In the Digital Era, What Does a "Spoiler" Spoil? Entertainment marketing has long wrestled with how much to “spoil” in the lead-up to a premiere. Social assets are designed to tease without giving too much away. Trailers walk the line between enticing and revealing. Much of the industry’s comfort zone today around what to hold back arguably comes from a pre-streaming era, a time when the singular marketing goal was to drive live tune-in or box office turnout.

Streaming continues to blur the line between teasing and spoiling. What was once considered a spoiler to a premiere's reveal can just as easily have the opposite effect of earning media and driving audience urgency while a series is in season. It’s not as clear for theatrical releases however, and a timely case study has emerged: The Devil Wears Prada 2. This summer, social media has been buzzing with leaked set photos, fueling anticipation even as some complain it ruins the surprise. Vogue posted “All the Costumes From The Devil Wears Prada 2 (So Far).” Bazaar shared“Every Look From the Set of Devil Wears Prada 2.” One X user groaned: “Damn y’all can’t let them people record Devil Wears Prada 2 in peace?”

What’s notable is that there are about as many stories, and social mention, of the photos themselves as there are about the film’s constant set leaks. The film’s campaign has turned the dilemma of leaks into a PR narrative that is ultimately positioning the movie as having insatiable demand.

While pop culture today is less communal than it once was, we constantly hear from audiences that when a series is “in season and all over my feeds”, they’re pushed to watch it. Why? To be part of the social moment vs having it spoiled by everything coming at them on social. For theatrical releases however, it’s more complicated. Spoilers may undercut the urgency of watching in a theater – as example, The Devil Wears Prada 2 doesn’t even come out until next May and some fans feel like they’ve already figured out a major character’s death.