The Breakdown: CW Sunday in 2019-20 (Batwoman, Supergirl)

It's time for a journey through the CW Sunday schedule in 2019-20...

NOTE: In addition to classic A18-49+, Breakdown posts in 2019-20 also use CVPlus, comparing spring ratings against a higher league average due to viewership inflation from COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. See here for more.


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	37
	2018-19	38		38	36			36	37
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	35 (-4%)
	2019-20	41 (+6%)		40.5143374123995	30 (-15%)			30 (-15%)	35.4101370171696
VsAvg	+7%		0.0692719920564509	+15%		0.15129892159745	+10%
Rank	5/10		5/10	4/10		4/10	4/10

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	37
	2018-19	38		38	36			36	37
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	33 (-10%)
	2019-20	38 (0%)		38.1339924218166	29 (-20%)			29 (-20%)	33.3296798840147
VsAvg	+1%		0.0128116899702054	+9%		0.0910365191971764	+4%
Rank	6/10		6/10	4/10		4/10	4/10

The CW added yet another new show to its superhero stable in Batwoman, which showed some early life at 8/7c. However, relocated Supergirl was unable to keep up with the successful early part of Charmed's rookie season, keeping the nightly average on the slight downside.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	30
	2018-19	33		33	26			26	30
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	25 (-16%)
	2019-20	25 (-25%)		24.8904116050481	25 (-6%)			25 (-6%)	24.7620570499434
VsAvg	-23%		-0.227218346215304	-10%		-0.0957854340734125	-17%
Rank	8/10		8/10	5/10		5/10	7/10

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	30
	2018-19	33		33	26			26	30
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	23 (-21%)
	2019-20	23 (-29%)		23.4280214893087	23 (-11%)			23 (-11%)	23.3072081687836
VsAvg	-27%		-0.269304098832472	-14%		-0.144365290825339	-21%
Rank	8/10		8/10	7/10		7/10	9/10

The hourly dynamics flipped in the winter, as Batwoman lost a lot of steam while Supergirl got compared more favorably against a fast-weakening Charmed.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	26
	2018-19	32		32	20			20	26
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	18 (-29%)
	2019-20	20 (-38%)		19.7178774476501	17 (-14%)			17 (-14%)	18.2469237900554
VsAvg	-40%		-0.397549290599673	-31%		-0.312505045300752	-36%
Rank	8/10		8/10	9/10		9/10	8/10

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2018-19	Supergirl		Supergirl	Charmed		Charmed	26
	2018-19	32		32	20			20	26
2019-20	Batwoman		Batwoman	Supergirl		Supergirl	21 (-19%)
	2019-20	22 (-29%)		22.3728371342845	19 (-3%)			19 (-3%)	20.7038234840668
VsAvg	-32%		-0.321931290762864	-23%		-0.227090455111342	-28%
Rank	8/10		8/10	8/10		8/10	8/10

I have expressed many times this summer my reservations about using CVPlus for both the CW and for Sunday shows, and this is where both of those caveats merge! There was no real sign that the pandemic did anything for these shows' raw numbers, and so if you believe CVPlus, they took far bigger collapses than last year's pair, but Classic Plus shows similar trends in winter/spring.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Batwoman	0.1	0.26	0.6		31	marginal(CW)		detail
Supergirl*	0.1	0.22	0.6	-36%	27	marginal(CW)	-25%	detail

Batwoman: Very frontloaded, like Charmed a year ago, but in a world where the superhero empire is declining so rapidly, success for these shows is not necessarily a guarantee. A newbie ekeing out a 30 Plus leading off Sunday night still goes down as a decent result. Grade: B-.

Supergirl: Clearly on the decline like most of the network, but I'd say the move from 8:00 to 9:00 explains a decent chunk of it. The declines in DVR were much smaller. Grade: C.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Previous Breakdowns for CW Sunday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for CW Sunday.