dishonoronyourtauntaun:

I don’t watch the show but I’m seeing some panic of potential cancellation based on ratings vs. last year. Hopefully this explanation helps.



Let me open with: Supergirl has a 99% chance of being renewed. I’ll break down why.



1. Relative Ratings: Ratings only matter relative to other shows on a network. Since Supergirl was on CBS last year, the visible season-to-season ratings dip is expected because CBS, as a network, pulls in a ton more viewers than CW. There was absolutely no way Supergirl would keep the same numbers on CW that they had on CBS. CBS knew this going in.



2. The CW is co-owned by two companies: CBS [C] & Warner Brothers [W]. The network attempts to keep an equal amount of shows produced by each on the network. What that means is that roughly 50% of the CW is CBS produced shows, and 50% is WB. That also means, come cancellation, they try to keep that even spread. WB produces some of the highest ratings grabbers on the network: Arrow, Flash, Supernatural. CBS produces most of the lowest: Jane the Virgin, Crazy ex Girlfriend etc. What does this mean? This means a CBS produced show can have lower ratings than a WB produced show and get renewed while the higher-rated WB produced show is cancelled. Supergirl? CBS Produced.



3. Half of the CW lineup hasn’t aired yet. I can promise you most of those shows being held back are going to be the basement of CW ratings. The 100, Reign and iZombie had cancellable ratings last year and has CW not renewed everything they had, most of these would have been cancelled. Outcome? All of these will be on the chopping block before Supergirl.



Conclusion: Supergirl moved to Vancouver to cut costs and cut some acting contracts down to make the show more feasible on the smaller CW network. It’s cost is in line with Arrow and Flash, and it’s in the top of the CW. CBS has watched the top 3 shows on the CW go to WB every year, they want a winner. Supergirl is that winner for them. I hope this helps calm some fears of it’s cancellation, esp now that it’s got queer rep. The biggest Supergirl fear is not it’s cancellation but CW’s poor track record with killing off every LGBT character they can.