The White Lotus effect: Why is this show a global sensation?

Tanya, Armond, Belinda, Valentina, and now Victoria - who could write better characters than The

White Lotus’s director Mike White? 

The only thing better than the characters, and their inevitable demise, is the mystery of it all. Who's going to die and who's responsible? And of course, we can’t forget about the scenery. Mike takes the viewers on vacation along with the characters, to resorts most of us could never dream of affording, and gives us a look into the “frigged up” lives of the rich and elite.

Season one was filmed in Maui, season two was in Sicily and now season three is taking place in Thailand, each place making for the dreamiest backdrops to all the drama. 

The Four Seasons in Maui and Sicily, where the show was filmed, have become tourist hotspots (for those who can afford it). And it's now driving people to Thailand. Bangkok Airways has sought after 30 new jets because of the boost of Tourism just from the show. 

This is being called “The White Lotus Effect”, and new travel data backs this up by showing a spike in searches and stays in Thailand, up by 65%. 

Season one and two drove a 300% increase in travel to Hawaii and Sicily. This reminds me of the Olympics, where countries are probably going to start putting in bids to Mike White just to have the next season of The White Lotus filmed there. 

Needless to say this show has become a global success - and that’s a fact, it is the most globally popular HBO TV Show. 

By episode 4 of this season, The White Lotus was averaging 12 million viewers… to put that in perspective, the widely popular show Succession averaged 8.7 million per episode. 

In this blog post, we’re exploring all the factors that have played a part in turning this show into a global hit. We’ll also dive into the audiences behind it, and finally we’ll propose the next best The White Lotus filming location. 

*Warning, The White Lotus spoilers ahead!

Let’s take a look at its global popularity… 

Let’s take a look at just how globally popular the show The White Lotus has become. We’re able to do this by using one of our products called Demand, that ranks different entities (in this case shows) against one another to show us things like search volumes on Google and Youtube, URL traffic, subscribers, and social media followers per show. 

So in relation to HBO’s top shows, it sits at #3 in terms of its popularity across all channels, and that’s third to Game of Thrones, HBO’s highest grossing show of all time:  

Looking at a show's demand across all channels is a true indication of how popular that show really is; when people aren’t watching it, they’re talking about it on social media, researching it online, sharing theories, and doing deep dives on each episode - all great, free advertising for the show. 

It’s also a highly memeable show, just like Game of Thrones was. 

What’s also interesting is tracking the surge or dip in popularity overtime: 

Season one of The White Lotus aired July 11th, 2021, but peak audience engagement (based on Google searches) began during its second season which aired October 22 -  December 4th 2022. That’s when the show really started to take off. 

This second graph really depicts the surge in popularity of YouTube deep dives related to each The White Lotus episode, that explain each episode after the show, and discuss any nuances or details viewers might have missed while watching. They help audiences theorize what is going to happen next.

We can see that since the release of the 3rd season YouTube searches reached 1,204,000 million in January alone. 

Why is this important? Well one of the things this show does best is leave easter eggs or clues for the audience in each episode. Shows that do this (and do it well) create a huge opportunity for a big online community to form, which in turn just makes the show more and more popular. 

The White Lotus Subreddit for instance, has 698K members, who are there just to discuss the show, and any theories they have, plus there are hundreds of other smaller Subreddits dedicated to the show as well. 

Getting more specific on where this global audience resides, we can take a look at everyone talking about the show using Audiense Insights: 

Beyond the US, it’s most popular among audiences that reside in Bangkok, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. 

Just look at how widespread audiences are distributed across the globe: 

Which audiences are behind it? 

Since we don’t want to categorize The White Lotus fans only by their location, here’s a breakdown of the different interest based groups this audience belongs to: 

See the breakdown of any audience with a free trial of Audiense Insights.

Not surprising, there is a whole audience of people who have been drawn to the show by superstar Lisa from BlackPink. Then you have the celebrity enthusiasts, it’s no secret that the cast list is always stacked and this brings a lot of celeb fans to the show. 

Interestingly there are “Political Writers” in this audience, and in each season there are hints at political topics, especially in season three.

What is more unexpected are the “Sports Enthusiasts” and the “Brazilian Cinema Lovers”.

And a newer, smaller community of “Drag Culture Fans” has emerged - which is just in time for Sam Rockwell’s White Lotus monologue where he describes he “wants to be an asian girl”, if you know you know. 

Here’s that famous monologue for those of you who haven’t seen it, or for those of you who have but want to relive it:  

What does this audience have in common? 

They are Euphoria, GOT and SNL fans. 

Their top social channel is Reddit, this is important to flag because it further signals that this audience loves Subreddits, and discussing the easter eggs of this show - it's half the fun as a viewer. 

They are also the most active online on Monday’s the day after The White Lotus gets released (Sunday night), and are likely taking it to social media to post about the show. 

Out of the 5 BIG personality types, this audience is predominantly of the “Neurotic” type:

So why would people with this personality type enjoy The White Lotus so much? My theory is that so many of the characters in The White Lotus deal with themes of social anxiety and insecurity, which these viewers can relate to or might feel validated by. 

People who are neurotic tend to overthink or over analyze, and The White Lotus does a good job at over analyzing or exploring these little microaggressions between its characters, which could be satisfying to this audience (I know it is for me).  

The show touches on themes of mortality, and fear of living a meaningless life, these are both big fears of people with this personality type, so these topics would really resonate with them as well. 

If you're a fan of this show, does this resonate with you? 

View the full The White Lotus audience report here.

What makes it so popular with so many different audiences across the globe? 

HBO shows in general are done so well, but none have the comparable world-wide reach that The White Lotus has. So how does a show like The White Lotus do so well across the globe, and how does it appeal to so many different audiences? We think it's a mix of these four factors: Characters, Themes, the scenery, and the fact that people love to take down the rich. 

The Characters 

Obviously this goes without saying but, The White Lotus Characters on just on another level, here’s why: 

• Although we can’t maybe relate to their lifestyle, we can relate to their shortcomings and their anxieties 
• Mike does a good job of exploring each rich person stereotype we have
• We love seeing the cracks in each character; as the series goes on each characters image starts to unravel and we learn who they really are 
• They use big named actors and actresses that pull in these large audiences of fans; like Lisa from BlackPink who brought in an entire audience segment herself
• Mike White also bring back actors and actresses from the dead; you probably hadn’t seen Jennifer Coolidge since she played Paulette in Legally Blonde, or Jason Isaacs since he played Lucious Malfoy in Harry Potter, and audiences love to see it
• The characters are shameless funny; Tanya is a perfect example of a character who always delivered us the funniest lines, now we have Victoria who is equally ridiculous/ funny
  
  
• The characters are going through it; you might be having a bad day but when you watch what The White Lotus characters are going through, you feel less bad about whatever you’re going through

Themes 

This show touches on popular and relatable themes that everyone has thought about before.

• In season 3 we see the theme of female friendships, and lots of viewers can relate to things like a fear of your friends gossiping behind your back, or comparing yourself to your friend's success or financial status 
  
  
• Aging; in season 3 we see this theme that explores a females fear of aging 
• Mystery; each season has a murder mystery theme, keeping you invested in how the story will unfold, and keeping you theorizing who the murderer is
• Themes of luxury & class divide is universal no matter where you live in the world
• Themes of hypocrisy; lots of characters pretend to be good people but act in a selfish or unethical way, we can all relate to being hypocrites in some way 
• Death and mortality; alot of characters come close to death or face their own mortality in some way (going back to the theme of the fear of getting older), and no matter who you are we have all contemplated this too 
• Relationship struggles; we can all relate to this theme and have all experienced the ups and downs of a marriage or relationship to some extent 
• The illusion of happiness; this one is my favorite because it shows that no matter how much money you have, or what your status is, you can still feel unfulfilled, and life can feel meaningless, and we all have questioned before, “what makes life meaningful?”
• Cultural differences; this in and of itself makes the show more relatable to people of different cultures, but it also shows the disconnect we all experience at some point when we travel to a culture different than our own 

Scenery

This show does an amazing job of showing us the best of the best in another country. We can all appreciate a stunning resort in Hawaii, Italy or Thailand. 

One of those places is probably on your bucket list, and as an audience we like to see what it would be like if we traveled there, and we like to imagine our budget is unlimited when we do. 

The scenery is half the beauty of the show, and we can all universally appreciate these beautiful places around the world.

People love taking down the rich

Finally, and probably most importantly, people love to take down the rich (or rather, love to watch it). 

Watching rich people self-destruct or reveal their true demented selves is weirdly satisfying.

They have all the money in the world, but even then they can’t escape their sometimes shitty fates, and this makes us feel better about ourselves, or makes us covet their lifestyle a little less. 

Where should season 4 be filmed? 

We think that season 4 should be filmed in Brazil. A large part of this shows viewership resides there, and we can see that in the audience breakdown above (even a Brazilian Cinema Lovers cluster emerged). 

It has beautiful landscapes, and scenes could be shot in the Amazon rainforest or the busy streets of Rio de Janeiro, so it offers that variety. 

Where do you think the next one should be? 

The White Lotus effect

The White Lotus has earned itself global popularity, and if you don’t already watch it, we hope this blog encourages you to. Apologies for all the spoilers if that’s the case. 

It has gained its popularity through its complicated but relatable characters, thought-provoking themes, breathtaking scenery, and the irresistible temptation of watching the elite unravel. 

From the murder mystery of it all, to its commentary on wealth and privilege, the show has successfully attracted audiences from all over the world, with tourism data proving the level of impact this show has had on us. 

As the series continues to grow, so does the speculation around its next filming location. Brazil, with its stunning landscapes and strong fan base, would make for an exciting backdrop. 

No matter where the next season takes us, one thing is certain: we will be there watching, analyzing, judging (of course), and theorizing every step of the way.

To analyze any fanbase, just like we’ve done for The White Lotus fans, try Audiense for free!