New Kind of Sampling

Product sampling has always been used by consumer-product companies on the premise: "try it, you'll like it."  But for sampling to work, you have to have a product for them to sample.  HBO has a product and in the past has offered limited-time-only access to its subscription channel in an effort to get people to sign up.  With technology now allowing online viewing of video for the masses, HBO is taking an interesting new approach to sampling: putting episodes of one its new series online for free.

"While the show has enjoyed wide critical acclaim, some viewers have checked out. The first week of episodes drew 316,000 viewers, on average, and the numbers have declined steadily, to an average of 196,000 in week four."Now the pay cable channel is doing something it normally does not do: give away some of the episodes. The first three weeks of “In Treatment” are available free on HBO.com, and the first four episodes are also on YouTube [see episode one here]."HBO says the free episodes are part of a sampling strategy for the series that is unconnected to the ratings."

This is a great idea for getting viewers hooked and wanting more.