How Paramount+ Used Social Media To Get Teen Wolf: The Movie Fans Into A Feeding Frenzy

MTV's Teen Wolf series was a major hit when it debuted in 2011 with the series not only enjoying a seven-season run on the network but earning one of the most passionate and socially active fandoms in television history as well. When Teen Wolf: The Movie was announced for Paramount+ in 2021, it was no surprise that fans were hungry for content to take them back to Beacon Hills — and Paramount delivered across multiple social media platforms to activate Teen Wolf fans, grow the pack to even greater strengths, and even bring some innovation into the mix.

To kick things off, Paramount sought to call out to the pack — or rather, re-engage the Teen Wolf fandom. With the original series having ended in 2016, five years had passed so a campaign began to bring fans back, starting with the announcement of Teen Wolf: The Movie in 2021. Since then, there have been around 1000 pieces of behind-the-scenes and other original content, both video and still, taking fans both into the original series and the making of the new movie, including a sizzle reel and a six-episode YouTube original series.  That series was itself supplemented by even more original content, including dozens of social videos that feature cast members looking back at the original Teen Wolf series as well as previewing what was to come in Teen Wolf: The Movie. Some highlights include the cast offering messages to their characters, a "Teen Wolf Time Capsule", and even the cast watching iconic moments from the series and reacting to those moments, sometimes hilariously. Beyond this, there's also the Teen Wolf: The Movie trailer itself. The official trailer for the film amassed 12 million views and counting across Paramount+ talent and Teen Wolf accounts.

Of course, engaging the pack is more than just hype. Paramount worked on expanding the Teen Wolf audience and fandom by growing not just the existing platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but by bringing the franchise up to date with TikTok and Snapchat as well as a specially branded YouTube channel — Wolf Watch — to be the home of all things Teen Wolf and the  series, Wolf Pack. The new Teen Wolf TikTok gained an astounding 1 million followers in under a year and the Wolf Watch YouTube channel is presently more than 300 thousand subscribers strong and growing. Across all platforms, the pack has reached 14 million.

With such a strong and active audience, Paramount also kept things fresh for Teen Wolf fans by developing never-been-done executions in both augmented reality (AR) and the metaverse. These executions let the fandom not just engage with all things Teen Wolf but truly immerse themselves in the experience. Some of the highlights include the Beacon Hills Scavenger Hunt, via an Instagram AR Effect. This allows fans to walk the halls of Beacon Hills High School for themselves to complete a scavenger hunt, seeking out nostalgic Teen Wolf items. If fans find all seven items, they get to pose for the very own Beacon Hills Student ID card. The Instagram and Snapchat AR experience Test Your Alpha lets fans see where they fall in the pack rank. To test their rank, fans howl as loud as they can to determine if they are Alpha, Beta, or Omega. Fans can then share their wolfed-out photo on social to find the rest of their pack. Teen Wolf has even gone to Roblox, with Werewolf Escape, which allows players to join the fight to save Beacon Hills in an escape-the-killer style game where fans can play as human, wolf, or as an iconic Teen Wolf villain for themselves.

The overall campaign has been huge — and so has fan response. Since the announcement of Teen Wolf: The Movie, the various Teen Wolf accounts have generated more than 75.5 million engagements with more than 1.5 million new followers and over 277 million social views and, now that the film is streaming on Paramount+, it's only going to grow as more and more fans return to Beacon Hills The film broke Paramount+'s record for most-watched original movie in its first day of debut. The film was also the most social program across all of television (broadcast, cable, and OTT) on January 26th — and with 4.79 million social interactions, Teen Wolf: The Movie is the most social premiere in Paramount+ history.

And things are only getting bigger from there. The premiere of the new series, Wolf Pack, also marks Paramount+'s most-watched YA series since iCarly, making it the number two YA series premiere overall in its first 24 hours. Wolf Pack also contributed to the social chatter, with the series ranking as the number one most social drama premiere on Paramount+ to date.

What is Teen Wolf: The Movie about?

The official description of Teen Wolf: The Movie is as follows: "In Teen Wolf: The Movie, a full moon rises in Beacon Hills and with it a terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of Banshees, Werecoyotes, Hellounds, Kitsunes, and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a Werewolf like Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), no longer a teenager yet still an Alpha, can gather, both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they've ever faced."

Teen Wolf: The Movie is now streaming on Paramount+.