Despite their failure in ratings CBS has announced both Batwoman and Supergirl will be renewed for another season. Both shows have earned notoriety for their feminist agendas and outright abysmal writing. Making it hard to tell if the politics have put people off from the shows or the fact they’re just bad has put people off watching.
Supporters of the shows will argue their final showings in December give credence to the decision to renew the show for another season. Supergirl on December 8th saw its ratings nearly double from .871 million to a whopping 1.668 million. Batwoman saw a less impressive ratings increase from 1.008 the week before to 1.704 on December 9th. Clearly this demonstrates that support for the beleaguered shows has turned around and there is nothing but honey suckled futures ahead right?
Without looking at any extenuating data you wouldn’t be at fault for thinking that. What the supporters of those shows aren’t going to mention is CBS has the airing contract for the NFL who also ran their finals during that day. With 14 finals ran on the 8th and the Giants Vs the Eagles the next day, this brought in a lot of additional viewers that in all likely didn’t turn off the channel after the post game as they partied and socialized with their family and friends.
Before the boost in viewers from the games, Batwoman continued to see rating’s decline from a premier of 1.8 million in October to a disappointing 1.008 the week before episode 9 aired. Supergirl’s ratings would remain in flux the entire season hovering between nearly 1 million to just under .8 million viewers.
When the next episodes now paired together air on the 19th air we will see if the ratings continue their downward trajectory or if there is a native resurgence for the beleaguered shows. Though at this point the shows are likely being kept alive to avoid the hate mobs rather than for their profitability.