When it comes to the most engaged audiences, online fandoms can be especially rewarding for advertisers. These dedicated, vibrant virtual communities have grown and proliferated over the course of decades. But in recent years, the fans themselves are doing more than just watching, sharing, and discussing official videos. More than ever, they are contributing to mainstream pop culture by creating original content of their own about the things they love.
We wanted to learn more about the state of fandom today, including its impact on culture through creativity. So, for the 2024 YouTube Culture and Trends report, we focused not only on what fans were watching but on what they were making.
The YouTube Culture and Trends team researched hundreds of video marketing trends from the past year, consulted experts at Kresnicka Research and Insight’s Fandom Institute, and ran consumer surveys with research group SmithGeiger in 12 countries around the world. Their findings show that brands have a unique opportunity to reach and develop existing relationships with some of the most engaged audiences that exist: fans.
Empower fans, especially Gen Z YouTube, to create and remix
YouTube fandoms increasingly play a role in online viewership across regions and verticals. According to a survey from the study, 84% of people ages 14 to 441 and 86% of Gen Z (ages 14 to 24) describe themselves as a fan of someone or something.2
YouTube is one of the platforms at the center of this shift. According to the same study, 92% of fans use YouTube to consume content about the person or thing they’re a fan of at least weekly.3
No matter the size or star power of the fandom, brands can find original ways to invite fans to participate. For example, restaurant chain McDonald’s delighted anime fans with “WcDonald’s,” a global campaign with a playful nod to how the McDonald’s arches often show up in anime cartoons. The brand introduced a four-episode series of anime shorts on YouTube and even produced a fan-created music video. Fans responded by creating even more content on YouTube explaining the WcDonald’s universe, touring the immersive WcDonald’s pop-up experience, reviewing the new savory chili WcDonald’s sauce, and more.
The fact that the activation took inspiration from its own depiction in anime holds a lesson for brands: To engage fandoms, let fans craft tributes to and even remix your content, freely riffing on your IP. It will pay dividends later on.
Doing so can open the gates for creators without access to expensive studios or backgrounds in video editing. YouTube Shorts and generative AI have lowered the barrier to entry for creators at all skill levels, with 83% of Gen Z respondents having used a filter, feature, or effect on a video app in the past 12 months.4 What’s more, 74% of Gen Zers described themselves as video content creators.5
When legacy brands authentically embrace what young consumers enjoy, those audiences will welcome them.
To promote a limited-edition beverage said to taste like “fruity-flavored K-pop magic,” Coca-Cola Australia joined forces with one of the most massive fandoms there is. The company invited three popular K-pop groups to collaborate on activations, including an original music video. But the brand went even further. Using AI, fans could add their names, voices, and faces to the video, which they could download to edit, remix, and reshare.
The activation proves that when legacy brands authentically embrace what young consumers enjoy, those audiences will welcome them.
Be there when fans drive culture during major moments
Fan content creation is an always-on phenomenon, and their audiences are far from homogenous. They include professional fans who monetize their content, superfans who routinely create content, casual fans who consume that content, and all levels of engagement in between. Among 14- to 44-year-olds, 61% reported having watched videos made by fans of specific content, artists, or public figures in the past 12 months.6
Because fan creators can include all kinds of talent, from podcasters to costume designers to comedians, the type of content they create is hardly limited to one genre or format. On YouTube, this large volume of creative work means that viewers often spend more time with fan content than the source material.
Vogue’s Met Gala live stream had 14 million views on YouTube this year, but creator-posted videos related to the topic “Met Gala 2024,” such as HauteLeMode’s fashion review, were viewed over 550 million times. That number underlines this sentiment: 64% of people surveyed agreed that watching an event (such as the Oscars, the Grammys, or Coachella) feels incomplete without the reactions, commentary, and content about the event.7 What’s more, 60% said they would prefer to watch creators breaking down a major event rather than the event itself.8
And Gen Z is especially interested in fan or creator content that surrounds big cultural moments: 74% of Gen Z respondents said they often spend more time watching content that discusses or unpacks something than the thing itself (for example, a movie trailer, a new music video, or a big cultural event).9 When the “Deadpool & Wolverine” movie trailer launched in April, it hit No. 1 on the YouTube Trending charts. More revealing was the fact that it was joined by four other creator videos that were either reactions to or analyses of the trailer.
Brands that support fan content can engage with dedicated audiences on a deeper level.
Of course, these cultural moments do not have to be one-day events. When “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 aired in 2024, YouTube creators uploaded 1,500 hours of content related to the show.10
Musical artists and their fan bases are just as synergistic. At the height of the feud between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the artists released nine tracks on YouTube in six weeks — more than 40 minutes of music. It was a huge moment for their fan bases, and fan creators made it even bigger. They posted covers, remixes, interpretations of the lyrics, dances, reactions, and track compilations, leading to over 250,000 uploads related to Drake or Lamar, tallying over 3.5 billion views.
Brands that both enable and support this kind of fan content, whether by providing remixable audio tracks or sponsoring a beloved show, can engage with dedicated audiences on a deeper level to give them a greater sense of ownership and community.
Partner with and amplify fandom favorites
When planning a social activation of any kind, authenticity is critical. The most dedicated fans are also the most keen eyed, ready to tell you what they did or didn’t enjoy about a spot and to catch every Easter egg.
The Los Angeles Chargers’ creative team is no stranger to inside jokes when making its annual schedule announcements. This year’s video, set in the world of the massively popular Electronic Arts video game, “The Sims”, went a step further. The video went viral for its many winking references to NFL personalities and the level of painstaking world-building that many players of The Sims appreciated.
It will not be the first time a sports team draws inspiration from YouTube fan favorites. The Chargers channels published schedules inspired by anime in the past, and this year, NFL teams ran videos inspired by ASMR, video-game-style animations, and a cult-favorite comedy show set in a team’s home city.
Creators have an authentic relationship to the communities that marketers want to reach.
While the Chargers were fortunate to have creative talent with knowledge of the fandom, brands hoping to recreate the enormous success of these videos without a big team should consider partnering with YouTube creators. Creators bring rare skills and specialties to the table, and they have an authentic relationship to the communities that marketers want to reach. These relationships should not be underestimated: 78% of fans surveyed agree they feel successful when the person or thing they’re a fan of experiences success.11
On YouTube, there are more ways to partner than ever, such as Partnership Ads by Brand Connect, which allows brands to turn content on a creator’s channel into an ad, and Creator Takeovers, which gives a brand 100% share of voice for ads on a top 1% YouTube creator’s channel. Remarkably, 75% of fans surveyed agree that they’re more likely to consider a brand that creates or sponsors content they’re a fan of.12
The vastness and variety of YouTube’s fandoms offer plenty of opportunity for brands to appeal to new audiences. Video marketing trends will increasingly invite fan participation, from young fans remixing official music videos to professional fans analyzing their favorite shows. Brands adopting this strategy stand to widen their reach and deepen meaningful connections with the people who may become their biggest fans yet.
