set in the same universe - Supergirl for example, was originally aired on ABC, and so was introduced into the Arrowverse as being set on Earth-38 once the show moved to The CW - the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event condensed all the shows onto one earth, known as Earth-Prime. 

What survives of the Arrowverse? 

Due to actor's choosing to move on to new opportunities, Arrow ended its run a couple years ago, leaving behind many popular shows and unsuccessful pilots alike that it helped to show. The next longest running show is The Flash, which is expected to end its run in the near future. Similarly, Supergirl and Black Lightning have aired their final episodes, rounding up the narrative with utmost finality. 

However, not every show got to say the 'goodbye' that it deserves. Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman and Naomi were subjected to ruthless cancellations by The CW, shocking fans across the world. Newcomers Stargirl and Superman and Lois are all that remain of a once expansive universe - and even these shows have not been told if their next season will be their last.

The business implications, consequences, and opportunities of the sale

With the rise in streaming services, the owners of The CW are looking to escape from owning a terrestrial channel. As The CW has also reportedly not been profiting since its conception, it is only logical that the next step would be to sell the channel. 

The consequences of this, of course, has been the slew of cancellations of even the most popular TV shows. In the future, this will also mean that programming will most likely gear more towards cheap-and-cheerful shows for those people who haven't yet swapped over to streaming services. 

Of course, this can grant many opportunities for up-and-coming independent low budget TV shows, and keep the network going long enough to propose advertising opportunities for a variety of businesses. However, this is certainly not good news for what remains of the Arrowverse. 

How might the Arrowverse survive? Exciting advertising opportunities for businesses

As we mentioned before, streaming services are only increasing in popularity. In the UK alone, there are an estimated 50.1 million video-on-demand users - and that doesn't even take into account those who have multiple users on one account. 

The only solution, then, how the Arrowverse might survive is if it makes the move to streaming TV services. In addition to giving viewers what they are looking for, this also supports addressable TV advertising, which is an exciting prospect for businesses and broadcasters alike. 

As the Arrowverse already has a dedicated fanbase, advertisements played during these shows would have a guaranteed audience. And, as addressable TV advertising allows you to effectively target smaller demographics within this audience, and show them the ads most relevant to them, this increases the potential for conversion and ROI from these ad campaigns.