http://tvline.com/2016/10/06/arrow-ratings-season-5-premiere/
On a night when all but one broadcast program took a hit
A good indicator that it's more the night sucked than that Arrow did.
"Never wrestle with a pig. You get filthy and besides, the pig likes it." Cyrus Ching

Not surprising to me. I'm a guy who, once I start watching a show, will usually stay with it until the end of the line. But even I bailed on Arrow halfway through last season.
I didn't like the 3rd season at all but I stuck with it hoping the 4th season would rebound. It didn't, and I stopped watching somewhere around the time Felicity's "permanent" paralysis was cured like 2 episodes later. Obviously I wasn't alone.
I just stopped by this board to see if anyone was still watching.

Final adjusted ratings: 0.7 and 1.87 million viewers. Officially a series low.
YAY!

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I don't know how much ratings have to do with individual fan preferences, probably not much. But they did manage to piss off several of their fanbases recently, one way or another.

LMAO!! That would be hilarious.

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Not great. Lot going on - including playoff baseball in major markets, but still. Yikes.

""It should be noted one of the CW's strongest station(WGN in Chicago) dropped the network, wonder how much that factors into lesser ratings""
Yes, this has been an issue in Chicago. I remember WGN bumped the Season 3
finale
of Arrow to Sunday due to the Cubs playing that year. Then, Arrow was bumped again for episode 22 in Season 4. (very low ratings on that episode too according to wikipedia)
I am happy now that CW is independent from WGN. However, it was NOT well advertised that the CW was moved to UPN/channel 50 in Chicago. I found out the night of the FLASH premiere, which I normally do not even watch.
I am glad that Arrow is now in syndication on TNT. Honestly, I feel like this show is not promoted enough. But, I do hope ratings improve. It looks like a good season.

It should be noted one of the CW's strongest station(WGN in Chicago) dropped the network, wonder how much that factors into lesser ratings

The Flash is not 'suffering'. Being 0.1 down from season to season is a pretty strong hold in the current tv landscape. Dropping 0.4 point on the other hand is not good. However, I think it will be adjusted up because I believe it was preempted in certain areas due to hurricane coverage.

For the sake of argument Gotham is getting pretty bad ratings for Fox standards. My guess is Supergirl gets 3-3.5M
In the case of Arrow it got the ratings it deserved after last season's clusterf-

Supergirl was stupid to go up against Gotham.
#RyanPotterForTimDrake #AsianBlackLightning

Supergirl was getting it's ass kicked on CBS. That's why the network downgraded it to CW, its little sister network, after flirting with the idea of straight up canceling it. If Arrow and The Flash, two of the biggest shows on CW, are suffering in the ratings with their season premieres, don't hold your breath for Supergirl. Especially on the very competitive Monday night timeslot.

I watched it free online at 10pm.

Only one show actually returned UP last night, so to presume that it's because a majority of fans decided not to watch is a fallacy.
"Never wrestle with a pig. You get filthy and besides, the pig likes it." Cyrus Ching

Supergirl will have better ratings cause of superman
And I didn't watch Arrow live cause it doesn't worth it, was too busy

Guess all the Laurel/Black Canary fans decided not to watch.
Supergirl will probably have better ratings.

Good maybe it will get canceled.

Yep. It's because Felicity has a new boyfriend. As soon as Olicity gets back together, expect the best ratings ever.

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lmao This show sucked since season 2 and you know it.

I find it amusing some will try to use the dip as proof of what a draw Olicity is, when if anything shows how small that fanbase is, and that's if you assume all those who tuned in last year but not now did so due to no Olicity, it's a sizeable chunk of last seasons fanbase but it's not the majority, so it's more of a sign not to pander to them as they don't make up the bulk of the audience.
They keep comparing the season four premiere with the current one, claiming that "Arrow" lost 800.000 viewers this season due to lack of Olicity/OTA promos and the fact that Oliver and Felicity aren't together, or because #OTA doesn't reign supreme in the Lair. However, they're forgetting that season four was bleeding viewers throughout the last part of the season, and that the finale (which usually gets good ratings) had only 2.2. million viewers and a 0.8 demo. So, "Arrow" lost only approx. 300.000 viewers since 4X23, and it's highly unlikely that ALL of these viewers are Olicity fans who regard Felicity/Olicity/OTA as the show's main attraction.
In fact, I'd say that the shipper fans are the most steadfast fans, because they're very attached to a couple, and will endure even bad writing as long as their couple stays together and their romance develops. More casual fans, who are not invested in a certain character/ship will just drop a show when it gets bad. Hence, it's not the online shipper fans who have left the show, but the more casual fans who simply don't find "Arrow" good enough to continue watching. Besides, all network shows have lost viewers over the hiatus, so it might just be a general trend.

I find it amusing some will try to use the dip as proof of what a draw Olicity is, when if anything shows how small that fanbase is, and that's if you assume all those who tuned in last year but not now did so due to no Olicity, it's a sizeable chunk of last seasons fanbase but it's not the majority, so it's more of a sign not to pander to them as they don't make up the bulk of the audience.
Though I don't think Olicity is a factor alive or dead, the problem is the writing or the perception of the writing, S4 left a bad taste in most of our mouths, saw steep decline in the audience by the end and a near universally panned finale, that's what is hurting the show, the cure is simple improve the quality for a stretch and people will want to watch again.
But people will always try to tilt the raw data into a narrative of their preference regardless, same data means two separate things to two different groups, also you know the show had some heavy competition by all accounts.