Even CBS, which has plenty of experience attracting broad audiences, has been surprised by the early success of its upcoming series, Supergirl. In the first week that the trailer has been available, more than 10 million people have clicked to watch it, reports Adweek.

The early success of the trailer has caught CBS brass off guard. Execs at sibling network The CW, which has such shows as Arrow and The Flash, gave CBS a heads-up about the fandom that potentially awaited, but seeing is believing.

“We’ve never seen any reaction like this. What do we know? We do crime procedurals and Chuck Lorre sitcoms,” George Schweitzer, CBS’ marketing chief, told the magazine.

Supergirl comes from super-producer Greg Berlanti, who’s also producing DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for The CW and Blindspot for NBC this fall and also has Mysteries of Laura on NBC and Arrow and Flash on The CW. Berlanti, a long-time comic-book fan himself, is much more familiar with people’s passion for this kind of fare, but even he wasn’t prepared for the trailer to hit so big so fast.

“I wasn’t at upfronts, so I saw the trailer online when everyone else did,” Berlanti told AdWeek. “I was totally charmed, and incredibly excited it’s getting so much attention.”

That so many people have headed to YouTube to check out the trailer reveals a new reason why the annual upfronts remain important: viewers are as interested in what’s coming to TV as advertisers and they want to see the trailers too.

Supergirl doesn’t premiere until November, after CBS finishes with in-season NFL, so Schweitzer and his team have a little extra time to match the show’s marketing to this first long look.

“We want to make everyone excited and interested and looking forward to watching the show,” said Schweitzer. “So, this is just the beginning.”

Read More: AdWeek

Brief Take: Upfront trailers are no longer just for media marketers: They should all be considered the first piece in the larger campaigns to come.

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