CW shows won't automatically go to Netflix anymore

Deadline

Netflix exposure has had a huge impact on CW shows, boosting interest in everything from Supernatural to Riverdale. "There was a 147 percent increase in terms of new season premiere," CW president Mark Pedowitz said last year of the Netflix effect on Riverdale's second season premiere. In fact, the original billion-dollar CW-Netflix deal in 2011 -- which was re-upped in 2016 -- may have saved the money-losing upstart network. Deadline reports The CW-Netflix deal isn't being renewed. "The deal ending doesn’t mean new CW series won’t end up on Netflix, where CW shows have traditionally been among the strongest performers," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "The SVOD service just won’t get them automatically via an output deal; instead, it will have to bid for each show in a far more competitive environment than the streaming marketplace in 2016. Past seasons of CW series that premiered through the current 2018-2019 season, like The Flash and Riverdale, will continue to stream on Netflix during the broadcast life of the series and beyond. I hear WBTV’s Batwoman is earmarked for the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming service. Its chief creative officer Kevin Reilly has been open about bringing new WBTV-produced CW shows to the service once the Netflix deal is up, saying in February that 'we’re very interested in putting that on our platform.' Katy Keene and Nancy Drew are both being shopped, with Netflix said to be among the contenders."