CTV original series Saving Hope is reaping the benefits of having taken over the network’s Thursday 9 p.m. timeslot in place of Grey’s Anatomy.

The Canadian hospital drama drew an average of 1.5 million viewers (2+, AMA) for part one of its two-part winter premiere, beating out the competition from Elementary on Global, which drew 1.2 million according to BBM Canada numbers from CTV.

Viewership peaked at 1.7 million in the second half-hour, with 3 million people tuning in at some point.

The timeslot shift from this summer, when it aired Tuesdays at 10 p.m., has led to audience growth of 35% among total viewers, and by as much as 70% among adults 25 to 54.

The ratings win follows a multi-platform promotional campaign from CTV that Mike Cosentino, SVP of programming, CTV Networks called “unprecedented,” including network advertising, a holiday catch-up marathon of the first half of season two and a companion web series called Last Call. In November 2013, CTV also ordered a third, 18-episode season of the show.

Saving Hope is executive produced by Ilana Frank and David Wellington for ICF Films, John Morayniss for eOne, and Lesley Harrison. eOne handles all distribution rights.

Morwyn Brebner and Adam Pettle are the executive producers and showrunners of the series.  Saving Hope was created by Malcom MacRury and Morwyn Brebner.

With files from Nick Krewen

From Media in Canada