To launch their new show, Angie Tribeca, TBS is running a 25-hour “binge-a-thon” leading starting on Sunday night. The network will air all ten episodes, commercial free.
It’s like giving fans the Netflix effect. But bigger. All episodes will be available on-demand on via the TBS site and app when the binge begins. On January 25th, the show will air in a weekly format, but TBS is even projecting the show on screens in Times Square, New York. “The goal is to have it everywhere,” Brett Weitz, executive vice president for original programming at TBS told Lost Remote.
Weitz says they wanted Angie Tribeca, which stars Rashida Jones and is produced by Nancy and Steve Carell, to stand out from the “clutter” of the current TV landscape. Weitz says,
We felt we needed to do something different and audacious…More and more people have adopted a binge habit of viewing their shows so it felt only natural to give them the content in the way that would make their consuming experience most enjoyable.
Also, it’s kind of a joke. “The tone of this show has always been that it’s the most self-serious, and important, cop show to ever exist. Thus it must have a 25 hour marathon because clearly 24 hours wouldn’t be enough,” Weitzs says. Get it?
They’re also running social events around the binge-a-thon. On Facebook and Twitter they’ll be using #TribecaBinge to gather fans. They’ll be circulating custom video content and incorporating fans’ profile pictures into promo videos. Missy Chambliss, vice president of marketing for TBS and TNT says that they’ve already seen the emergence of “engaged and passionate super fans” across social channels.
So they’ve decided to connect with them directly and send “binge boxes,” packed with supplies to get through the 25-hour period. Chambliss says they connected via direct message with fans and that the “binge boxes are already en route to superfans so they’ll receive their binge boxes this week and have everything they need in time to watch.”
The boxes will be filled with gift cards, a blanket, eye drops, and other “zany gifts” to help them power through.
TBS is really pulling out all the stops to make sure Angie Tribeca has a tribe. The binge begins at 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 17 if you want to see how it’s working.