In 2021, with numerous franchises released globally of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and various social and linear spin-offs, the digital recap series, The Pit Stop, remains the most successful to emerge from the series. Now with All Stars 3 Winner Trixie Mattel as host, The Pit Stop has become must-watch content and an integral part of the Drag Race audience experience; capitalizing on its continued evolution has only brought The Pit Stop to record heights.
Navigating production challenges related to the pandemic, we moved the series from New York back to Los Angeles and developed a hybrid-shooting model with Trixie on set, and guests remote – slowly integrating guests back into the studio. We changed up the set, brought in brand new guests and gave Trixie free reign to improvise and create truly viral moments. The move of the television series to the brand-new platform Paramount+ created unique challenges. Airing at 3am on Wednesdays caused us to retool how we launched the series. We moved it to Thursday evenings and saw record growth in our viewership with each episode exceeding 1 million views. Last year we went from having 3 sponsored integrations to having half of the season sponsored with international brands such as Orbitz, Barefoot Wine and Levi’s. 2021 truly was the year that The Pit Stop became synonymous with the viewing experience of Drag Race. Leveraging Trixie’s millions of followers, coupled with social teases and lessons learned from past season brought The Pit Stop to record viewership, watch time and engagement and over-delivered in every metric.
The Pit Stop Season 13 has earned 303M minutes, 20.1M views, and 29K subs, and The Pit Stop All Stars 6 has already earned 101M minutes, 6.9M views, and 8.8K subs. However, simply looking at the eye-popping numbers doesn’t do justice to what The Pit Stop continues to do for the Drag Race brand. A quick perusal of the comments will show how many fans look forward to the release of this series more than the actual television program and are waiting to watch as soon as it’s dropped. Between the implantation of new strategies, Trixie’s popularity and the overall advanced quality of content has made 2021 (Season 13 + All Stars 6) the most successful year to date of The Pit Stop in every regard.
