Amazon says original series Alpha House wins the weekend

Having launched the first episodes of Alpha House last Friday (November 15), Amazon said its original comedy series was the most-watched show on its streaming service over the weekend.

Earlier this year Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, told TBI that the company would eschew the Netflix model of releasing all episodes of a series simultaneously and in line with that strategy it released the first three episodes of Alpha House last weekend and will make the fourth instalment available from this Friday (November 22).

Like its rival Netflix, Amazon does not share any viewing data and did not give any numbers to support the “most-watched” claim.

It made the first episodes of its original series available to for free via the Amazon website with subsequent instalments available to customers of its Prime Instant Video service, which comes as part of an a premium Amazon Prime subscription.

Outside the US Alpha House and other Amazon originals are carried on its paid-for LoveFilm service.

Amazon will launch its second original series this weekend with the debut of Betas. As with Alpha House, the first three episodes will be free to view in the US.

Alpha House is a political comedy starring John Goodman. Betas is about four roommates trying to get a social media start-up off the ground.

Other upcoming originals include kids series Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf. It has also greenlit its first two hour-long drama pilots, Bosch, which is based on Michael Connolly’s book series about a relentless LAPD cop, and The After, a sci-fi project from The X-Files’ Chris Carter.

“The Amazon Studios process is designed to use data and feedback from customers to help us create and launch shows they will love,” said Roy Price. “It is incredibly rewarding to see that process working—customers loved the pilot and we’re getting the same reaction to the series. We’re excited to introduce Betas later this week.”