Arrow was on the mark ratings-wise on both sides of the border for its debut this week - and Canadian star Stephen Amell was thrilled to share the news with his co-workers.

"It was really encouraging, because everything seemed to be in place, but then you just never know if people actually are going to watch the show," Amell said on Friday.

"So I woke up to the news of the (U.S.) viewership (Thursday) morning. And then when Bell Media released their Canadian numbers, I was in a quick break on set and I got to tell the crew about the Canadian numbers (Arrow is shot in Vancouver).

"Which was really cool, because most of the crew are Canadian. So to have such a big bow here, I think it resonated just as much if not more as the news in the States."

In Canada, Arrow's debut on Wednesday scored the highest viewership in this history of CTV Two, at 1.1 million viewers. Bell Media is going to re-air the Arrow pilot on CTV Sunday night.

In the States on CW, which is Arrow's network of origin, it averaged 4.14 million viewers. That was CW's best debut for a new series since The Vampire Diaries in 2009.

"In both instances, in the States and here, it seemed that the viewership went up through the hour," Amell said. "And that makes me excited, because in the same way that I'm proud of the show overall and proud of the pilot, I think that episode two and episode three, I like them better.

"They take everything we do in the pilot, that template, and we start to zero in on it. So I'm excited for next week already."

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca