Batwoman Bound for TVNZ OnDemand
September 24, 2019 
8 Comments
One of the new US TV season’s highest profile shows, Batwoman, will be fast-tracked for streaming on TVNZ OnDemand.
The premiere also will be broadcast on TVNZ 2 the week of its October 7 launch but the series will continue only on TVNZ OnDemand.
Reports Variety about anticipation of the latest Gotham City variation: “If awareness of a new show were directly correlated to viewership, then The CWs Batwoman would be the biggest hit of the new fall TV season.
“According to two new studies, both exclusively obtained by Variety, Batwoman leads this fall’s crop of freshman broadcast series in terms of both viewers ‘aware’ of a show, and the ‘demand’ for a show.”
There was also high awareness of Nancy Drew (which will stream next month on Neon) Stumptown, Bluff City Law, Evil and Emergence (which streams from Wednesday on TVNZ OnDemand).
Says Variety: “The early awareness and interest in Batwoman and Nancy Drew are easy to explain: Both are based on well-known franchises, which give them a leg up with consumer recognition in a cluttered marketplace.”
One of the studies it cites is by Parrot Analytics, which showed demand for Batwoman is more than three times the market average for a fall premiere.
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September 24, 2019 at 8:05 pm
I don’t see the point of broadcasting one episode on TV and then dumping it. They might as well lose the broadcast rights if they will not put it on TV. It defeats the purpose of getting the rights to it!! I am far better off to illegally download it.
Still missing in action of course is DC’s Doom Patrol. Any news, Phil?
Afraid not, Brian. There’s still no sign of its release in Australasia. DC Universe has it in the US if you have a VPN to access it and HBO Europe has licensed it. But like a number of other high-profile shows, including Paramount’s Kevin Costner hit Yellowstone, it still languishes for a platform here.
I suggest that you download it.
Agree with Wren, what’s the point of broadcasting the first 1-2 episodes of a series then bumping it to a totally different platform? There are genuine reasons some won’t be able to follow it streamed like lack of hardware, unsuitable tech knowhow or reliable broadband. It’s just mean to launch a series then take it away on purpose without even factoring in ratings that haven’t happened yet. They’d be better off not broadcasting it at all.
Julian and Wren make good points. But from TVNZ’s perspective, this is a chance to drive OnDemand traffic and test the series online before committing to a primetime run. Superhero series have a poor track record on TVNZ 2, with the last Batman series, Gotham, being relegated to late-night after the first season tanked on Sunday nights. With this stunt, TVNZ 2 can heighten interest in Batwoman without betting everything on another superhero punt that could be just a one-night wonder.
I was browsing TVNZ OnDemand and spotted Bob Hearts Abishola, it was the pilot and 20 mins long….wow…so it’s your typical American show with try hard jokes and laughter on demand, but what was more worrying was the actions of the lead guy – basically he turns into a stalker chasing this nurse, with quite disturbing predatory behaviour…what he did to pursue this woman was actually quite scary…all in the name of “comedy” – I’m surprised this got past the final approval at the US network.
I agree with Phil. This is TVNZ testing the water with a show that has great pre-awareness in the USA but will likely fail like all the DC content free-to-air here. It’s a great kickstarter for TVNZ On Demand and if the show does work it can always come back to TVNZ 2 or Duke. It’s a shame to see the content spread as wide as the Arrowverse with Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash and Supergirl on Sky 5, and on Neon except for Arrow (which gets delayed on Netflix) and Batwoman on TVNZ OnDemand possibly only with the brief window Pennyworth and Gotham had. It’s going to make Crisis on Infinite Earth’s a minefield come December if one falls behind in their viewing …