Initial Thoughts
On October 10, 2012, the show Arrow , based on DC Comics Green Arrow , debuted on the broadcast network the CW with 4.14 million viewers and a 1.3 18-49 demo rating making it the largest premiere for the network since 2009. The development and broadcasting of Arrow were one of several maneuvers the network would make in the 2010s in response to a series of shifts in the American television industry. The 2010s saw the maturation of digital distribution, colloquially understood as “streaming,” through the popularization of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix. These new distribution lanes opened more ways to monetize television shows for studios and production companies. Digital distribution was also understood as an economic threat to the primary means of distribution, linear television (broadcast, cable, satellite), as audiences’ viewing habits began to measurably shift away from linear television. In response to these trends, the CW began a process of rem
