Paris Fashion Week dominates digital audience, driven by Dior, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent shows

Paris Fashion Week, dedicated to women’s ready-to-wear, has once again confirmed its leadership in terms of audience figures. The collections for Autumn-Winter 2024/25, presented on the catwalks of the French capital from February 26 to March 5, had a media impact of 425.5 million dollars in terms of Media Impact Value (MIV), an indicator developed by Launchmetrics. Because Launchmetrics has changed its methodology for calculating MIV, it is not comparing this season’s results with those of previous seasons. However, by way of comparison, the Milan Week generated $273.4 million, the New York Week $181.5 million and the London Week $78.1 million.

“It really has been a great season. In talking to various people, the general feeling is that Paris is at the centre of the world. The city is and will be the cultural epicentre,” commented Michael Jaïs, the managing director of the data analysis specialist, during a conference call. 

“The impact of the Paris Fashion Week audience was largely immediate, with 87% of MIV generated within 48 hours of the end of the event. This shows just how much people want to talk about Paris Fashion Week,” he continues. And this was achieved by taking the conversation mainly to social networks, which continue to dominate, now covering 76% of all MIV generated during this fashion event, compared to the traditional online channel.

With 206.9 million dollars in MIV, Instagram remains the dominant social network, with a 49% share of the total impact of this digital audience. However, with a share of 21%, the traditional online channel is in second place, ahead of TikTok. “If we look at the effectiveness of content, it is YouTube that comes out on top in the ranking of best-performing social platforms, followed by TikTok and Instagram. This means that it achieved the highest average value per placement across all channels,” notes Michael Jaïs.
 
A closer look at the breakdown of the different ‘voices’ that express themselves during Fashion Week reveals the overwhelming predominance of the media, which contributed 67% of the total performance recorded during this women’s season for Autumn-Winter 2024/25. Influencers come in second with a 13% share, followed by celebrities, much sought-after by fashion houses for the media hype they generate and the visibility they offer on their own social networks.

“They come third with a share of 10%, but rank first in terms of average MIV per placement, proving four times more effective than the average in terms of digital audience, followed in second place by the brands’ own social networks. This shows how brands are taking ever greater control of their storytelling, particularly through the rising popularity of video,” says Michael Jaïs.

For the CEO of Launchmetrics, “2024 marks the start of a new era in brand marketing. In a media market saturated with new points of contact and new social players, only brand marketing can enable brands to redefine their image and market positioning in real depth, or to capture new consumers.”

Geographically, Paris Fashion Week continues to transcend borders. The United States, followed by France and the United Kingdom, top the rankings for the media impact of Paris Women’s Fashion Week. But Latin America is gaining ground, with Mexico jumping to third place and entering the top 10 for the first time, thanks to influencers including Kunno, the Mexican TikTok star and Maira Bottle. Brazil is also present in the ranking, in 8th place, also driven by influencers.

Asia-Pacific also proved to be a significant sounding board for Fashion Week, thanks in particular to its celebrities, who this season garnered almost twice as much MIV as European celebrities. With its K-pop stars, South Korea ranked fourth in terms of MIV generated during the Paris event.

Louis Vuitton topped Launchmetrics’ list of the twenty most popular brands at Paris Fashion Week, with an MIV of 36.3 million. The star brand of LVMH, which was celebrating the tenth anniversary of its creative director Nicolas Ghesquière at the helm of women’s collections, put its faith in Australian-born rapper and model Felix Lee. A major K-pop star, member of the Stray Kids group, who walked the runway for LV this season. Lee alone garnered more than $9.1 million in MIV, or 25% of the show’s total coverage.

Louis Vuitton was followed by the other powerhouse of Bernard Arnault’s luxury group, Christian Dior, which achieved $32.7 million in MIV thanks, among other things, to the posts of Filipino actress, model, presenter and beauty queen Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. As for Saint Laurent, with its two shows organised during the week for women and men, it moved up from fifth to third place over the year, with an MIV of 28.7 million dollars.