For the first time ever, Apple TV+ has offered the first episode of an Apple Original series — the crime comedy The Afterparty — on YouTube, where you can watch it in full for free.
That’s a promotional angle we haven’t seen before from the Cupertino tech giant. But will it work?
New tactic: Watch The Afterparty‘s first episode for free
If Apple’s YouTube marketing effort works well, many folks will come across, comment upon and share episode one of The Afterparty. Best case, the free show goes viral. And then maybe scads of new paying viewers flock to the Apple TV+ streaming service to keep watching the series and a raft of other programming.
Before now, the Apple TV+ YouTube channel has featured only short clips and “behind the scenes” features.
Within the TV app , Apple allows users to try an episode of its shows without needing an Apple TV+ subscription. This has been the case since the service launched. Most Apple Original series’ opening episodes lack a subscription paywall, so anyone with an Apple ID can play them.
Of course, sticking a show’s episode on the web for free is an entirely different thing. With no Apple ID required, anyone and everyone can watch, greatly extending Apple’s promotional reach. More than 140,000 people have viewed the first episode of The Afterparty on YouTube as of now. You can check it out below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P07_FHcRNEU
More about the series
A crime-centered comedy series, The Afterparty unfolds in eight episodes. When a murder takes place at a high school reunion party, a police detective (Tiffany Haddish) interrogates the suspects. Each episode comes from an individual suspect’s point of view, complete with a different storytelling style.
In addition to Haddish, the show’s cast full of party-going suspects includes Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou and Dave Franco.
Though some critics have praised the series, some haven’t. In fact, Cult of Mac TV and film critic Scout Tafoya published a review Friday entitled, “The Afterparty murders comedy [Apple TV+].” You might want to look at that, whether or not you check out the free episode. Spoiler: He might not be a fan.
The first three episodes of The Afterparty are available to watch now on Apple TV+, with the remainder debuting weekly. The streaming service is available by subscription for $4.99 a month.
