Supergirl’s ratings were down sharply again over the weekend. Batwoman’s Sunday episode didn’t do as bad as the April 26th edition but it didn’t do much better either. And Supergirl experienced a substantial dropoff in viewers compared to its compatriot programming and the previous week.
TV Series Finale reports Sunday’s episode of Batwoman scored 643k viewers, up from a “series low” but only slightly. Supergirl had a mere 607k tally. That’s a hefty drop from one hour to the next.
Adweek reported at the end of April, that streaming viewership was “nearly double the amount of minutes U.S. viewers were spending streaming a year ago.” They also report that TV viewership in the New York market increased over 20% in the middle of April compared to last year. New York wasn’t alone, other markets like Buffalo, Baltimore and Denver also saw around a 20% increase in TV viewership. The NFL draft and shows like The Price is Right, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, and Chicago Fire (as well as Med and PD) are seeing their biggest audiences in years and setting records.
Batwoman’s ratings began to fall steeply after Crisis on Infinite Earths and specifically after the episode “How Queer Everything Is Today!” aired. It’s been downhill from that ep’s 780k viewers – a dizzying drop compared to the pilot – ever since.
Hush makes his bandaged, two-gunned debut this Sunday which could turn things around for a week, but probably not.
Related: Do Poor Ratings Spell Doom for Comic Book Television?
The downward trend for Batwoman since late February shakes down as follows:
May 3 – 643k
Apr 26 – 634k
Mar 22 – 765k
Mar 15 – 749k
Mar 8 – 751k
Feb 23 – 815k
Supergirl’s woes look worse though it maintains a viewership above 600k for now:
May 3 – 607k
Mar 22 – 648k
Mar 15 – 676k
Mar 8 – 672k
Feb 23 – 663k
Kinda weird, in other news, Warner Bros. is rumored to be developing another solo Supergirl feature given these numbers. Forbes reported the film was supposed to go into production sometime in early 2020, but that didn’t pan out. Previously, Deadline reported a Supergirl film was in the works back in August 2018.
Related: Michael Shannon Talks Supergirl And If He Would Reprise His Role As General Zod
Both shows air back to back on Sundays and have been renewed despite the sagging ratings.
Conversely, for the sake of argument, it’s worth considering The CW targets a small younger audience more comfortable with streaming their favorite shows the next day.
The network is very generous when it comes to its app, its content, and the five-week window it provides people to watch a single episode.
What do you think of Supergirl and Batwoman’s slide in the ratings? Leave a comment.