Call it the Paul Gross effect, or maybe it’s the power of heavy marketing. But, for whatever reason, ratings for The Eleventh Hour jumped on Jan. 7, when the hour-long CTV drama scored some of its highest numbers – playing strongly in the key 25-54 demographic.

Episode six of the news drama, which featured a much-hyped guest appearance by Gross, brought in an unprecedented 244,000 25- to 54 year olds – 171,000 male and 73,000 female – in the Nielsen ratings. That’s up almost 200% from a mid-December low of 78,000.

The ep also played well with other age groups, bringing in a total 343,000 viewers across Canada, up from a December low of 168,000 and reversing a steady downward trend that has dogged the series since its debut in November.

M2 VP and director of broadcast buying Dennis Dinga credits the jump to CTV’s extensive marketing during the holiday season. ‘CTV has been promoting the crap out of it,’ says Dinga, ‘which has probably helped.’ The network also re-ran the first three eps to drum up more viewers.

But overall the series has played poorly, bringing in, at best, a third of the audience that watched CTV’s famously short-lived The Associates at its peak. Eps of CBC’s Da Vinci’s Inquest have averaged 620,000 viewers so far this season, with peaks somewhere around 700,000.

To that end, Dinga has doubts about the show’s future. ‘It might last a year, maybe two. It depends how committed CTV is to it,’ he says, adding that the network is often impatient with its Canadian productions. ‘The Associates was a pretty good show but they just didn’t stick with it.’

CTV is saying very little. VP of corporate communications Tom Curzon admits the numbers are weak, but won’t yet discuss plans for the remainder of season one or a possible season two. ‘We’re doing our best to promote it to the public but beyond that we’ve got nothing more to say,’ he says.

The series will conclude its 13-episode run in February, after which the Tuesday 10 p.m. timeslot goes to season two of The Osbournes.