Fandoms in Focus
How Aussie fans shape culture across entertainment, sport and music.
A Fan Joins a Fandom
Immersed in the Fandom
In Australia, fandoms have gone from niche to mainstream. In the last few years along, from the Eras Tour to the Women's World Cup to Barbie's box ofce success, we've seen how Australian fandoms are shaping culture across sports, music, and entertainment. For Aussies, dedicated fandoms are a source of connection, shape the fan’s identity, and infuence broader
Though no two fandoms are identical, they all share one fundamental aspect: a participatory community where you're seeking out others who love the same thing as you to kind of build on the world, to make friends, to share that passion. While fandoms may not all display the same stereotypical behaviours, each one inherently involves some form of participation and community engagement. Whereas, to be a casual fan, it’s more personal, more individualistic. Perhaps this type of fan enjoys a wide range of music, appreciates good storytelling and follows particular athletes. However, you can't experience a fandom alone, being in a fandom means connecting with others who share your passion for that particular
Today’s fans now follow on average
7.6
distinct fandoms
(Sources: Amazon Ads: The Anatomy of Hype, 2024; ING, 2025; Connect by Live Nation: Love Song, 2025)
Often entertainment fans in a fandom are particularly invested in a specifc franchise, genre or even a particular actor or director. Same can be said for diferent musical artists, genres, sports or teams. The fan interaction extends beyond just consuming the creative object, it’s engaging others. Whether that’s through attending in-person games, discussing fan theories, creating fan art, going to live gigs and following or contributing to online discourse. In turn, fandoms thrive in both online and IRL spaces. According to Anatomy of Hype from Amazon Ads, globally 70% of people say their fandom and fan community are part of their everyday life. And as we’ve seen, fandom does convert into spending. For sport alone, Australians spend $19 billion annually on sports fandom, ING research reveals.
With a desire to authentically express themselves, these fans are not going all-in on one thing but claiming multiple fan identities across their range of interests and passions. It is uncommon for a fan to be exclusively engaged with a single fandom. Instead, many individuals exhibit fan behaviours across multiple fandoms encompassing sports, music, and entertainment.
In the music sphere, 67% of Gen Z identify as "superfans" across various genres—from country music to Asian Pop and musicals. While older generations mainly appreciate artists for their creative talent, Gen Z's connection to music focuses on feeling personally connected to both the artist and their story. According to a 2025 Live Nation study, 87.9% of Australian Gen Z say music shapes their personal identity and helps them navigate life's uncertainties.
“Being in a fandom means taking that extra step beyond consumption into modes of participation. When we talk about fandoms, we often talk about community because you can't be in a fandom alone. You can really love something but being in a fandom means you seek out others who love the thing.”
Dr Georgia Carroll, Fandom Expert and Researcher
Falling Down The Fandom Rabbit Hole
Starting your journey into a fandom is like falling down a rabbit hole. The longer you fall, the deeper you become immersed in the lore and culture. However, it's important to remember that this journey isn't always linear, as entry points into fandom are varied and unique.
FIRST CONTACT
Discovery
Initial engagement with the fandom object like watching an episode or listening to an album.
ANAYLYSING
Uncovering the Lore
Dive deeper to better understand the world and lore through analysis videos and stan accounts.
CONVERSATION
Finding Community
Sharing your perspective by theorising, debating and bonding online or IRL.
ENGAGING CREATING
Infuencing Identity
Expressing yourself through style, adopting phrases, and attending events.
World Expanding
Creating based on the fandom object, from fan fction to fan edits and beyond.
No discussion of knowledge in fandoms would be complete without examining "lore" (which made Oxford University Press's 2024 word of the year shortlist). Lore serves as both a shared foundation and a dynamic playground for meaning-making in fandoms. This is especially true in sci-f and fantasy genres, where intricate world-building creates rich folding for communal knowledge and cultural participation. Through their mastery of timelines, backstories, and canon details, fans can establish authority. Lore becomes a social currency as fans circulate, debate, and expand upon it, signalling their commitment and authenticity within the community. On social media, fans often use their command of lore to demonstrate expertise or even "gatekeep" by suggesting others lack their depth of knowledge.
Obscure knowledge builds credibility
In many ways, super fans are the most infuential voices in fandoms. They are the experts, the canon gatekeepers who preserve the lore, defne acceptable behaviours, and impart wisdom to the rest of the fandom. Knowledge brings status and credibility upon super fans. In turn, leading to covert, unspoken hierarchies within the fandoms.
Ultimately, these fans then become responsible for passing that knowledge on to new fans.
Within fandoms, informal hierarchies emerge as communities naturally organise themselves based on expertise, infuence, and level of involvement. The length of time a fan engages with their fandom can infuence their position in the fan hierarchy. Members who demonstrate deeper knowledge or greater dedication may be viewed as more authentic fans, which afects their standing in the community. In entertainment fandoms, those who were fans when a show originally aired may accumulate knowledge over time, shaping their identity and social circles. Although brands often measure fandom in music and sports by spending capacity, it's important to look deeper to understand how fans contribute to the fandom beyond just dollars spent.
In fandom communities, the more niche or obscure your knowledge, the more respect you earn. Knowing behind-the-scenes details, deleted content, or creator interviews can elevate your standing. As well as a deep understanding of the lore and complementary texts as part of the fandom world.
Creative analysis shows infuence
Those who can analyse and present new theories can gain recognition within the community. The rise of TikTok has been instrumental in interpretation becoming a larger part of fandoms, whereby dedicated fans explore hidden Easter Eggs, connections between sources texts and potential endings.
Control
over
fandom behaviours
However, it’s a trap as a new fan to theorise too much without frst understanding the lore behind the work. In turn, dedicated, long-term fans often become gatekeepers of what constitutes true fandom knowledge and dismiss interpretations that challenge their established understanding.
“Knowledge is the most important out of all of the things in fandoms because it is how the community establishes norms, expectations and shared behaviours. Without this knowledge, a fandom can fall apart.”
Dr Georgia Carroll, Fandom Expert and Researcher
Exploring how knowledge creates covert hierarchies within fandoms.
Top Tier: Diehard Superfans
Highly knowledgeable fans know almost everything there is to know about the fandom, from obscure trivia to behind-the-scenes details. In entertainment fandoms, they consider themselves defenders of canon and may criticise incorrect interpretations. In Australian Doctor Who fandoms, long-time fans debate classic vs. modern eras, referencing BBC archives and production changes.
Mid Tier: Savvy Enthusiasts
These fans show a solid understanding of the fandom but don’t live and breathe it as much as the top tier. Engaging in discussions and creating fan content, including art, edits, and casual theories. They can analyse content and reference past plot lines but may not recall specifc production details. For example, certain Swifties attended the Eras Tour in their city without buying custom outfts or merch.
Entry Tier: New Recruits
More laid-back or new to the fandom who engage with the community like commenting on TikTok but aren’t deeply informed about the source text. A risk here for the new recruits that if they misunderstand the lore, they could experience gatekeeping from more experienced fans. For example, a Sydney Swans fan who’ve attended a few games each season and comment on highlight reels without diving too deeply into the fandom.
Community-Building Spaces
Where fans go to find and meet their fandom
For global fandoms, Australia’s geographic isolation limits the opportunities for local fans to meetup IRL with other fans who share their passion. As a result, Aussie fans oen turn to online communities where they find common ground.
With the arrival of TikTok and Aussies looking for new ways to connect coming out of the pandemic, the cultural momentum surrounding fandoms has grown exponentially. This raises questions about how fandoms create communities both online and ofine. While pre-internet, fans connected through zines, letters and conventions, today's digital landscape ofers easier access and greater acceptance of fandom culture.
Connecting with Community IRL
Fans deeply value feeling closer to their fandom through immersive experiences. In our hyper-digital world, live events add vital context and depth to online fandom life. A single gathering can generate months of content, inside jokes, and meaningful connections. Rather than competing with online engagement, these events actually fuel it.
Impact of Cost of Living
When engaging with fandoms, we must consider the broader realities fans face—particularly the cost of living crisis and loneliness epidemic. Research from The Growth Distillery and Medibank reveals that one in four young Australians report loneliness and isolation as daily stressors. Fandoms provide vital community and belonging, especially in difcult times. Brands risk alienating their audience if they ignore economic pressures through expensive merchandise or events. As fans seek meaningful connections amid loneliness, brands should create inclusive, supportive spaces that protect emotional well-being and safety.
Social media provides an outlet for fandoms.
According to GWI, 20% of Aussies use social media to fnd like-minded communities and interest groups and 56% use social media to keep in touch with friends. However, the exact role of social media fexes between fandoms.
Music Fandom
Music fans unite behind artists by coordinating streaming eforts, voting in polls, and boosting songs up the charts through shared hashtags and collective goals. TikTok has supercharged this behaviour, with fans creating dance challenges, lyric trends, and sped-up remixes that breathe new life into songs within algorithmic culture. Stan Twitter exists as its own universe, where fans celebrate their favourite artists while engaging in rivalries, defending reputations, and crafting identities through avatars, bios, and quote-tweets. Fan edits, fancams, and artistic visuals dominate Instagram and YouTube, forging a visual language that elevates artists to mythic status.
Entertainment Fandom
Entertainment fans, whether devoted to a TV series, flm franchise, or celebrity, are deeply narrative-driven, as refected in their social media behaviour. They gather online to theorise about plot twists, analyse character development, and speculate about future storylines. Reddit threads, Tumblr posts, and TikTok breakdowns serve as spaces for deep engagement and collective storytelling. Fans channel their devotion through creative expression; writing fan fction, creating fan art, or producing edits that reimagine characters in alternate universes. Celebrity fandoms fourish through parasocial intimacy: fans track every Instagram post, interpret captions, and piece together narratives from paparazzi photos and interviews.
Sports Fandom
Sports fans use social media as a digital stadium, a place to cheer, argue, celebrate, and commiserate in real time. Fans forge their identities through teams, players, and local pride, adopting the language and rituals of their chosen tribe. On TikTok and Instagram, highlight culture fourishes through shareable clips of goals, buzzer-beaters, and behind-thescenes moments that spark conversation. Athletes have become digital personalities too, with fans following their lifestyle content and training routines. Fantasy leagues and betting communities transform spectators into strategists, adding new layers of engagement.
Short form fan theories, explainers, fan edits and cosplay. Long form explainers diving into the lore and fan theories
Meme or fandom accounts to follow
Discourse surrounding fandom
Stan Twitter's birthplace, centred around rapid fan dialogue
Inner circle fandom group chat
created content including original
discussion and watch parties with role based communities
fiction and expanding canon
art sharing and reposting
“While fandoms have connections to brands and official media, at the heart fandoms are spaces where fans can freely remix and reimagine content through critique and creative expression. Brands can’t tell fans how to participate. Instead, it’s about observing and understanding the tone of voice in the fandom.”
Dr Georgia Carroll, Fandom Expert and Researcher
While the rise of the ‘stan’ has transformed fandoms into a powerful cultural force, this collective energy can quickly turn toxic.
“I believe that fandom is a wonderful and vital organ of contemporary culture, without which that culture ultimately stagnates, atrophies and dies. At the same time, I’m sure that fandom is sometimes a grotesque blight that poisons the society surrounding it with its mean spirited obsessions and ridiculous, unearned sense of entitlement.”
The Double Edged Sword of Stans
The intensity of stan culture can foster online harassment, with fans sometimes dogpiling on journalists, critics, or even artists themselves for perceived slights. In this digital echo chamber, dissenting opinions are often policed or punished, leaving little room for nuance.
This hyper-loyalty creates a climate where criticism is considered a betrayal, and emotional over investment in celebrities blurs the line between fandom and identity, intensifying confict and defensiveness.
Beyond interpersonal dynamics, stan culture is also being commodifed. There is a risk for platforms and brands to exploit fan devotion to drive virality and sales, often through hype-driven scarcity tactics— particularly around ticketing and merch. This can encourage excessive spending, especially among younger fans. For brands seeking to connect with fandoms, there must be a balance between rewarding fan devotion and ensuring accessibility
Alan Moore, Watchmen Author for The Guardian, 2024
“A stan doesn’t like nuance and critique, their favourite fandom object is always right and they'll kind of attack anything that comes in conflict. So the rise of stan culture equates to the fall cultural critique more broadly. In part, we’ve seen a decline in the role of the movie critic and especially tv critic because the cultural conversation doesn’t always support critique. There’s a risk now to be legitimately critical of entertainment.”
Dr Georgia Carroll, Fandom Expert and Researcher
Value Exchange Framework
How brands can engage
Brands can reach fandoms through a value exchange framework, which recognises that fan attention, participation, and emotional investment are valuable resources that deserve meaningful engagement in return. The key here is reciprocity. By providing genuine value rather than extracting attention or labour, brands can earn trust and build lasting relationships with dedicated communities behind the fandoms. Across the research, the fndings show that brands should facilitate existing behaviour and norms. In turn, embracing the tone of voice of the fandom. Never dictating or controlling how fans engage.
Spotlight: Klook Fandom
“Fandom is seen from the ground up from the fans up not from the brands down. So if brands can effectively engage that's a bonus but it should never be the expectation.”
Klook, the travel experiences platform, launched a new campaign in 2025 empowering content creators to embark on a passion-fueled journey as part of a Fandom Tour across Japan and South Korea. From anime to K-pop to gaming, the campaign rewarded superfans' love of their fandoms through exclusive travel opportunities.
Spotlight: A24 x Half Magic
A24’s Makeup Brand ‘Half Magic’ was born out of the fandom embracing the show’s beauty as a form of creative storytelling and self-expression. The show’s makeup artist Donni Davy teamed up with A24 to release the brand, Half Magic, inspired by the creativity of the looks in Euphoria. This brand adds value to fans as it provides another mode to express themselves and their love for the show.
Dr Georgia Carroll, Fandom Expert and Researcher
(Sources: Amazon Ads: The Anatomy of Hype, 2024)
54%
of fans can tell when a brand's involvement in their fandom is authentic, suggesting that inauthentic engagement can backfre
What this means for brands
Treat Fandoms as Communities
Given their participatory nature, brands should treat fandoms as connected communities. This creates opportunities to engage with the collective voice of the community through value exchange. By ofering unique elements that enhance the fandom experience, such as exclusive content, immersive experiences, or special collaborations.
Observe and Facilitate Behaviour
Brands should avoid attempting to dictate or control fandom behaviour. Instead, the focus should be on facilitating fan culture and align with the passions already driving these communities. Brands should actively listen to and learn from organic fan discussions while supporting existing fan initiatives and creative expressions. By providing platforms and tools that enhance natural fan interactions, brands can create valuable opportunities for fans to connect on their own terms.
Worldbuilding & Immersive Experiences
Today, many fandoms connect online but research shows a desire to connect IRL. However, outside of sporting games and live gigs, fandom events can be relatively limited locally. Australia's geographic isolation poses signifcant challenges for fans trying to connect with others and attend in-person events. Brands have an opportunity here to bridge this distance through immersive experiences that bring the fandom to life.
