Commentary

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Is No Secret Online

If you feel like you saw a lot more satin this week than usual, it’s not just your imagination. The lovely ladies of Victoria’s Secret dominated social media with the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, according to MediaPost’s Digital Engagement Index, a new social measurement tool powered by ListenFirst, tracking activity across major social platforms for the 500 biggest brands listed by Redbooks.

The DEI showed the lingerie company averaging 2.6 million engagements per day in the week leading up the fashion show, which took place in London on December 2, and was broadcast on CBS on December 9. That’s 150% over the brand’s usual score and 75% more than the next highest-scoring brand, the NFL, which lags behind in the sexy underwear category. Once the show began the engagement index jumped again: on Wednesday, the brand’s highest-scoring day so far, Victoria’s Secret scored 6.9 million engagements.

Instagram has been the primary driver of engagement for Victoria’s Secret, accounting for over 80% of its Digital Engagement Rating in the week leading up to the Fashion Show. ListenFirst’s Michael Robinson noted that “Victoria's Secret also effectively controlled the ‘second screen’ during the Fashion show, thanks to assets such as the VS Live microsite, which featured live pre-show coverage, as well as a stream of select Tweets and Instagram photos posted by fans.”

One of the main drivers of the brand’s success on Instagram was its strategy of serving posts in real-time with the telecast, despite airing the Fashion Show days after the event took place -- for example tweeting teasers for a performance by Taylor Swift and supermodel Karlie Kloss. No doubt a lot of people tuned in just to see Ariana Grande’s unfortunate encounter with the wing of a Victoria’s Secret “Angel,” causing her to cower in fear, thus inspiring a whole universe of Internet memes. Victoria’s Secret also encouraged fans to post photos using the hashtag #VSFashionShow for a chance to be featured on the VS Live website.

By the same token, because the social media posts preceded the TV broadcast, there was a possibility some people might consider them “spoilers” and end up just skipping the broadcast altogether.

After Instagram, YouTube is the next most engaging platform for Victoria’s Secret, up 749% over the brand’s average engagement, followed by Twitter, up 376%.

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