Reactions to “The Gilded Age” Season 3 finale flooded social media Sunday night, inspiring a level of FOMO for non-viewers and water-cooler conversation typically reserved for tentpole HBO shows like “The White Lotus” or “The Last of Us.”
The social media buzz has continued to rise for the drama series from Julian Fellowes, with Season 3 social conversation volume up 185% from last season and racking up double the number of engagements on the show’s social media posts, according to network data. Instagram and Facebook accounts surged by 188% season-over-season — twice the growth seen from Season 1 to Season 2.
The social media growth for “The Gilded Age” goes hand-in-hand with its higher ratings, with new episodes reaching series viewership highs for five consecutive weeks. The season capped off with a series high of 5 million multiplatform viewers with the Season 3 finale — up 88% from the season premiere.
HBO went all out to “put the fandom in the drivers’ seat” and catapult the show into the cultural conversation, according to Mark Doumet, VP of originals marketing at HBO Max, taking a distinct approach from the previous two seasons and deploying all resources to lean into the escapist and glamorous nature of the 19th century drama.
“We tore up the playbook,” Doumet told TheWrap. “Instead of treating social media as a way to broadcast to fans, we built it as a space to co-create with them. We identified who the most passionate voices were — from super fans to creators to cultural institutions in New York to the cast. It was our job to give them access and give them a real stake in the storytelling online, so they can advocate on our behalf.”
As HBO shifted its goal from marketing “at” to marketing “with” the fandom, Doumet and his team identified what he calls the show’s “natural evangelists” — which include both content creators who were genuine fans of the show as well as super fans they had been aware of during the previous seasons — and gave them the “tools to spread their passion online.”
HBO partnered with gif companies Tenor and Giphy to make sure each episode’s biggest moments were immediately turned into gifs and memes for fans to engage with, and launched a series called “the weekly tea” that took the “funniest, sharpest fan takes” from X and superimposed them on clips of the episode. The launches created a “feedback loop,” Doumet said, since “fans knew we were watching them, so that kept them posting more.”
Fans were rewarded for their participation with the official social media accounts amplifying their content, as well as swag giveaways, including “Hot Gilded Summer” hats, which have already inspired some Etsy copycats. “Giving them a hat is acknowledgement … it’s like you’re part of the family,” Doumet said. “We want to help you out, just like you’re helping us out.”
Content creators also scored invitations to events throughout the season’s rollout, including an event at the Frick Collection in New York City tied to Episode 4, a Newport-based event for Episode 6 and a finale celebration at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival.
The standout event of the season was date night at the Frick, which brought together roughly 100 content creators — from reality stars Dorinda Medley and Stassi Schroeder to the creators behind beloved New York account Meet Cutes NYC — for an advanced screening of Season 3’s splashy fourth episode, which featured the reluctant nuptials of fan-favorite character Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) to Hector Vere, 5th Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb).
The party, which embraced the Frick’s romantic and glamorous atmosphere, created what Doumet called a “content generation factory,” resulting in an estimated 460 organic pieces of content celebrating “The Gilded Age.” Doumet compared the event to the equivalent of a press junket for content creators, noting that the marketing and media relations teams think broadly about the reach of platforms, whether it’s a press outlet or creator channel.
“It gave creators the perfect backdrop to make their own content with other creators,” Doumet said. “We didn’t script them. We just gave them access to our talent. We gave them a pre-air screening of Episode 4 … We gave them Christine Baranski, Morgan Spector.”
Most importantly to the HBO team, the content felt authentic and rooted in love for the show. “We don’t love the pay to play — we want to find where there’s that organic fit,” Doumet said, noting that Medley reached out to attend the event because she’s a fan of the show and pointing to Schroeder’s “fangirling” during her private tour of the Frick with Baranski and Cynthia Nixon.
It wasn’t just fans who were active on social media, with much of the cast posting behind-the-scenes photos from production in reaction to the episodes. Doumet and his team worked closely with production to bank content that talent could roll out every Sunday, which helped audiences feel like they were watching with the talent.
“It was unguarded moments, showing their relationship with each other … that’s how we want people to think about the show,” Doumet said. “It really enforces that idea that everyone is having a great time, on set but also while watching.”
The team had early conversations with talent running through the show’s marketing strategy, which included the cast as co-marketers as well. “It’s 2025 —everyone is a marketer. Everyone has a phone in their pocket,” he said.
“Our job … is really just empowering the voices who are our best advocates, whether or not that’s creators, it’s super fans online, or it’s the talent,” Doumet said. “We just want to give them the tools, give them our platforms so that they can spread the word of mouth, because that’s what truly creates FOMO.”
“The Gilded Age” Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on HBO Max.
