Why is the Shadowhunters season 3 premiere date so late?

Shadowhunters season 3 premiere date

We didn’t anticipate doing an article on the Shadowhunters season 3 premiere date for a good while — but Freeform shocked us today.

How so? It’s not so much that they announced the season 3 premiere date itself, but rather that the network is making you wait until Tuesday, April 3 in order to see what’s coming up next. Why do that? It’s a questionable choice from our vantage point given that the previous two seasons aired in January. Not only that, but there is merit to the show premiering in the winter for a couple of different reasons.

1. Competition – There are a lot of shows that are off the air temporarily in January, and if you are throwing Shadowhunters up against major primetime competition you’re probably not going to experience as much here. In premiering the show in April, the good news is that there may not be a whole lot of competition at the time it ends the first part of the season in June (provided that we’re looking at a split-season format again). The bad news is that in order to make it there you have to work your way through May sweeps, an incredibly competitive time in which there are a lot of finales and other things happening across the major networks. Also, this is a time in which many people are getting out of school and/or starting summer vacations, which can be chaotic for younger viewers.

2. Weather – This is pretty easy to calculate: While school may be going on in January/February, it’s also a lot harder to do anything outside. In theory, we at CarterMatt tend to see many shows draw better ratings in the winter than the spring just because TV is one of the best options for entertainment for people who live in the colder parts of the country.

Ultimately Freeform may have adjusted their schedule this year to meet their own demands, and to go along with that also may have determined that Shadowhunters would benefit from more time. Regardless of the reasoning there’s a lot of thought that went into this premiere date, and we certainly don’t foresee thing changing it.

What do you think of the Shadowhunters season 3 premiere date?

Share now in the attached comments below! Also, be sure to check out the link here if you want some more news regarding the show’s Lilith casting and like us on Facebook for more news on Shadowhunters and other series we cover. (Photo: Freeform.)

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