PAY WRITERS.

This isn't that complicated.

Hollywood Reporter has even higher numbers- the top earner is over 300 MILLION PER YEAR.

networks and streamers cancelling shows they *can't* afford is insane. they can't afford the shows they create, they underpay their writers, and yet they rake in profit and return it to shareholders: 

can someone please explain this shit? bc all i see is tptb cancelling beloved shows and crying poormouth then turning huge profits and caring more about money than the point of the business they're actually in:

they turn a profit by gutting their assets. 

Can't even complain about the clouds when I've got the telescope with me

Nexstar‘s third-quarter earnings reflected the soft TV advertising market, with political ad revenue down 85 percent from last year, and so-called “core” advertising revenue down 2.3 percent.

Similarly, The CW keeps losing money for the broadcast TV giant, though its losses continue to narrow quarter by quarter. The CW lost $60 million in Q3, down from $78 million last quarter.

Overall in Q3, Nexstar had revenue of $1.1 billion (down 10.8 percent from a year ago), and net income of $8 million, down more than 97 percent from a year ago, reflecting the robust political ad market in Q3 of last year.

In a comment, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said that reduced losses at The CW, ad spending for the 2024 presidential election, and an “improving economic environment” should turbocharge the company’s earnings over the coming months.

He also argued that the Disney-Charter deal and changing media environment could work to Nexstar’s benefit.

“Broadcast stations have the most watched television content, and we remain undercompensated for that viewership,” Sook said. “With our significant audience reach, the broadcast model remains the only and best way to maximize viewership – something that broadcast networks and sports organizations understand. We believe that recent changes in the television ecosystem brought on by the Charter/Disney agreement will have a further positive impact on our model by creating stability in our subscriber base and freeing up programming spend from derivative cable networks to be reallocated to premium content like ours. The terms of our recent distribution and affiliation agreements reflect this viewpoint and we are very pleased with the outcome.”

The CW, which Nexstar acquired last year, has been reprogramming its lineup, ordering fewer expensive scripted shows, and cutting deals for more unscripted and sports fare, including a deal with the WWE for NXT this week.

The company also picked up some college sports rights, NASCAR Xfinity Cup rights, and LIV Golf rights, among others.

If I'm interpreting this bit and the whole article correctly, it sounds like Walker's future on the CW is less of a performance issue and more of a CBS issue

Which means either the CW will be forced to pay a higher price for it or CBS will look at other options for airing it.

Once again, we'll just have to wait and see.

You bury our gays we bury your network etc. etc.

Also

RIGHT AFTER THE J2 FALLOUT 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The list they had of places to shop to: once cancelled, can a show go beyond that list? And have you heard any updates on whether the interest panned out or are we still in the dark? (If you just want to answer the first out front to avoid putting sources in an awkward spot, feel free to split the ask.)

So my source who said that Windy was done on CW before it was announced said that the reason was the writer's strike. Paramount+ had previously expressed interest, but TPTB at Windy can't formally shop it until CW officially canceled it. This is why I've been really annoyed at Nexstar dragging their feet, because if they had canceled some of these shows back when they first started talking about canceling them, these shows could have been shopped and maybe would have found other homes by now.

From my understanding, even if Paramount+ is interested, and I have heard that they are, the problem is due to the writer's strike, they have no idea when they will be able to film the series and that makes it hard (impossible?) for them to negotiate the contracts with actors because the strike could go on for months. They have to guarantee work, which they are unable to currently guarantee.

It will be incredibly hard for any of these new shows to earn a renewal on the CW, and if any of them are canceled, it is my understanding that it would be very very difficult for them to be picked up elsewhere, more so than usual. Since Paramount+ had previously expressed a lot of interest, and this show does make a lot of money, I do think it has a chance, but it sounds like that chance is slim.

What's crazy is that in any other year, the show would be renewed or be picked up. It's just that this year is really bad timing. Windy was my favorite show by far on the CW. It was the show most favored by TPTB in part because it was so artistic and creative, but even that wasn't enough to save them.

Whatever happens with Walker and Windy, I’m super proud of Jared for what he’s done and I have no doubt that he’ll keep producing and telling stories like he wants to.  

So, before anybody loses their shit

I told y'all repeatedly, do not expect a back order on this season, people were asking me and I told them, Nexstar is punching through their schedule to figure out what works. We had zero guarantee without even more shows getting actively cancelled, and nexstar operates different. Gotham and other new shit rotates in, in spring.

Now, at the end of the day, Windy's just dead. It's not gonna get a season 2.

Season 2 for Winchesters will be decided, essentially, based on market springback and retention throughout the year, and then we'll probably hear about it either near the end of the season or during upfronts.

There. You're welcome. Cleared it up for everyone.

Still can't believe The Flash, Nancy Drew and Riverdale have all ended this year. (Nexstar sucks!)

[x]

That article, from The Hollywood Reporter, is from October. I doubt things have changed drastically since then, and THR is also a reputable, large media outlet. (I cut off the bit about cw media age being 58, but the laughing and outrage over that was so misplaced...older people watch tv more than younger people. I don't care how "youth marketed" CW used to be, older people watch more tv than younger people. It's not weird).

If you google "18-49 demo" on google news you'll see 18-49 demo mentioned again, and again, and again in ratings news reports as "key" or "highly coveted" or as the most sought after demo, due to ad sales.

Fandom greatly misunderstands 18-49 demo, like, for example, certain accounts, like the supposed "itk" type I've screenshotted below, who yet again is trying to spin and massage ratings numbers so they can pretend that reality concerning tv ratings aren't reality, and then blame fans who actually pay attention and aren't playing biased games. From a tumblr user already thoroughly called out on their misinformation and wankbaiting, doxxing and lying:

Also a certain tv media site determined its network report cards by rounding demos, so that a .05 demo is the same as a .08 demo. And then "broke the tie" using number of viewers. Winding up with a very misleading ranking for CW Network shows.

Gosh gee I wonder where anyone got the idea that the 18-49 demo is actually important and that number of viewers might make for shiny pretty marketing copy but isn't the determiner for ad sales.

Be careful about listening to cynically spun misinformation. Do your own research, plug search terms into google news. Be wary of anyone who vaguely keeps talking about "my sources" this and "my sources" that and "source A, B, C said." They're also perpetually trying to shade the people who rely on actual information and/or direct knowledge of how the industry really works, who read respected media sites/expert commentaries and follow commonly accepted industry methodology.

Legacied grudgewank from spn standom and bad math designed to warp the narrative are a waste of time.

Ding, dong, The CW is dead.

They are 1D buying random your names

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/the-cw-losses-q3-nexstar-earnings-political-ads-fall-1235640323/

People celebrating this aren’t reading the article. Their earnings are actually improving since, last quarter, they lost $78 million and now it’s down to $60 million. The network is actually getting closer and closer to being profitable/making money. Of course, whether they can actually make it there is yet to be seen.

A lot of people in fandom don't understand how CW was run.

The TV ad revenue is "down overall 23% for the July-September quarter", but people are looking at the $60 million and thinking that they are down $60m compared to before when, as you point out, that number is better than Q1 or Q2.

Part of the reason that ad revenue was down is that they aired some flops. Those flops were cheaper than the scripted shows, which is why they are reducing their losses. As you continue into the article:

Nexstar’s core ad sales were $391 million in Q3, a decrease of 2.3% from the comparable year-ago quarter. Political ad sales fell 85.3% to $19 million from $129 million last year, when midterm elections spiked that categories revenue.

Next year, they should be able to making a killing on political ad sales. In California, I had nothing to vote on this year.

Total TV ad sales were $410 million, down 23% year-over-year from $529 million.

So you can see that this drop is actually better than average.

It remains to be seen if they will actually be able to turn a profit, but they are closer to their goal than they were a year ago.

Maybe someone will ask Jared about what’s going with Nexstar and The CW at RICC this weekend. 

What do you think of this news? deadline*com/2023/05/cbs-stations-eight-drop-cw-go-independent-this-fall-1235357388/

Not surprising, other than it happened quicker than I expected. CW is going to be fine, they'll just pick up new affliates in those markets. Nexstar is the largest owner of local tv stations (199), with 155 of them affiliated with the four national broadcasters: CBS (49), Fox (42), NBC (35), and ABC (29).