The success of Gossip Girl's "OMFG" campaign and other buzz-making efforts have proven too successful, driving so much traffic to The CW's website that hundreds of thousands have been watching the show there.

Which was pretty much the whole point, right?

Of course, now the network is shutting down the web streams over fears of this eating away at Gossip Girl's TV audience.

Since the target demographic of young people are so Internet savvy, The CW thinks they're becoming too lazy to bother catching the show on Monday at 8 p.m., where advertising revenues are much greater.

Instead, younger Gossip Girl fans are growing accustomed to catching full episodes of the show online, and that - in an industry-wide trend - has proved much more difficult for advertisers to monetize.

So it goes for a hit / non-hit show that's had a big time impact on pop culture, yet remains a ratings disappointment. Will that change this spring? You can do your part by tuning in to The CW tonight at 8!

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.