Submitted by SocialChain

Engaging a new generation of Doctor Who fans with the BBC on TikTok

Influencer Marketing

SocialChain built a creator-led TikTok campaign for the BBC around Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, reporting 35M reach and 73% brand recall across the work.

52%brand perception agreement
73%brand recall among people reached
+73%brand recall
55%emotional over-index, admiration
145%emotional over-index, awe

Case in 60 seconds

The BBC asked SocialChain to turn Doctor Who into a cultural phenomenon for its 60th anniversary, which was difficult because sixty years of continuity read as daunting and hard to penetrate for anyone outside the existing fanbase.

The campaign appears to turn on the observation that fans of long-running franchises hold the narrative through sketches, memes and fan edits, so handing that authorship to fans reads as a more credible invitation than the broadcaster explaining itself.

The Next (Re)Generation played on the show's regenerative premise and on the aim of recruiting a new generation, letting Whovians demystify sixty years of episodes and invite adjacent communities into the fandom.

SocialChain recruited Doctor Who fans with audiences in drag, music, fashion, comedy and pop culture on TikTok, building content around the Christmas specials, Ncuti Gatwa's premiere and Doctor Who Day, including music creators making a theme song remix that fashion influencers used for Doctor Who looks.

SocialChain reports 35M reach, 73% brand recall (27% above benchmark) and 68% plan to keep watching after viewing content, with 52% agreeing that "Doctor Who was a cultural phenomenon" and over-indexing in awe by 145%.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Both loyal Doctor Who fans and new or curious viewers, reached through connected interest communities including drag, music, fashion, comedy and pop culture.
A sixty-year franchise carries a fanbase that treats its depth as the reward, while the same depth signals to outsiders that the show is closed, so growth and heritage pull against each other.
Legacy broadcast properties compete for attention on platforms where the audience does not arrive with context, so the anniversary had to be made legible to people who had never watched rather than only commemorated.
The BBC stepped back from narrating the anniversary itself and let fans hold the narrative, which positioned the broadcaster as the host of a fandom rather than the authority explaining it.
Based on the available evidence, the campaign assumes people join a fandom sideways, through an interest they already have, which is why creators were selected for leverage outside the Whovian community rather than within it.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • TikTok
  • fan edits
  • memes
  • sketches
  • theme song remix

Partners

  • SocialChain (lead_agency)

Participation mechanic

  • Creators from connected communities posted around key calendar moments as conversation starters, which served as a catalyst for other people within those communities to jump into the conversation.

Creator role

  • a team of Doctor Who fans in connected communities
  • fashion influencers
  • music creators

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
brand perception agreement52% agreed that "Doctor Who was a cultural phenomenon"brand
brand recall among people reached73% remembered the Doctor Who brand among 37 million people, surpassing the benchmark by 27%performance
brand recall73% brand recall (27% above benchmark)performance
emotional over-index, admirationadmiration by 55%brand
emotional over-index, awewe over indexed in emotions of awe by 145%brand
emotional over-index, excitementexcitement by 97%brand
emotional over-index, pridepride by 113%brand
reach35M reachreach
stated intent to keep watching68% plan to keep watching after viewing contentperformance
stated intent to watch new episodesa whopping 68% of people planned to watch new episodes after being exposed to our content, representing almost 35 million real individuals reachedperformance

Why SocialChain's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Casting fans who already hold audiences in adjacent interests gives a legacy franchise a route in through communities that would not seek it out, because the recommendation arrives from a trusted creator rather than from the broadcaster.

  2. 2

    Chaining creators so one community's output becomes another's raw material, as with the theme song remix passed to fashion influencers, appears to extend a single asset across two audiences without commissioning a second idea.

  3. 3

    Fixed calendar moments such as the Christmas specials, a new Doctor's premiere and Doctor Who Day give creators a reason to post that is external to the brand, which reads as the mechanism that pulled other community members into the conversation.

  4. 4

    Where depth of continuity is the barrier, framing creator content as demystification rather than celebration addresses the specific reason new viewers stay out, which is not indifference but the sense that entry costs too much.

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