The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is known to be an extravagant spectacle of toned bodies and elaborate Angel wings, and it’s equally as grandiose when it comes to social media.
Though the event officially films at the Grand Palais in Paris today, it doesn’t air to the public until Monday, December 5. Now in its 21st year, the event has evolved to become a hotbed of social media sharing. The lead-up to the broadcast itself is brimming with teasers and behind-the-scenes glimpses on Victoria’s Secret’s dedicated social media channels. The lingerie company has also made strategic use of emerging platform features like Facebook Live—on both its official Victoria’s Secret account and its dedicated Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show page—and Instagram Stories to build hype around the show.
Victoria’s Secret also has the added benefit of having an arsenal of model brand ambassadors sharing regular posts leading up to the fashion show, which focus on fitness regimens, forthcoming looks and travel snaps with fellow models. In the hours before filming on Wednesday, the Victoria’s Secret Snapchat account incorporated custom filters for “makeup chair confessions” featuring models and showcased an Angel in Snapchat Spectacles filming the crew while getting ready.
Models including Gigi Hadid (far right) pose for the Victoria’s Secret Snapchat story on Wednesday before filming the fashion show in Paris.
The company also dabbled in Facebook Live in the weeks leading up to the event with a series of “Train Like An Angel” fitness videos, taking a cue from fashion publishers that have been experimenting in the space since the feature launched in June. Victoria’s Secret featured seasoned models like Martha Hunt and Adriana Lima, and collaborated with journalists from Racked and Elle to share workout tricks and advice from notable fitness studios.
A Facebook Live “Train Like An Angel” video, starring Adriana Lima.
While millions of people tune into the Facebook Live shows and continue to ‘like’ and double tap Angel-related posts, broadcast numbers and ratings for the televised fashion show have started to dip—last year’s viewership dropped 32 percent from 2015. Continued strong social media engagement leading up to the show indicates that users will continue to consume and interact with the show on their social platforms, regardless of if they make it home in time to see it on CBS.
Ultimately, it’s difficult to track how the show translates to sales since it coincides with holiday earnings season, but recent years have shown it contributes to growth. In 2014, parent company L Brands reported a 3 percent uptick in sales in the last five weeks of the year, garnering $2.2 billion in that time period alone.
Here’s a breakdown of the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, by the numbers.
Musical guests: 3 (This year’s featured artists are Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and The Weeknd.)
Total models: 51
First-time walkers: 18
Total countries aired: 185
Combined Instagram followers of participating models: 231.98 million
Total #TrainLikeAnAngel posts on Instagram: 62,033
Total #VSFashionShow posts on Instagram: 429,1885
Combined Facebook followers of the Victoria’s Secret and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show pages: 29.8 million
Total engagement for Adriana Lima’s “Train Like an Angel” Facebook Live video: 1.67 million viewers, 20,000 likes and 1,800 comments
Most expensive bra in the show: $3 million Fantasy Bra
Total Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show–driven Instagram engagement (comments and likes) in 2015: 21.7 million
Total viewers of the 2015 show: 6.6 million viewers
Estimated cost of the show: $12 million (according to Forbes)
