As information for those who missed it, the show American Dad! is changing network from its original, Fox, to TBS, for the upcoming season. It is a good news for the fans, since Fox quietly dropped the show last year, and it was announced that there is no any plan for the network to bring it back. Usually, this means a dead-end for the series, but TBS immediately bought the rights for a new season. In addition, the new network of the animated show released advertisements, which say that the fans can expect more since the new season is going to be ‘edgier’ than the previous ones. The new season hit its premiere on October 20.
However, one week earlier than the actual set date for its debut on television, the first episode of American Dad! has been released on the popular site, YouTube. And it is neither a preview nor a teaser, but an entire 22-minute episode of the new season. But you do not have to worry about this, since there has been no announcement yet from TBS about its online premiere, or whatever you want to call it.
Many television networks would take this move of early YouTube premiere as a form of marketing strategy, but it seems that TBS has no plan to stick to that idea; the fans and the assurance of fitting the animated series with the network seem to be their major concerns. It looks like TBS is contented with so-called word-of-mouth marketing, but the problem is that this strategy does not seem to work. There is no much news about the YouTube premiere, and the people who watched it only discovered it because they are subscribed to the official YouTube channel of the network.
As of October 15, the new season premiere of American Dad! has over 113,000 views since its release on the popular video-sharing website. We can say that it is doing well, since there has been no any marketing strategy for this yet. According to a report from Tech Times, there were only 36,000 views as of October 13. It seems impressive for this means there has been a big jump in the number of views.
While the episode is available on YouTube for those who want to watch it right away, those who want to tune in while relaxing on their own couch can watch the 11th season of American Dad! on TBS.