Should Outlander season 4 now aim for larger premiere event?
With that in mind, we do come now bearing a question for debate: Should Starz do something extra with the premiere to compensate for the wait? There are a couple of different things that they could consider, whether it be A) make the premiere a little bit longer than the standard hour-long run time or B) offer up a two-hour premiere that consists of the first two episodes.
Obviously, we should make one thing rather clear here from the get-go — it’s not as though Starz actually owes us anything when it comes to Outlander and how they choose to structure the premiere. If anything, we should be grateful that we’re getting a fourth season and two more seasons beyond that. There are still some mutually-beneficial reasons for them to do something special, with the largest reason being that it would help to generate a little more publicity for the show and get things started off the best way possible.
Beyond that, there is a scheduling benefit to doing a two-hour premiere (consisting of two episodes) when it comes to avoiding competition. One of the challenges that comes with starting Outlander in November is that inevitably, there is going to be a time in which the show has to air against some of the big competition in January — think in terms of the Golden Globes, NFL football, and potentially even the Super Bowl. While we know live ratings don’t necessarily matter to this show, there is still value in them when it comes to giving a baseline perception of popularity. Also, it helps to have everyone discussing the series on social media at the same time. The earlier Outlander premieres, the likelier they are to avoid some of this beastly Sunday competition — two episodes premiering the first week means one fewer week in the midst of that storm.
Hopefully, giving Outlander a boost from the start is something Starz considers both as a gift to the fans as well as allowing the show to have its biggest platform possible at a time when there is less competition elsewhere.
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