CBS Moves Multiplatform Social TV Series, "Harper's Island," to Saturday

Broadcast network CBS announced Monday that "Harper's Island"--a multiplatform, social TV-enhanced mystery series that [itvt] reported on yesterday--will move to Saturday (9:00-10:00PM ET/PT), as of May 2nd, where it will form the first hour of a two-hour block of original mystery programming with "48 Hours Mystery" (10:00-11:00PM ET/PT). The broadcaster purportedly made the decision to move the show to the less desirable timeslot because its greatest strength is with timeshifting and online audiences. It says that the first extended DVR-playback data for "Harper's Island's" April 9th broadcast premiere show that the series is attracting a highly engaged audience of timeshifters: according to Nielsen live-plus-seven-day playback results (versus live), the "Harper's Island" premiere audience increased by +29% in adults 18-49 (3.1 from 2.4), +33% in adults 18-34 (2.0 from 1.5), and +25% in adults 24-54 (4.0 from 3.2), and gained +1.64 million viewers (11.29 million from 9.65 million).

In addition, CBS claims that the premiere of "Harper's Island" was CBS.com's biggest online premiere ever, delivering more video streams (including both clips and episodes) than any previous show launch for the CBS Audience Network (note: the latter consists of several hundred partner Web sites, as well as the sites of CBS's own TV and radio stations and of its affiliate stations). The network also says that the show is the fastest-growing series in CBS.com's history. "The preliminary DVR and online streaming data suggest a passionate audience for 'Harper's' outside its current Thursday time period borders," Kelly Kahl, senior EVP of primetime at CBS Television, said in a prepared statement. "This move gives us an opportunity to improve the time period on Thursday, while experimenting with more original programming on Saturday, and continuing to serve an audience that is clearly engaged in the ongoing 'Harper's Island' story."