I can't speak to the viability of these comments from a business perspective, but from a TV viewer point of view, his fan-forward attitude is a definite outlier, and is wildly welcomed because of that. Shows like Legends of Tomorrow and iZombie likely wouldn't have lasted their entire first seasons on the other broadcast networks - CBS giving up Supergirl was a sign, too - but The CW executives understand that giving people what they want is important, even if that group of people isn't as big as those who watch other networks. Plus, none of those other networks have Darryl and White Josh, so they all lose anyway.