NBC’s new drama “Grimm” will premiere on October 28th, but fans who follow the show’s Twitter account now can watch it two weeks early. The network is starting to direct-message followers of @NBCGrimm with a code to unlock the premiere video clip on NBC.com.
This approach to exclusive content is becoming a more common occurrence on Facebook (“like gate”), but this is the first time we’ve seen this approach on Twitter for a TV show (“follow gate?”). And it’s a safe bet we’ll see more of this in months to come. After all, it’s a great way to reward your most loyal fans while building a social following.
By the way, “follow gating” has some similarities to “flock to unlock” that the Travel Channel experimented with earlier this year: if viewers send out a certain threshold of hashtagged tweets during a broadcast, it unlocks new content.