CW Seed And The Promise Of Free Streaming: Digital Chief Rick Haskins Talks About The Future Of The Animated Arrowverse And More

As a general rule, broadcast television has a complicated relationship with streaming. Though several big-name shows have been made available on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, if you’re a cord cutter and want to watch these shows from the source, you’ll probably need a cable log in or in CBS All Access’ case another costly streaming service entirely. It’s in this landscape that the CW’s embrace of all things streaming stands out. Not only does the CW have a prominent deal with Netflix that ensures new seasons of its shows hit the streaming service soon after the season ends, the network also has the CW app and the CW Seed, two viewing options that give fans access to the latest episodes of their favorite shows. And it’s all free.

The CW app is where fans can catch up on the latest episodes of top CW shows like Riverdale and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend all without a cable log in, but the CW Seed stands as one of the most underrated gems of the streaming world. The app features classic series like Dynasty, MADtv, Max Headroom, and Pushing Daisies, older CW and WB shows like The Secret Circle and Everwood, and original series like Vixen, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, and the upcoming Constantine all on one free to watch platform. Originally formed as a production arm of the CW, CW Seed branched out to become its own site in 2014. Since then, the streaming platform has launched 19 originals, some of which have even crossed over into the world of its parent channel.

Decider spoke to the CW’s Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital Programs Rick Haskins about the successes the streaming service has seen, its goals for the animated Arrowverse, the specific challenges of creating content for a millennial audience, and the platform’s plans for the future.

“Our most successful shows have been our DC animated product,” Haskins revealed. “First with Vixen and then in December we launched [Freedom Fighters: The Ray]. It was way, way above our expectations in terms of viewers, and when we launched, it was the No. 1 watched show on the CW Seed platform, even exceeding for instance, the full episodes of Everwood and our acquired side.”

Besides the audience The Ray has attracted, what makes the animated series remarkable is that it features an openly gay superhero in its leading role. “The Ray doesn’t give his full powers until he accepts who he is a a person. And I think that’s such a strong, powerful message and for us to be able to tell it — an animated DC comic — is just great,” he said.

However, The Ray certainly doesn’t mark the end of the CW Seed’s exploration into DC comics. There’s a lot more to come. “So with The Ray, we did the first season in December. We’re launching the second half of that probably in first quarter of 2018. That’s going to be another six episodes, which we’re very excited about. And then sticking with the DC comics, we’re going to be launching Constantine animated series probably in second or third quarter,” Haskins said.

One of the most interesting things the CW’s Arrowverse has done is blend CW Seed’s animated DC properties with the CW’s live action ones. After having her own show on the CW Seed for two seasons Vixen has now made appearances on both Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The Ray and Constantine have already started to continue this trend. Devoted Arrowverse fans have already met The Ray, who played a major role during the November’s crossover event, “Crisis on Earth-X.” “Constantine is going to be on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on Episode 3.10,” Haskins said. The live action version of the hero will be have a two-episode arc on the show.

Not only are these crossover events creatively exciting, but they’ve historically given the CW Seed a viewership bump. When asked what the bump looked like, Haskins said, “It’s hard to say, but definitely in the double digits from the network. You watch the next week, and you see a double digit bump in viewership.”

The Arrowverse isn’t the only CW show that’s led to an increase in viewers on CW Seed. Haskins revealed the platform has experimented with promoting I Ship It, the CW Seed’s rom-com musical, during the promo slot for episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. “We get a lot more viewership of that show, so I think they’re kindred spirits in that way,” he said.

The CW Seed has also given the network a way to more specifically cater to its audiences’ interests. So far, CW Seed has launched four docu-series about eSports competitions, and the streaming service has another one planned for the first quarter. “What we did was analyze the people that are watching the CW itself. And what we found is that we weigh over index on people that are game players and enthusiasts,” Haskins said. “There might be an interesting opportunity for us to bring eSports to broadcast network. So what we do now is that we do digital series, and then it all leads up to a hour hour special, which tends to be a finale or one of the games. Whether it be they play world combat in Justice League.”

“It’s based on what the needs of our audience were and see if we could take them from the TV network and move them over to CW Seed,” he said.

CW Seed works to keep the wants and habits of its very specific audience in mind. When asked about the what the user response has been to the platform, Haskins said that viewers like CW Seed because of its content and the manageable length of its originals. “They like it because they can commit themselves to very short period of time and see a complete series of complete episode and feel very satisfied versus a lot of places.”

“I think they also like the voice we have curated for Seed. It is hopefully relatable for that target audience — our average age is 26.,” he said. “We’re telling those stories that they are experiencing in their lives right now.”

When Decider’s Scott Porch spoke to Haskins in October of 2016, the executive vice president said that the CW Seed’s audience was evenly divided between male and female viewers. “It’s still the case. I think that I haven’t looked at it for a few months, but if anything it might be slightly more female now … 51/49,” he said. It may have marginally shifted.”

There are also specific challenges that come from catering to a millennial-focused audience. “I think that millennial audiences tend to be a little bit difficult. I think that they are a little bit spoiled. They want shows where they want, when they want, how they want it,” Haskins said. “And so we’re very cognizant of that and try to provide that service. So whether they’re on phone, whether they’re on tablet, or on a computer, they can pull up CW Seed and watch as much product as they want or smaller product, wherever and whenever they want.”

When asked how the CW’s deal with Netflix has affected the CW Seed, Haskins admitted he didn’t think it had an impact. “You know, I don’t think it has affected it,” he said. “I would say that they are a broad brand digital network and we are very narrow, and we’ve done that on purpose.”

Looking forward to future goals, Haskins said that he didn’t see the CW Seed app expanding to Playstation Vue or Sling TV at this point in time. “What we’re trying to do is work and build our relationships on those platforms that already exist,” he said.

However, fans of CW Seed have several new shows to look forward to in 2018. According to Haskins, the streaming service will be adding more classic shows to the platform. “We’ve got another five or six. Five shows that are going to be coming up first quarter that I don’t think we’ve announced yet but will shortly. We’re right now working through to figure out what the rest of the slate of the rest of the broadcast year is going to be,” he said. “This is part of our overall strategy — to reflect product that viewers or millenials watch growing up so they can rewatch it as well as providing new product.”

As for new originals, CW Seed has those too. “We’ve got Constantine. We’ve got The Ray. We’ve got Beerfest coming up. We’ve got another run of — no pun intended — Tough Mudder that we’re going to be doing, a five episode arc of a brand new race that’ll be first quarter. And then we are in development with a couple of other [shows] that I don’t think have been announced yet. But we’ve got probably another three or four that we’ll be developing and launching,” he said.

When asked about his plans for CW Seed in the new year, Haskins said, “What I would like to see is to continue to entertain the millennial audience in a way that is fun for them and entertaining for them, that we can do it sometimes like The Ray [by] providing meaningful messaging while they’re being entertained. But definitely it’s just letting them have a place they can know they get quality entertainment for free.”