We knew that our media execution would need to be something that’s never been done before, something alternative. In a U.S. market where television networks never release full premier footage before a linear, on-channel broadcast, we shook up that model by:

• Working with promotional agency partner Campfire, Cinemax and the premier social lift media platform, Buzzfeed to create a 12-page rendition of the entire first episode in Animated GIFs, which launched prior to the on-channel premiere, on the Buzzfeed website. The entire episode was able to be shared in “snackable” clips in this format.

• Secondly, we defied the traditional television series launch model by making the premiere episode available for viewing simultaneously with the on-channel broadcast, through YouTube, driving traffic through Google Search and TruView products

By virtue of a cross-medium, multi-million dollar ad campaign, Banshee was Cinemax’s highest rated original series, delivering 970,000 on-channel viewers of episode 1, on premiere night (this represents a 7% increase over the premier of the previous highest rated original series). That’s a fantastic feat in itself…but consider that our activation of the GIF premiere and full episode on YouTube delivered 92,793 incremental views of episode 1! This 10% of the on-channel viewership number was driven at 1% of the total media campaign cost. In addition, Banshee was touted across over 25+ entertainment/trade media publication websites as “ the first TV series to premiere in animated GIFs”.