Mayfair Witches
Launching the next Anne Rice hit was a tall order, especially with steep expectations from fans and critics. I led the fantasy series' end-to-end strategy for both seasons, heavily relying on real-time data to pivot towards success.
1.7M
Premiere Viewers
#1
Most viewed season on AMC+ (2022)
#1
Most 'Social' Show during season run (ListenFirst)
#8
Netflix Title Ranking month of drop
A Different Sell Than Interview
Interview had set a specific expectation: operatic, gut-punch drama with fantasy as a bonus. Mayfair Witches was deliberately different—more overtly supernatural, built around generational trauma, action, and magical manipulation.
For this second Anne Rice Universe launch (with an Emmy-winning lead), I led an opportunity audience-first strategy aimed at audiences coming in fresh, without Interview’s baggage. We knew Interview fans would at least tune in for episode one; the bigger challenge was earning retention beyond that—so we widened the top of the funnel while setting the right expectations from the start.
A Quick Pivot to a Broader Cause
Mayfair Witches was a bigger swing for the Anne Rice audience, so we had to earn a broader, newer viewer by being crystal clear about what the show was saying.
At first, we leaned all the way in on a single heroine and her fight for agency—but it quickly became clear that framing didn’t fully ring true with audiences. So we adjusted early, widening the lens from one woman’s story to the collective, generational fight for women’s agency.
That shift let the campaign feel more honest to the series and more resonant in the moment: a modern antidote to the historic punishment of women labeled “witches,” grounded in themes of free will, power, and reinterpreting legacy—embracing history without being trapped by it.
Listening to the Fans and Building a World
After Season One—and the Netflix bump—we did the obvious thing: we listened. Fans weren’t asking for “more of the same.” They wanted darker. Bigger. More world. They wanted the family tree, the power system, and a sense of what existed beyond the Mayfair house—literally and emotionally.
So we shifted the strategy to match. Season Two leaned into the danger of magic in the wrong hands and used new characters (and new abilities) to widen the lens. The goal was less “one family’s story” and more “here’s the universe you can step into,” making the show easier to enter for a broader, Netflix-fueled audience.
And while it didn’t become a breakout hit on AMC, that world-building groundwork gave the franchise a stronger runway for wider discovery and longer-tail growth.
