The Audacity, whose premiere Sunday is a significant event for AMC Global Media, is getting a full-tilt promotional push and a novel rollout on TikTok and Samsung smart TVs.
Executive produced by Succession alum Jonathan Glatzer, who is also showrunner, the darkly satirical drama stars Billy Magnussen and Sarah Goldberg. Supporting cast members include Zach Galifianakis and Rob Corddry.
AMC execs have talked up the tech industry series since a CES panel last January, continuing through NATPE in February, a world premiere at South by Southwest in March and tastemaker screenings and events along the way.
While pay-TV networks have long promoted sampling by putting premieres on YouTube or elsewhere for free, the TikTok stunt represents a newer wrinkle. The premiere episode will be cut up into 21 short segments, each about three minutes long, going live on Sunday morning on the video platform and remaining available for six weeks.
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The installments will be numbered, enabling viewers to watch in sequence, with the running time and structure in keeping with the current zeal for microdramas and the popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. (Less-charitable voices on Reddit have invoked the ill-fated Quibi when discussing the Audacity move, but that service was subscription-only, one of many factors which helped seal its fate soon after launch.)
With FAST channels continuing to gain scale, including within AMC Global Media, the company has also put Sunday’s premiere on Samsung TV Plus. The free platform’s flagship channel, Samsung TV Network, will debut the episode simultaneously with the linear TV bow and the streaming premiere on subscription streaming outlet AMC+. Samsung is the No. 1 maker of smart-TVs in North America and says its FAST platform now reaches 100 million monthly active viewers.
The high-profile premiere comes during the middle of a promotion for a free 90-day trial of AMC+ on Samsung, which has installed the streamer in its current smart-TV models.
Free streaming promos are starting to become more commonplace given shifts in viewing habits. Apple recently pulled that lever with Severance, making its first season available on the Roku Channel for non-Apple TV subscribers ahead of the show’s Season 2 premiere last year. Day-and-date premieres on FAST, however, are a lot less common.
On linear TV, the show’s premiere will also be getting extra support, with a five-network roadblock spanning the company’s full cable portfolio of AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV and We TV. The linear airings will have limited commercial interruption, with frequent repeats scheduled next week. While roadblock premieres are not completely new, the last time AMC Global Media (which recently changed its name from AMC Networks) synched up all five of its networks was in 2018 for Planet Earth: Blue Planet II.
Tapping its deep roots in the cable TV industry, AMC also has teamed up with leading pay-TV operator Charter for yet another plug. Magnussen stars in the comedic bit (watch it HERE), which touts the availability of AMC+ (and The Audacity) at no extra charge for select Charter Spectrum customers. After integrating AMC+ and other streaming services into its offerings and promoting the cost savings, Charter posted its first subscriber gains in six years during the fourth quarter.
The Audacity received a second-season renewal last month before its world premiere at SXSW, news that was first reported by Deadline. In a statement about getting another season, Glatzer thanked AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan, content chief Dan McDermott and the company overall for deciding that “‘playing it safe’ is vastly overrated.” The renewal, he added, means they “stood by their conviction with this wholly original satire.”