Hannibal fans devour season one … on Twitter too

NBC drama Hannibal (@NBCHannibal) held a Twitter-fueled binge-watching event on Sunday.

Ahead of the show’s February 28 second season premiere, NBC unveiled a clever campaign to encourage fans to binge-watch the entire first season together. Available on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes and DVD, fans could watch the shows at the same time and communicate with one another over Twitter using the hashtag #13HourDevour.

This binge-watch gathering signals a new tactic for broadcasters to create buzz for an upcoming season by encouraging current, and new, fans to catch up together and maximize exposure for the show. The network encouraged viewers to watch all 13 episodes straight from 12 p.m. ET Sunday to 1 a.m. ET Monday. NBC used several tactics to drive conversation, including these:

Announce it’s happening

Offer unique exclusive content as giveaways

Encourage fans to join in on the fun

Leverage show talent

At 1:30 p.m. ET, the show’s star Hugh Dancy took over the @NBCHannibal account to hold a Twitter Q&A with the hashtag #QforHugh.

And series creator @BryanFuller and executive producer Martha De Laurentiis (@neoprod) live-tweeted the marathon, offering their insights, sharing photos, retweeting fans, and much more.

Do you know of other innovative uses of Twitter? Write to [email protected].