CW President on Gender-Balance Shakeup: ‘We’re Trying to Bring More Women Back’

TCA 2017: “We lost ‘Vampire Diaries’ and ‘Reign,'” Mark Pedowitz says about viewership ratio

Arrow The Flash Supergirl Crossover
The CW

Executives at The CW are still working to find the right balance between male and female viewers.

Network president Mark Pedowitz told reporters during the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour on Wednesday that The CW, which recently said goodbye to a few shows key to the female demographic, is currently a bit more male-centric than he would like.

“When I got here, we were 70 percent female, 30 percent male,” Pedowitz said. “We’re now 50/50. Our linear age is 47; our digital age is 25, so we’re young.”

“That’s why ‘Riverdale’ was very important to us — we lost ‘Vampire Diaries’ and ‘Reign,’” he said about attracting female viewers to the network now known for “Arrow” and other superhero programming.

Pedowitz pointed out that certain shows on the fall schedule should help to course-correct a bit: “‘Dynasty’ is important to us, ‘Life Sentence’ and ‘Valor’ have become important to us.”

Where does the network ultimately want to be? “I think a better mix is 55/45 female-to-male, so we’re trying to bring more women back,” Pedowitz said.

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