From Dior to Chanel, luxury bets big on YouTube

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Gucci hosted a fake talk show. Prada designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons held a buzzy post-show Q&A. YouTube, already a staple platform for industry leaders Chanel and Dior, is taking on new importance for fashion.

Rather than relying on YouTube for pure ad plays, luxury brands are seeing value in bespoke content designed to interest users, both as a way to reach a new audience and to build organic marketing content as customer acquisition costs rise across tech platforms including YouTube parent company Google.

YouTube’s data and insights team says fashion is investing in long-form video in response to the growing number of its 2 billion monthly logged-in users seeking out information and educational content from luxury brands. “What we’re seeing is that long-form video is a really important interface between people and products when they can’t physically touch them,” says GlobalWebIndex’s global trends manager, Chase Buckle, noting that YouTube’s reach is “enormous” among the 16-24 age group.

Conversion from long-form videos is not as easy to track as an ad spot. However, these kinds of videos still play an important role in the luxury purchase funnel, particularly during the pandemic when consumers were confined to home. In a recent GlobalWebIndex study of 2.7 million global internet users, 22 per cent said they use video sites like YouTube to research brands, products and services. “There’s a huge amount of touch and feel required when people are making a higher level of investment with luxury goods,” Buckle says.

The level of investment required can be significant: longer-form videos tend to cost more to make and have higher production values than, say, minute-long unfiltered TikTok videos. Most brands and creators interviewed for this story did not respond to requests for comment on budget specifics. UK-based video production company Tailored Media says that budgets for fashion videos range widely, from free of charge (for emerging brands the company wants to support) up to £30,000 for the most advanced productions with added equipment, editing and crew. Most videos fall between £2,000-£5,000 for a smaller crew of one to two people, says creative director Maximilian White.

The longevity of the content helps to justify costs. “With YouTube, it’s like a library. You can put it on the shelf, and people might watch it later. That’s what I love about it,” says Loïc Prigent, one of YouTube’s most prominent fashion creators, with around 374,000 subscribers. “With Instagram, it disappears in the algorithm. [On YouTube] you can search, go back, consult it… I see it as a database of information.”

People want information and expertise

The pivot to digital shows provided ample opportunity for brands to experiment on YouTube. To promote broadcasts, brands released backstage content, accessory collections and designer, model and showgoer interviews on YouTube.