The CW is reportedly not profitable despite its track record of successful long-running series. The television network started its life in 2006, following the elimination of The WB and UPN, both of which were created in 1995. The WB ran prominent shows including Seventh Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gilmore Girls, whereas UPN had less prime time material, though they did air Star Trek: Voyager, Veronica Mars, and Everybody Hates Chris.
After the merger, The CW remained committed to creating youth-oriented programming. Although some of its shows are notorious flops, including their one season remake of the 2000 film Frequency, they have scored some major wins with long-running series like Supernatural (which ran for 15 seasons and in fact began back when the network was still The WB) and the modernized Archie Comics series Riverdale, which is currently airing season 6. The CW is also the home of the Arrowverse, the interconnected universe of series based on DC Comics heroes that includes The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and - of course - Arrow.
Per THR, however, The CW has never been profitable since 2006, the very beginning. This news has come along with the potential sale of The CW by WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS. Evidently, the network's prospects have now weakened considerably with the end of their streaming deal with Netflix, sending their shows to less popular online homes like HBO Max and Paramount+. Those partners want to maintain their hold on foreign distribution rights, which were reportedly the main source of income for the network previously.
One thing that is important to note is that sometimes the way that studios measure profits is intentionally designed to be byzantine and difficult to parse out. For example, recently screenwriter Anthony McCarten sued the producers of Bohemian Rhapsody for his share of the profits because he had a back-end deal. Despite the movie making $911 million in the worldwide box office, they were still somehow reporting it as a loss. Although that exact situation is likely not what is happening here, it may account for some of the seeming discrepancies between the appearance of The CW and the reality.
It's difficult to know what's next for The CW. The splintering of its streaming content seems to have been catastrophic, though it's contractually locked in. For the network to survive, they will have to take major strides to prevent themselves from drowning, requiring themselves to rise to a height that they apparently haven't reached in their history of over 15 years.
Source: THR