Black November
Social Influence Index
By dig

November is no longer just a shopping month. It's a cultural flashpoint. A social influence momentum where Social Video decides who wins and who disappears. Early access drops. Flash sales. Influencer hauls. “Get ready with me” gift guides.

Every scroll becomes a vote. Every share becomes momentum. Every video becomes a storyline, brands either ride or get dragged by. And in this world, one truth stands firm:

People watch before they buy. They scroll before they trust. They talk before they transact.

Brands that get talked about grow. Brands that stay silent get left behind. That's the battleground. And that's why this report exists.

The November Attention Index. dig's ranking of brand disruption on social video

This is the ranking of which brands broke through. Not with discounts, but with Social influence momentum.

dig analyzed how creators, communities, and everyday consumers shaped brand perception through video. Who captured attention, who drove behavior, and who owned the conversation when it mattered most.

The methodology: How we measure social influence momentum

Over a continuous 30-day window, October 31 to December 1, 2025, dig analyzed Social Video activity across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Together, these platforms generate the highest-impact video moments in retail. They shape discovery, influence perception, and determine what ends up in carts long before checkout.

To ensure meaningful reach, dig analysis includes videos that achieved a minimum of 5,000 views.

These aren't just numbers. They're signals. What people cared about, repeated, circulated, and pulled into culture.

Retailers 🛍

• Retailers dominate volume, but beauty specialty stores like Sephora (8.89%) and Ulta (7.96%) drive the highest engagement quality, showing cultural affinity beats scale.
• Amazon remains the transactional default, while Target behaves like lifestyle brands with emotionally engaged communities.
• High-efficiency mid-sized retailers (Costco) show that trust-driven audiences can outperform larger players on responsiveness.

Fashion Apparel 👗

• Fashion dominated engagement, with brands like American Eagle (21.0%) and Victoria's Secret (17.3%) proving that youth culture drives category depth.
• SHEIN owns reach, but brands with emotional narratives (Hollister, Aerie, SKIMS) generate more meaningful audience interaction.
• Celebrity-driven brands reinforce the category's power structure: fame accelerates trend adoption and category relevance.

Home Goods & Appliances 🏠

• Mass appliance brands favor reach over resonance, with strong volume but limited audience response relative to Beauty/Fashion.
• Home Depot and Lowe's outperform on engagement, proving DIY credibility and functional expertise boost relevance.
• Niche players like Article and IKEA deliver above-average engagement despite lower scale, suggesting pockets of loyal, high-intent audiences.

Electronics & Tech 🖥

• Apple fuels industry volume, but engagement remains flatter vs. beauty and fashion, highlighting Tech's utility-first viewing behavior.
• Practical tech wins deeper interaction, with HP, Dell, and Microsoft outperforming hype-led brands in % engagement.
• Cyber behavior shifts toward caution, reflected in NordVPN's extremely high 9.04% engagement rate - safety becoming a core shopping narrative.

Skincare 🧩

• Celebrity skincare (Rhode) delivers disproportionate pull, pairing volume with a high 7.07% engagement rate, proving influence still shapes category direction.
• Premium ritual brands outperform mass, with Tatcha (9.78%) and Glow Recipe (8%) indicating audiences favor sensorial, elevated routines.
• Drugstore brands under-index, showing that November is about experimentation, not replenishment.

Makeup & Beauty 💄

• Celebrity-linked and identity-driven brands (Fenty, Rare Beauty) deliver deeper cultural resonance than heritage players.
• Mid-tier prestige rises, with Saie, Tower 28, and Hourglass showing modern aesthetic appeal beats legacy marketing.
• MAC maintains leadership on scale, but new-wave brands command stronger emotional connection.

Entertainment & Streaming 🎬

• Gaming outperforms streaming, with Steam anchoring the category and showing interactive fandom beats passive viewing.
• Major platforms struggle to convert massive user bases into engagement, signaling streaming fatigue or content oversaturation.
• High-engagement niche IP players (Ubisoft, HBO Max) show that specificity and prestige outperform broad catalogues.

FMCG / CPG 🛒

• Wellness-forward brands outperform legacy players, with Always (12.99M) and Simply signaling cultural relevance beyond practical function.
• Starbucks remains a cultural micro-ecosystem, not a beverage brand - powered by lifestyle integration rather than product promotion.
• Functional brands like Celsius and Crest prove that routine-based storytelling drives above-average engagement.