Traditionally, the number of total subscribers an influencer has on social media is what motivates how brands or other media activate against their content. But according to a new report from Tubular Labs, unique viewers are just as important –– maybe even more, depending on the goal of the campaign. 

To get a handle on what’s driving engagement on social video, Tubular Labs utilized its Audience Ratings tool to give buyers and sellers a look at one of the high-growth influencer industries: beauty.

For instance, one of the more well-known beauty influencers, James Charles, has a pretty sizable subscriber count on YouTube –– almost 25 million. But during the month of August, he had only about 2.4 million unique viewers across Facebook and YouTube in the U.S. 

While total reach is great for spreading brand awareness, brands that are interested in driving more direct engagement may want to consider beauty influencers with a more active fan-base, such as Brad Mondo.

While Mondo has “only” 7 million YouTube subscribers, the hair guru drew 13.2 million unique viewers across Facebook and YouTube in August. He also had 110.8 million minutes-watched, the second highest (beauty influencer Safiya Nygaard received the most watchtime, with nearly 114 million minutes), according to Audience Ratings data from Tubular. 

The point? The more brands and agencies can learn about true audiences, the more effective decisions they can make in their buying strategy. 

Other top U.S. beauty influencers on Facebook and YouTube by unique viewers include:

For more beauty influencer insights on social video, check out Tubular’s new report, “Beauty and the Social Media Beast,” available to download for free.