David Farnor | On 28, Jan 2014

Photo: Justin Downing

Sky is releasing entire first episodes of TV shows online for free as part of a major new marketing campaign.

Viewers will be able to watch full episodes of some of Sky’s biggest pay TV programmes, including Sky 1’s Emmy award-winning Moone Boy, starring Chris O’Dowd and Moonfleet, as well as Sky Arts’ A Young Doctor’s Notebook and Sky Atlantic’s The Tunnel.

Sky is launching a brand new YouTube channel, Sky First Episodes, which will go live on Saturday 1st February, allowing viewers to stream whole episodes of premium on-demand. More shows will be added regularly over the coming months. Indeed, The Guardian’s Broadcasting Correspondent John Plunkett reports that Game of Thrones will be among the line-up of episodes.

The move follows a similar strategy from HBO, who recently released the first two episodes of Girls Season 3 on YouTube for US audiences after their initial broadcast. So far, they have received 250,304 and 160,531 views respectively.

Now, in the UK, Sky is hoping its multi-million pound campaign – the biggest that Sky has ever launched for its entertainment roster – will entice new subscribers both off and on the internet, as it presents a line-up of shows starring people such as Chris O’Dowd, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman and Dominic Cooper, including programmes from the makers of Spooks and Rev.

Sky has committed to invest £600 million in British content across its channels this year. During 2014, Sky customers can look forward to home-grown drama Fleming (Sky Atlantic), starring Dominic Cooper, and The Smoke (Sky 1), with Jodie Whittaker and Jamie Bamber, while comedy fans can enjoy Nick Frost and Olivia Colman in Mr Sloane (Sky Atlantic). Sky customers will also be able to enjoy new must-see shows from the US, including HBO’s True Detective (Sky Atlantic), starring Hollywood legends Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

Naomi Gibney, Sky’s Director of Entertainment, Marketing and Digital, adds: “We’re passionate about delivering truly great TV – and the best way of demonstrating this is to give people the opportunity to enjoy the shows for themselves. The combination of Sky First Episodes and a TV campaign featuring entire clips from our biggest and best series means that now everyone has the chance to sample Sky shows.”

TV adverts will run across terrestrial TV channels, including ITV and Channel 4. The campaign will also run in print, online, on digital media, posters and in cinemas nationwide.

To view the first episode of a range of Sky shows, visit www.youtube.com/skyfirstepisodes.

For those wanting to watch Sky’s line-up of TV programmes without subscribing to a 12-month contract, a NOW Entertainment Membership allows live and on-demand streaming of all Sky entertainment channels on a month-by-month basis. For £4.99 a month, viewers can stream Game of Thrones as it is broadcast on Sky Atlantic as well as catch-up on-demand, alongside other shows such as Fleming, The Walking Dead Season 4 and Girls Season 3. (From 29th May 2014, this renews at £6.99 per month.)

For more information, click here – or to sign up to NOW and begin watching Girls Season 3 now, hit the button below:

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