There’s no shortage of reality TV, but few programs in the genre have bridged the on-screen-to-impactful-social-influencer divide as solidly as Vanderpump Rules. For the uninitiated, the show came about as a result of British restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump’s role in the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The spin-off series, which premiered in 2013 on Bravo, follows the real and manufactured drama of Lisa and the staff at her West Hollywood restaurant SUR.
The premise of the show offers viewers a unique chance to actually visit the setting — and many flock to SUR in hopes of catching a glimpse of their favorite reality stars. The most recent Vanderpump season, which premiered December 3, 2018, goes even further, with Lisa partnering with cast members Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz to open a brand-new Hollywood bar called TomTom.
It’s not just everyday viewers who are enamored, either. Big celebrities including Chrissy Teigen and Miley Cyrus have posted their excitement at visiting the new TomTom. Dakota Fanning even got a ride in Tom Sandoval’s now-infamous motorcycle sidecar.
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“The Toms” (Sandoval and Schwartz) use social media to promote appearances at the Vanderpump-owned bars and offer other ways for fans to bridge that gap between the virtual world and real one.
We partnered with CreatorIQ, an influencer marketing platform that helps companies find and execute campaigns with creators, to take a closer look at the social power and audiences of Lisa, the Toms and two additional cast members – James Kennedy and Jax Taylor – to see the effect the show has had on the social power and general appeal of its cast members
As we’ve seen before, Instagram is the powerhouse social network for these reality stars, with each having hundreds of thousands more followers on the former than Twitter or other social networks. Audience growth from March 1, 2018 through May 1, 2019 was dramatic, as James led the way with a 68.12% increase in followers (although it’s worth pointing out that he has the smallest audience out of the five at a still-sizable 367K followers).
Women dominate the audience for all of five of these featured cast members, with Lisa having the highest percentage of females (83%), perhaps attributable to her now-former days as a real housewife. And audience age breakdowns are varied: Lisa, Jax, and James have more of an older following (25-44 year olds make up the bulk), while both Toms are popular with a younger crowd (13-17 year olds). Interestingly, James is actually the youngest of the five, at 27 years old.
Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of the reality stars’ audiences and growth in the last year.
Lisa Vanderpump
2.3 million Instagram followers – 22.54% growth in followers (March 1, 2018 – May 1, 2019)
1.82 million Twitter followers – 3.75% growth
Tom Sandoval
816K Instagram followers – 33.14% growth
289K Twitter followers – 15.56% growth
Tom Schwartz
803K Instagram followers – 29.32% growth
255K Twitter followers – 18.49% growth
James Kennedy
367K Instagram followers – 68.16% growth
125K Twitter followers – 39.29% growth
Jax Taylor
904K Instagram followers – 34.94% growth
313K Twitter followers – 12.12% growth
The show is currently closing out its seventh season and the powers that be at Bravo are capping it off with a collection of three reunion episodes, the last of which is set to air May 20. The first installment from May 6 already revealed a ton of new fireworks, which was entertaining, but nothing unprecedented.
Of course, drama is the lifeblood of reality TV, and you can be sure that it will only drive more visitors to SUR, TomTom, other Vanderpump-owned properties – like the new Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Las Vegas – and whatever product the cast members are currently hawking.
