When White Lotus first season debuted in 2021 and shot to near-instant acclaim, it was a sleeper hit for HBO. But now, four years later, HBO is well aware of just how enthusiastic White Lotuss fanbase has becomeand, to tap into the shows highly online viewership, its marketing team has decided to officially don their tin foil hats and fangirl right alongside the rest of us.
White Lotus recently debuted its own TikTok page dedicated to stirring up conversation around the shows third season, which just debuted. Its the first time that the show itself will have a separate TikTok presence from HBOs broader account. White Lotuss marketing team is in a unique position, given that its joining TikTok after a culture of mining the show for meme fodder has already flourished organically on the app. (See: Jennifer Coolidges unforgettable delivery of the line, These gays, theyre trying to murder me being the soundtrack to dozens of mash-ups and even a few original songs.)
@thewhitelotus Vacation doesn't always go the way you planned. #TheWhiteLotus #HBO #StreamOnMax original sound – The White Lotus
As a result, the White Lotus TikTok account needs to offer something unique to stand out from the crowdand their strategy includes pulling back the curtain on behind-the-scenes anecdotes, fan theories, actor perspectives, and hidden details from the show. Its a move that taps into the growing culture of using TikTok as a site for exchanging detailed critical analyses of popular media.
Especially in the White Lotus, when you see the craft that [director Mike White] puts into the details of everything, people want to dive in, says Pia Barlow, EVP of originals marketing at HBO and Max. Like, Oh, did you see that that statue was turned this way? Or, Did you catch that little aside that some character said that paid off later in the episode? It’s really a way for us to engage fans by tapping into memes and trends, but also theories and speculation.
The new account currently hosts about 27,000 followers. Its most successful clips are digging into small anecdotes, like one video with 6.3 million views about how Jennifer Coolidge hated being on a boat in the shows second season, or an in-depth analysis of a confrontation scene in season 1 thats racked up 10.1 million views so far.
[Photo: TikTok @theWhiteLotus]
These kinds of videos feed fans appetite for close-reading beloved seriesespecially those with a mysterious plot linewithin a community of other viewers. A search for white lotus fan theories on TikTok produces dozens of results from the shows last season, digging into everything from the subtle motifs of background wallpaper to how certain plot points might mirror Homers The Odyssey. TikTok users have similarly used the platform to hash out ideas during recent seasons of Succession, Squid Game, and, currently, the second season of Apple TVs Severance.
For TikTok in particular, it’s really about just being aware of whatever trends are happening in real timewhich, as you know, changes weekly, or even daily, Barlow says. So its about behaving like a fan.
For White Lotuss marketing team, digging into the shows small nuances on TikTok is a pretty smart way to cosplay as a fan. As of yet, its unclear just how much the account will attempt to harness the meme culture thats bound to pop up around season threea move that might be harder to pull off, given that the new account is pretty late to the scene. And, to be honest, wed take a Gen Alpha teens fan edit of Jennifer Coolidge falling off of a boat over an in-house video from HBOs marketing team any day.
