Hey folks - welcome to the 94th edition of The SEG3 Report!

In this week’s edition - a spotlight on SuperAwesome’s Gen A & Z Fandom report, plus we’re testing out The Speed Read; a segment with quick takes on the BBC investing in YouTube-first programming, and Fanatics’ new entertainment and content division.

Let’s get into it ⤵️

The idealistic view of fandom is that someone discovers your brand or IP, falls in love with it, and sticks around forever more.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world anymore.

We live in one where audiences are hit from all sides with options each day, and so building fandom requires constant, long-term attention to their needs, and even then, fans might leave - with 1 in 3 abandoning some of their fandoms between the ages of 4-18.

However, this might not be the end point many think it is.

For Gen Z & A, a new report from SuperAwesome suggests leaving is now a completely normal part of the journey, and brands should be focusing energy on designing for re-entry rather than trying to prevent an exit.

Historically, fandom has been reinforced by scarcity and tradition - limited access to content, fewer platforms, and fandom’s passed down through generations.

Today, by contrast, access is infinite. New creators, games, shows and communities are always one swipe away, and youth audiences aren’t engaging with their passions in the same way older generations have.

That abundance makes a fandom easier to discover and enter, but also much easier to step away from.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean those fandoms are weakening - in fact, the report found 86% of kids and teens are connected to a fandom, and 56% engage with their fandom daily.

It just means that life gets busy; the connection may still be there for many, but their relationship with your brand or IP will evolve as their interests and friendship groups do too.

But in order to create that familiarity that can be reactivated in later life, it’s absolutely critical that connection is built early - not because it necessarily guarantees lifelong loyalty, but because otherwise, there’s no baseline to return to (or nostalgic feeling).

And according to the report, that golden age for discovery is around 8 years old.

If fandom is now fluid, it’s worth understanding where and how it actually forms.

And the big takeaway here is that ye olde faithful word of mouth is still unbeatable - with nearly half of first fandom discoveries coming through friends or family.

And this social proof is not just reserved for IRL recommendations; it’s expanded into how people discover online, which is why clips have become such an important entry point for new fans. As Kristen Salvatore shared at SEG3 LA:

In other words, clips aren’t just great for getting attention - but also for collapsing the time it takes for a fan to feel part of a community. And that sense of community is really what helps any fan stick around.

But whilst close to 50% are discovering through friends and family, fans are discovering through a wealth of other channels and experiences too; through games, through YouTube, through podcasts - showing just how varied the fandom building journey can be, and why reliance on one channel is unlikely to be enough.

So as they say, it takes a village - and that feels especially true when it comes to keeping fans engaged too.

At first glance, fan fluidity can look concerning. If fans are leaving, churn must be increasing and loyalty must be declining. That would be a bad look, right?

Well, not if the affinity remains and the abandonment is just temporary - which is what the data suggests.

For example, a franchise could feel “childish” at 9, but might feel nostalgic slightly later in life, especially if friends re-engage or new content drops.

SEG3 LA alumni Colan Neese writes a fantastic piece on adult fandoms, and the fact that “a lot of us didn’t age out of fandom, we just aged into being able to pay for it… and now we’re sharing it with our kids”.

This is where the idea of fluid fandom shows its long-term value.

Fans may step away in childhood or teenage years, but return later with more disposable income, and a desire to share that fandom with the next generation.

And for brands and IP owners that make sure they exist across multiple mediums, it can create a flywheel that’s hard to escape for fans - in a good way, of course.

It start with accepting that the exit and re-entry stages are equally as important as the rest of the fandom lifecycle.

As we discussed early, fans leave for clear reasons - they grow out of the content, friends are moving on, or a fandom no longer feels cool.

These are not wholly unpredictable behaviours as they are often tied to age and social acceptance.

And so designing for exit doesn’t mean you can prevent it - it just means recognising when and why it happens, and building a strategy that can guide that fan towards a re-entry.

But what brings fans back is rarely just one thing - it’s a combination of a number of things:

Nostalgia is a strong driver for 1 in 5, but it needs to be accompanied by other tools to successfully reboot the fandom; with the majority of strategies giving fans something new to engage with - like new content, new crossovers or new ways to participate alongside friends and family once again.

In short - the key is to keep the door open. Have multiple touch points, continue to evolve the brand and take your IP to new places through new partners and platforms, but do it in a way that makes it easy for fans to come back without friction or embarrassment.

Discovery

Trial

Deepen

Engage

Exit

Re-entry

So, if fans aren’t leaving forever, but instead just taking breaks, your focus can shift to giving them a reason to come back, making it easy to pick things back up when they do, and then giving them such a great experience that they want to stick around again.

The BBC has announced a new strategic partnership with YouTube that will see it commission and produce YouTube-first original programming.

UGC platforms, and YouTube specifically, have become a key source of new IP over the past 5-10 years, so under that lens it’s no surprise to see the BBC commit to commissioning native content for the platform.

It’s a necessary move, given YouTube’s growing power as discovery tool (especially when the optimal age for discovery of fandom’s is now around 8 years old!). Creating content natively for the platform should allow the BBC to test and develop new IP that can talk more deeply to youth audiences, whilst enabling them to explore the viability of alternative monetisation models for their content.

Whilst this is a big move for the public service broadcaster, it’s still worth noting this is a supplement to iPlayer & linear broadcast, not a replacement - with those channels still demanding huge audiences, with The Traitors finale averaging an astounding 9.4m viewers just this past week.

So this could be the best of both worlds - with the likely objective of the partnership with YouTube to find some new winning formats, graduate them up to the traditional channels, and try to replicate The Traitors success for years to come.

Fanatics is going all-in on entertainment with the launch of a new content division focused on producing sports-driven documentaries, scripted shows and live programming.

We’ve recently seen GAP, P&G, and now Fanatics launch content studios in a bid to use entertainment as a “connective tissue” to other parts of their business.

Looking at it through a fan journey lens (as discussed above), content becomes the entry point into the Fanatics ecosystem. The studio gives them a way to grab attention, tell the stories behind and around their products and experiences, and then move fans towards merch, collectibles, live events or gaming.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report. Do let us know what you thought of the new format, and if you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a colleague or friend!