Starz’s aggressive marketing for Outlander, a new original series from the premium cable network, has paid off so far. Nearly 900,000 viewers have watched the first episode for free across various platforms.
The network boasted that the first episode has been seen 897,000 times by 606,557 unique viewers since it was posted on Starz On Demand, Starz Play, Starz.com, YouTube and Xfinity On Demand on Aug. 2 for free.
Starz made the episode available for non-subscribers to give a wider audience a chance to see it before it finally airs on the network Saturday at 9 p.m.
Outlander has a unique premise, in which a World War II nurse is mysteriously transported to the 18th Century. There, she has to marry a Scottish warrior. The nurse is played by Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan stars as the warrior. It is based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels and Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) is an executive producer.
Last month, Starz announced that the first season would be split in half. The first eight episodes will air this year, while the second half will be held for early next year.
image of Caitriona Balfe courtesy of Sol Jones/INFphoto.com