Putting the premiere episodes of TV series on digital platforms weeks before their broadcast debuts is proving a potent tool for boosting on-air ratings, but networks are still fine-tuning exactly the best way to make it work.
The latest example came Monday from Fox, which went about distributing pilots for its two new comedies differently than last year, when rabid pre-release consumption of “New Girl” convinced the network to take a more cautious approach this time out.
Now new half-hours “The Mindy Project” and “Ben and Kate” can be streamed on Yahoo, Fox.com, IMDB and Hulu.com, as well as the 70 other sites that host the Hulu player, including Facebook. The episodes will also be available on pay-TV VOD and can be downloaded for free on electronic-sell-through (EST) platforms including Amazon, XBox and Best Buy/CinemaNow.
Fox’s continuing belief in what some industry-ites refer to as “pre-air” distribution reflects new data Comcast is sharing with U.S. programmers that attempts to draw a causal link between early exposure for new shows in recent years across Xfinity On Demand, the cable operator’s cross-platform environment for on-demand content, and ratings increases those same shows register in their bows on linear channels.
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