Why Anua Is No. 1 in Short-Form Skincare: Three Measures to Track Every Month
By
Yong Suk Choi
Anua beat Medicube two months running on measures that video count does not capture, even though Medicube had far more videos. Three measures matter. Anua led on two of them in both months: the share of videos that show the product with no brand tag in the caption, and the share that pass 100,000 views. The third, creator breadth, went to Anua in September and to Medicube in October. So a brand should log all three next to its video count every month, and breadth is the one it can move directly, by adding new creators each month.
The evidence comes from Syncly's monthly short-form index. In its first edition, for September 2026, seven of the ten skincare brands are K-beauty, and Anua is No. 1. Medicube appeared in about 2.7 times as many videos, yet Anua scored 7 points higher.
Breaking down the September score, Medicube led on share of voice and momentum, the two measures that rise with volume. Anua led on the three measures above. After weighting, Anua's leads added up to about 7 points more than Medicube's.
In short
7 of the 10 skincare brands in the September Syncly Social Index are K-beauty: Anua, SKIN1004, Medicube, Beauty of Joseon, Celimax, COSRX and Mixsoon.
Anua ranked first with 4,663 videos against Medicube's 12,731. It led Medicube on untagged mentions, the share of videos passing 100,000 views, and creator breadth.
In October, Anua was again No. 1 and Medicube again No. 3, and the gap widened to 12.3 points. Untagged mentions and high reach made the difference in both months, while Medicube led on creator breadth in October.
How does the Syncly Social Index score brands?
How the index scores brands explains why Medicube, with the most videos, finished third. Syncly, a social video analytics company, publishes a monthly scorecard of beauty and wellness brands. It covers TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and it counts videos in any language from any country that mention a brand. September 2026 is the first edition.
Video count decides which brands make the panel, but not their order within it. Each month Syncly rebuilds a pool of candidate brands by searching category keywords, hashtags and top-viewed videos, and the 10 candidates with the most video mentions make the panel. Scores are relative to the other nine brands in the panel, and brands cannot pay to be included or to change their scores.
The order comes from six measures. Each is scored from 0 to 100, and the weighted average is the brand's score. Sales and product quality are not part of it.
Measure | What it captures | Weight |
|---|---|---|
Share of voice | The brand's share of all mentions of the 10 panel brands | 25 |
Untagged share | Videos that show or say the brand while the caption, hashtags and handles never name it | 20 |
Momentum | Change in the brand's share of all beauty videos vs the previous month | 15 |
Organic sentiment | Share of positive videos among organic posts | 15 |
High reach | Share of the brand's videos with 100,000 views or more | 15 |
Creator breadth | Higher when the 10 most active creators make a smaller share of videos | 10 |
Two of the six are judged from samples. Untagged share and sentiment come from about 66 videos per brand. With a margin of error near ±12 points, Syncly scores those two in thirds: top, middle or bottom. So a brand's untagged score is always 100, 50 or 0.
The other four are measured on all videos and scored by rank within the panel. The top brand gets 100, the bottom brand 0, and the rest are spaced evenly between them. A brand whose share rises while its rank stays put keeps the same score.
Did the seven K-beauty brands rank in order of video count?
Seven of the ten brands in the September skincare panel are K-beauty. The other three are The Ordinary at No. 4, CeraVe at No. 6 and La Roche-Posay at No. 7. Even among the seven, rank did not follow video count.
Rank | Brand | Score | Videos | Standout on the three measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Anua | 74.5 | 4,663 | Untagged 29% in the top third, broadest creator base |
2 | SKIN1004 | 72.8 | 5,048 | Untagged 23%, same top third as Anua |
3 | Medicube | 67.5 | 12,731 | Most videos, 8th on high reach |
5 | Beauty of Joseon | 47.8 | 3,920 | 3rd on creator breadth |
8 | Celimax | 42.2 | 2,380 | Highest share of 100K+ view videos, 5.7% |
9 | COSRX | 38.9 | 3,567 | 10th on high reach |
10 | Mixsoon | 36.7 | 2,595 | 2nd on high reach, 10th on creator breadth |
Video count and rank diverge most at the top. Medicube had the most videos and placed third, while Anua, with about a third as many, placed first. Lower down, Celimax, with 2,380 videos, ranked one place above COSRX, with 3,567, and Celimax had the highest share of 100K+ view videos in the panel.
Why did Medicube, with the most videos, finish third?
Start with the gap at the top. Medicube ranked first in the panel on both volume measures, with a 30% share of voice and +45% momentum. It scored the maximum 100 on both.
After weighting, Medicube trailed Anua by 10 points on untagged share, 4.2 on high reach and 3.3 on creator breadth. Together that is 17.5, about 7 more than the 10.6 Medicube gained on share of voice and momentum. That difference is the final 7-point gap between the two brands.
Of those three gaps, high reach is measured as a share, so volume does not help. Of Medicube's 12,731 videos, 2.4% passed 100,000 views, below Anua's 2.9%. That left Medicube with a high-reach score of 22.2 out of 100, 8th of 10 in the panel.
The other two gaps, untagged share and creator breadth, are the measures where Anua scored the maximum 100 in September.
What did Anua do differently?
Untagged share was the largest of the three gaps, at 10 weighted points. In Anua's sample, 29% of videos showed the product with no caption tag. That was the highest share among the top three brands; Medicube's was 18%.
One example is a haul of K-beauty products bought on Nykaa, India's beauty retailer, which drew 2.8 million views. The creator mentioned the Anua PDRN cream in speech and never in the caption. Listening tools that read captions and tags miss videos like this.
Anua's videos also came from a large number of creators. Its 10 most active creators made 2.3% of its videos, the lowest concentration in the panel. Even the most active account, Anua's own, posted only 14 videos.
Views did not hinge on one person either. Anua's most-viewed September video was Kendall Jenner's PDRN routine, at 9.8 million views by Syncly's count, and it added almost nothing to Anua's score. Its caption tags Anua's account, so it counts as a tagged mention. On high reach and creator breadth it is one video out of 4,663, so it barely moves either share.
Kendall Jenner's PDRN routine reel with Anua, September 16, 2026. View on Instagram
Did the pattern hold in October?
Each edition counts only that month's videos, so a September lead has to be earned again in October. The October edition covers videos posted from October 1 to 31. Anua was again No. 1 at 74.5 and Medicube again No. 3 at 62.2. The gap widened from 7 points in September to 12.3.
Once again, Anua led by 10 weighted points on untagged share and by 5 on high reach. Anua's untagged share was 25.8% in October, still in the top third. Anua had 4.2% of its videos pass 100,000 views, against 3.2% for Medicube. Medicube's share was up from 2.4% in September, but it ranked 8th on this measure in both months, so its score stayed at 22.2.
Those two measures decided the ranking in both months. Together they put Anua ahead by 14.2 weighted points in September and 15 in October. On the remaining measures, Anua led by 5 on momentum, Medicube led by 5.6 on share of voice, and sentiment was even.
Creator breadth did not hold. Medicube led it by 2.2 points this time, and Anua's breadth score fell from 100 to 66.7. The share of Anua's videos made by its 10 most active creators grew from 2.3% in September to 3.1%. Medicube's was 2.9% that month. The brand with the broadest base in September gave up this measure within a month.
How does a brand widen its creator base?
One big video will not win breadth back. The measure depends on how many people post and how evenly they share the load. It collapses when a few people post many times.
At Mixsoon, one creator in Mexico posted 67 videos and the top 10 made 8.1% of its videos, which put its breadth score at 0 out of 100. Celimax scored 11.1 after one creator posted 43. With the same number of videos, the score drops as more of them come from the same people.
To widen the base, add new creators every month and ask each for one video. Seeding does this, since each creator who receives the product posts their own video. BAZZAAL's always-on seeding program with SKIN1004 has worked this way since 2023.
The program's numbers are public in the SKIN1004 case study. From March 4 to May 21, 2026, 313 creators made 453 posts. That averages about 1.4 posts per creator. When fewer creators post in a month than planned, BAZZAAL recruits extra new creators the next month to cover the shortfall.
BAZZAAL runs unpaid seeding. It picks creators who apply to each campaign from a network of 100,000+ creators and sends them product, and most participants are nano creators. A pool that wide is what lets new creators be added every month.
Which measures should a brand track every month?
Seeding widens the base, but only the monthly numbers show whether it did. A brand outside the ranking can count the same three measures on its own videos.
Are you counting videos that show or say your product without naming it in text? If your listening tool reads only captions, a person has to watch them.
What share of this month's videos passed 100,000 views? Log it next to your video count. If the count rose and this share fell, the extra videos did not spread.
What share of this month's videos came from your 10 most active creators? The more evenly a seeding program spreads across people, the smaller this share gets.
FAQ
Is the Syncly ranking a US ranking?
It counts videos from every country. Among September videos with a known location, Anua had 1,133 from the US and 342 from the UK. SKIN1004 had 1,468 US videos and Medicube 4,071, and the US was the top country for both. Beauty of Joseon, by contrast, had 678 from the UK and 766 from the US, and Mixsoon 481 from Mexico and 499 from the US.
Can a brand pay to rank?
Brands cannot pay to be included or change their scores. Syncly also says a brand's use of its service plays no part in panels or scores.
Does the brand with the most videos rank first?
Not necessarily. Share of voice is one of six measures, with a weight of 25 out of 100. In both September and October, Medicube had the most videos and placed third.
Related reading: How Many Creators for a US Seeding Campaign? · Creator Seeding at Scale: Why 100 Creators Isn't Enough Anymore · SKIN1004 Creator Program: How Does Seeding at Scale Work?
Sources
Syncly. Syncly Social Index: Beauty & Wellness Brands on short-form video. September and October 2026 editions, checked 2026-11-02.
Syncly. Syncly Social Index: Methodology. Updated October 2026.
Syncly. Skincare on video, September 2026.
Syncly. Skincare on video, October 2026.
Syncly. Anua on video, September 2026.
Syncly. Anua on video, October 2026.
Syncly. SKIN1004 on video, September 2026.
Syncly. Medicube on video, September 2026.
Syncly. Medicube on video, October 2026.
Syncly. Medicube vs Anua, September 2026.
Syncly. Celimax on video, September 2026.
Syncly. COSRX on video, September 2026.
Syncly. Mixsoon on video, September 2026.
Kendall Jenner. Instagram Reel, "my @anua_global PDRN routine". 2026-09-16.
BAZZAAL. SKIN1004 case study.
Written by
Yong Suk Choi
Chief Business Officer
Chief Business Officer at BAZZAAL. 15+ years of zero-to-one go-to-market execution across Korean and US markets, now leading growth for K-beauty brands entering the US from Los Angeles and Seoul.
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BAZZAAL runs creator seeding, TikTok Shop, and paid campaigns for K-beauty brands entering the US — from Los Angeles, in Korean-company workflows.
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