Showtime’s top-rated comedy “Weeds” has seen strong online results for its newly launched original companion Web series, Beet.TV has learned.
The show’s Justin Kirk, who plays the lead character’s brother-in-law, Andy Botwin, has been teaching “how-to” classes in the online series "University of Andy," covering life lessons like "Starting a Band” and “Surviving a Bear Attack."
In the first week of launch, the “University” classes had already logged more than 250,000 views. Also, the average time spent on the series site is almost double what the network sees for a typical series website, Showtime told us.
The series is growing via social media–Facebook is the top referrer to the site. More courses will roll out each week for at least eight more weeks. Showtime developed the Web show to support the fifth season of “Weeds, which premiered earlier this month.
Last month Andy interviewed Rob Hayes, who heads digital operations for Showtime, on how the network uses social media and the web to build show audiences. We have republished this clip today.
Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer
