Commentary

CW Gets More Specific With Its Young-Minded Brand

Is the CW darker, more seductive, and perhaps more adult? That's what a new brand campaign and image for the young-skewing broadcast network seems to be about.

The campaign, called "TV Now," aims to bring more young people to the CW airwaves and other media destinations. Begining next month, the campaign offers a set of new TV-wise adjectives -- "seducTV," "suggesTV," "prescripTV" and "provocaTV."

A one-minute, 20-second network brand trailer with some bopping music shows off a number of CW series characters in different states of action.  "Vampire Diaries" is featured by showing different ways to screen episodes -- on a tablet, phone and computer. At the end of the spot, the words "CW" and "TV Now" are joined by the words "Facebook," "Twitter" and "iTunes."

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As the seemingly most digital-savvy broadcast network -- 7% of its TV viewers also watch its shows online -- CW's "TV Now" replaces its more cumbersome "TV To Talk/Text/Tweet About." The focus on TV is good. The campaign doesn't pretend to avoid the “other screen” issue -- it's assumed, since CW's viewers are already heavy multitaskers.

The road for the CW hasn't been easy. It has not been profitable for its entire existence. But now, with a big programming deal in which its shows will be seen on Netflix after their initial airings, executives from co-owners CBS and Warner Bros say CW will be a profitable venture.

The CW continues to seek the right programming levels and attention. Under traditional TV measurement, the network was down more than 20% in its key 18-34 viewing demographics during the past season.

All of which leads to a big question: Should we care anymore about this metric when it comes to the CW?

There is a sense that what has happened to the CW will happen to more general interest broadcast networks. Will they be loss leaders -- marketing vehicles for other ancillary parts of a more profitable television business?

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