Viewers who have been wanting to see what the big fuss is over buzzed-about series like Transparent or Mozart in the Jungle no longer need an Amazon Prime account or Prime Video subscription in order to give their eyes a little taste.
Along with releasing photos, teasers and trailers from its original series on social media, Amazon is now allowing audiences to also watch the full-length episodes of some of its shows without requiring them to pay for the streaming service.
The company announced on Tuesday, Aug. 16 that it is releasing the pilot episodes of select popular series on Facebook and YouTube for free.
Among the pilots available on Amazon Video's Facebook page and YouTube channel include those from five of its primetime series: Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle, Red Oaks and Transparent.
Those who are fans of Michael Connelly's bestselling novels should check out the Emmy-nominated drama Bosch, while the multi-Golden Globe series Mozart in the Jungle is more for those who are interested in what happens behind the scenes of a symphony.
Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle is a must-see for history buffs as it follows the story of what would have happened if the Allied Powers lost World War II. This has been the most-streamed original series on Amazon to date.
Amazon is also making some of its series for kids available on its Facebook and YouTube pages, including the Emmy nominated live-action series Annedroids and Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street, as well as yet another live-action series, Just Add Magic.
Parents can also allow their preschool-age children to watch the first episode of the series Tumble Leaf and Wishenpoof!
Offering the pilots for free on these platforms will allow Amazon to in a way bait more people to subscribe to its services if they get hooked on episode one. It allows the company to expose more people to the kinds of programming the service offers, while still having them check out their social media pages. We are talking about a lot of people, with Amazon Video having 322,956 Likes on Facebook and more than 33.6 million views on its YouTube channel.
If the viewer does want to stream more than one episode of these original series, they will have to subscribe to Prime Video ($99 per year as part of Prime or $8.99 per month as a stand-alone option). Series can then be streamed via the Amazon Video app on smart TVs, mobile devices and online, with the option to even download them for viewing offline.
