HBO usually makes premiere episodes available across platforms for new shows. They like to keep us interested. But for its latest round of premieres, they’re leveraging the social media of its stars to spread the word.
The first episode of Ballers is on The Rock’s Facebook page for a limited time and has about 1,466,259 views as of this writing. The show won’t be available to non-HBO subscribers anywhere else, and the network’s pushing HBO Now on their Facebook page, too. The Rock has nearly 50 million Facebook followers, which is not a bad way to start fishing for new subscribers.
The Brink, the other new HBO show starring Jack Black, Aasif Mandvi and Tim Robbins, is airing for a limited time on its own show page. It’s unclear just how limited the ‘limited time,’ is but as Robbins points in the pre-roll for The Brink, it’s not about that, it’s about signing up for HBO Now and watching “whenever the hell you want.”