fans: will we earn any?

20 Apr, 2009 • posts i've written • 3 comments

I met with some damn savvy TV folks last week and the conversation fell upon predicting if upcoming shows will earn fans (and to what extent). While we all knew that ultimately, quality content draws a crowd, there are some ways of thinking about types of television fandom and what fans have been drawn to in the past.

According to Kaarina Nikunen, a Finnish researcher, there are three types of television fandom:

Trend Fandom – this is when an active fan community pops up around a popular property (that is sometimes benefiting from a rising trend, eg. ‘reality television’), novelty plays a big part here, hence it is often short lived… look at American Idol, Survivor, Ally McBeal, etc.

Star Fandom – this is when the focus of fandom is centered on the celebrity or star of the show, and this is most often a community that follows said celebrity from entertainment property to entertainment property

Cult Fandom – this often involves a fan community participating at much more elaborate levels for a property that is typically marginal to the rest of culture. Think Xena, Warrior Princess. Cult fandom communities often socialize in these groups because they gain validation that is especially awarded among other like-minded fans

In addition to Nikunen’s work, at SxSW Henry Jenkins talked a bit about popular fan formulas among TV properties. He gave the following two examples for character ensembles:

Star Trek – the group of characters struggling to uphold certain societal values or protect a way of life (Lord of the Rings also fits here)

X-Files – two characters, that play off of each other, combat and or protect one another, against outside forces (Beauty and the Beast, too)

Now, even though both were specifically referenced for television fandom, it’s clear that some concepts can be translated into the world of brands and products. Let’s take Apple as an example. Steve Jobs surely benefits from a bit of Star Fandom. His celebrity is followed and closely monitored. And before its most recent resurgence, Apple was marginal to culture at large, and enjoyed some Cult Fandom. Other brands that jump to mind… Tom’s Shoes could be experiencing Trend Fandom as doing ‘good’ is becoming more popular… The crew at 37Signals, makers of Basecamp, resemble the Star Trek ensemble of characters fighting to uphold certain ideals about work and productivity…

Beyond these elements, here’s my rule of thumb for the question, “is it worthy of earning fans?” How many existing communities can you identify as being ‘courtable’ and demonstrate fandom? As Henry puts it, communities aren’t created, they’re courted. And if everything new is constructed from bits and pieces of pre-existing stuff (as Faris says), then you should be able to measure anything new by investigating which communities could be courted based on the stuff inside your new product or show. For example, the new Stargate show will need to court fans of the existing platform, along with fan communities inside sci-fi programming; specifically fans of shows that work on the same attributes (themes, character ensembles, celebrities, etc).

If you’ve got a new show or product and can’t name any pre-existing fan communities that you could court, most likely you’ll have trouble finding and earning fans.

This post is part of my week dedicated to fans and the future of digital marketing. Tell your friends.