Ratings Bubble Report: Will ‘Jane the Virgin’ have a home beyond season 2?
Over the next two days in our Ratings Bubble Report series, we’re going to specifically take a look at some very interesting test cases on The CW that are going to help us figure out where the network’s true priority lies. Are executives keeping shows around based primarily on ratings, or taking more gambles based on critical acclaim?
We’ll be talking about “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” tomorrow, but today we are keeping the focus more on a show in “Jane the Virgin” that was renewed in part last year thanks to both critical acclaim and a Golden Globe for star Gina Rodriguez.
The good news – Critics still love the show. Rodriguez may have lost the Globe this week, but she did still get a nomination, and plenty of people are still buzzing about the show. It generates great attention in the press, and also comes from a studio in CBS Television that The CW wants to have a good relationship with given that CBS is a partial owner of the network. This is something that has saved “Beauty and the Beast” and “Reign” in the past, in addition to live+3 and streaming data.
The bad news – The ratings are down versus season 1, and over 15% in the 18-49 demographic on average. This is about average for most other shows that we’ve profiled in this series, but “Jane” is a show that does not have nearly as much wiggle room as some others on the network. It probably needs to stay close to a 0.4 the rest of the way this season, since the trajectory for shows when it comes to critical acclaim is that it gets harder and harder to find it once newer shows come and steal some of the attention.
Renewal odds – Moderately high. It’s feasible that The CW sees a ratings drop and determines that the show isn’t as financially viable as others, but we cannot see them letting go of a star like Rodriguez and a show that gives them such quality and adds some much-needed diversity to their lineup, both in terms of genre and casting.
If you want to get some other news when it comes to “Jane the Virgin,” be sure to head over to the link here! Also, you can sign up now to score some other updates on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)