YouTube’s Tradition and Traits Report has been an annual report that YouTube releases since 2021. Annually, the YouTube Tradition and Traits Report seeks to debate what precisely viewers love about their platform. This yr, YouTube mentioned the significance of fandom by way of permitting viewers to constantly devour content material from fandoms that they love whereas additionally cultivating fully new ones.Â
1. Fandoms have FollowersÂ
Followers have by no means stopped at consuming content material, they usually’re not about to now! Followers have at all times been in energetic dialog with their fandom by creating content material and posting it on-line. These stylish, memey movies that different followers watch as a result of they’re simply as large of a fan of that fandom as that person who made that video then has its personal sub-fandom.Â
An excellent instance of that is Tessa Netting’s content material. Tessa Netting is a YouTube creator that started her journey creating content material surrounding the Harry Potter franchise. With tens of millions of individuals all over the world which are followers of Harry Potter, Netting created her personal neighborhood of followers of her personal.
2. YouTube is the Place to Discover Your Area of interest
YouTube discovered that 47% of individuals polled which are part of Technology Z report belonging to a fandom that nobody they know personally is part of. Small communities of extremely area of interest fandoms make it doable for brand spanking new followers to study every little thing that they should know to develop into tremendous followers inside the fandom. The camaraderie inside these remark sections of those small communities permits them to return collectively for these frequent pursuits.Â
Supply: YouTube Tradition and Traits Report
3. Fandom Entry Factors
The quantity and number of content material shared about exhibits, celebrities, films, music, content material creators, video video games, and extra permits for followers to have the best entry to data for these culturally related issues as doable. This in flip will increase the cultural relevance of the fandom as increasingly followers be a part of it. 66% of Gen Z Individuals agree that they typically spent extra time watching content material that discusses or unpacks one thing than the factor itself.Â
4. Branding Fandoms
As content material surrounding fandom continues to develop into increasingly prevalent, content material optimizing fandoms will develop into probably the most profitable. Gen Z followers surveyed on-line agree that they like seeing manufacturers have interaction with issues they’re a fan of.Â
Dunkin Donuts and Tim Hortons every did related campaigns to faucet into fandoms. Dunkin Donuts, partnering with Charli D’Amelio, put her go-to Dunkin drink on the menu as an official drink. Equally, Tim Hortons collaborated with Justin Bieber to not solely put a chilly brew on the menu for him, however a few of their well-known “Tim Bits” as properly.
5. Skilled Followers
8% of Gen Z would describe themselves as skilled followers who earn cash from fandom content material creation. The fashionable leisure expertise is dominated by the fan expertise and merchandise of fandom tradition. With technological advances, anybody is usually a creator; followers may be creators and have their very own fandoms.Â
Right now, as a collective, followers perceive the worth of what different followers do to take part in fandoms. Followers are more and more aware of that participation and need to take part too, making fan tradition, taking part, and expertise the dominant societal fashionable tradition. Â
This text was written by Alyssa Micalizzi