Arrow Ratings Hit Series Low While Fans Gush Over "The Promise"

"The Promise," last night's episode lauded as a favorite by the cast and crew, failed to deliver last night in the ratings as Arrow had an uncharacteristic misstep in the overnight numbers after a year of surprising success that yielded a number of ratings records and a spinoff. It's a scenario that we've seen a few times this year for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: a new episode, lauded by viewers as the best yet this year...and when the ratings come back the next morning, overnight estimates peg it as a series low. Last night, "The Promise" scored just an 0.7/2 in the 18-49 demographic and 2.19 million total viewers, down around 20% from the previous new episode last week.

It's a change of pace for the hit CW drama based on DC Comics's Green Arrow; the series has scored a number of new series highs this year. That said, it's arguably not particularly surprising considering some of what the show was up against last night. Quality of the episode being watched, after all, has little to do with the overnight ratings numbers.The degree to which Live+7 shows an improvement, as fans catch up via DVR and other means, will perhaps be more instructive as to audience response to this particular episode (that's often the argument with S.H.I.E.L.D.). It's possible, though, that last week's "Time of Death," which was not one of the best-received episodes in the show's history, might have played a role in dampening enthusiasm for this week's installment somewhat. Another factor could be spoilers; hardcore fans know they can watch on DVR or buy the episode elsewhere, and The CW's promotional campaign gave away nearly every plot point in the episode in their efforts to drive interest for last night's episode. Those who watched, though, came away with a much more enthusiastic take on the episode. Comments on our Facebook and Google+ pages were uniformly enthusiastic, and a follow-up story about next week's episode became one of the most popular posts we've ever done on Arrow.