The grief of a fandom: on Starship, Musk and losing the spark
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -The grief of a fandom: on Starship, Musk and losing the spark
SpaceX recently launched its 10th Starship flight from Starbase in South Texas. This proved to be the most successful Starship flight yet, with the vehicle making a (mostly) intact water landing. Starship is the most powerful heavy-lift launch vehicle ever built and it’s making some progress amid numerous high-profile failures and one test stand explosion this year.
“We cannot ignore [Elon, SpaceX’s CEO] Musk. He’s trying to be all cute on Twitter with his ‘I’m a scientist again!’ cosplay.” (Emily Carney)
Musk’s damage to United States space policy is likely to be long-lasting and permanent. While Musk was heading DOGE, the Trump administration proposed slashing NASA’s budget by 25%, ending many missions and programs including the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, ironically championed in Trump’s first term as he promoted a U.S. return to the moon.
Emily Carney / Space News
The 2025 Sports Playbook: How Brands Win With Fandom
Fan Voices: The 2025 Sports Playbook: How Brands Win With Fandom And Streaming - the CMO network-Forbes
As football season approaches, so too does one of the greatest annual marketing opportunities in America: sports sponsorships. For brands aiming to engage loyal, high-energy audiences, there may be no better channel than sports. From packed college stadiums to prime-time NFL slots, sports offer unique moments of community, culture, and connection.
But how can brands do more than just slap their name on a scoreboard? To understand the strategic blueprint for modern sponsorships, I spoke with Mike Proulx, Research Director at Forrester and author of Maximize the Value of Your Sports Sponsorships, along with two companion reports on case studies and activation planning tools.
Proulx opened with a bold truth: “Sports fandoms are among the most loyal and active communities that exist.” Whether it’s Alabama or Ohio State, the Kansas City Chiefs or the Eagles, sports fans show up with unmatched intensity. And yet, the sports landscape is evolving. Traditional leagues like the NFL and NCAA football remain juggernauts, but emerging formats are attracting fresh and often younger demographics. Pickleball, cricket, women’s leagues, and even combat sports like UFC and WWE are expanding the fan base and offering brands new playing fields.
FORBES
How ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Became One of Netflix’s Biggest — and Most Unexpected — Hits, ‘Fandom isn’t slowing down’
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -kpop-demon-hunters-success-netflix-Fandom
Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and Netflix film boss Dan Lin weigh in on how a unique concept and authenticity propelled the animated feature into long-term success.
The animated feature has officially shot to the No. 4 spot on Netflix’s most popular English-language films list with 158.8 million views, according to data released Tuesday. The project — which chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a girl group comprised of three members who just happen to also fight monsters from the underworld — has been a surprise hit for the streamer, and its soundtrack has spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart. Demon Hunters has done surprisingly well considering the fact it is original IP, something of a rarity in successful animation in recent years. Going into the film, Netflix execs say they knew they had an audience who would tune in, but the scope of Demon Hunter’s reach has grown far past that initial target demographic.
“We knew younger female audiences and K-pop [and] anime fans would love this film, but it’s been incredibly gratifying to see it embraced by an even broader audience and become a favorite film for both adults and kids,” Dan Lin, chairman of Netflix, film tells THR. “Adults are watching the movie with their friends or other family members, kids are watching with their friends and siblings.”
The Hollywood Reporter
How movie fandom impacts buying behavior.
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -How movies impact fans’ buying and engagement
Movies provide fans with lifelong escapism and community that brands can leverage long after the box office closes.
Movies and entertainment foster this kind of fandom and community, which impacts consumer buying behavior. Even now, if you spot a piece of merchandise branded with your favorite movie out in the wild, you’re likely to interact with it or purchase it simply because it’s related to a special film or memory.
This relationship between consumers and brands can be leveraged across the entire lifecycle of a piece of entertainment. From pre-premiere buzz to post-credits debriefings, brands can engage with audiences using what Amazon Ads and Crowd DNA dubbed “the ripple effect.”
Marketing Brew / Amazon Ads & Crowd DNA
How the Fandom Journey builds loyalty.
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -How the Fandom Journey builds loyalty
When it comes to fandom, the process matter more than the payoff. In an era dominated by AI and instant access, learn how to the fandom journey builds loyalty authentically and sustainably. “Superfans” remain the headline topic for the entertainment industries, in music and beyond. They are the biggest cheerleaders amongst their peers, the most engaged on social media and streaming, and the highest spenders across the board.
There is a certain irony, then, that the other headline topic is AI; a technology that promotes passive engagement and does everything for you with utmost ease. AI and its adoption are emblematic of the flip side of this coin, but it is not alone. Much of innovation in entertainment over the last two decades has optimised ease, efficiency, and economy across the board – from making entertainment to accessing it.
Hypebot / MIDiA Research
There’s a formula to loyalty: super-fandoms have mastered it.
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -There’s a formula to loyalty, super-fandoms have mastered it.
Four ways to build fandom and rethink traditional customer-building approaches.
Building super-fandom isn’t an art, it’s a science with a proven formula that brands can learn and replicate. The most successful fandoms, like Taylor Swift’s Swifties, follow predictable patterns centered around building strong emotional architecture around a shared idea to generate a sense of belonging. Mastering this formula is integral for brands seeking lasting loyalty as it’s the only reliable path to transforming casual consumers into passionate advocates who drive real business impact.
Fast Company / IMPACT Council / Andy Zimmerman
New Research Reveals Fandom is a Family Affair and Brands are Missing a Trick
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -Fandom is a Family Affair and Brands are Missing a Trick
75% of families actively share fandom moments and in 89% of households, kids play the key role in discovery.
New research from Kids Industries (KI) has revealed that fandom is no longer a solo pursuit. Families today aren’t just consuming together – they’re actively sharing, shaping and spreading the fandoms they love across an ever-widening range of categories. These findings challenge outdated notions of how fandoms function - who drives them and how experiences are enjoyed.
License Global
REPORT: 2025-global-f1-fan-survey-insights
Fan Voices: FandomIQ blog -2025-global-f1-fan-survey-insights
Formula 1 fandom is evolving, and it’s younger, more diverse, and more plugged-in than ever. According to the 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey, released by Formula 1 and Motorsport Network, the sport is in the midst of a generational and cultural shift, with women, Gen Z, and US fans emerging as powerful forces shaping the future of the grid.
Conducted every four years, the survey gathered insights from more than 100,000 self-identified F1 fans across 186 countries. The results confirm what has been building over recent seasons: Formula 1 is no longer just a motorsport; it’s a cultural phenomenon.
The Full Report can be found here: F1 Fan Report
Sports Tourism News / F1 / Motorsportnetwork.com
FANS WANT MORE - Momentum data shows fandom getting stronger in post-COVID sports world.
In a recent study by Momentum, 73% of self-identified fans said their interest in sports increased over the past five years. And while a pre-pandemic comp is missing, it’s noteworthy that a whopping 93% of the online survey respondents “believe fandom for their favorite team or sport will have a strong and vibrant community 10 years from now,” while 88% see themselves “being a fan until they die.”
The survey was taken last August across Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.
Sports Business Journal / Momentum Worldwide
Scientific Report: Fandom Biases Retrospective Judgments Not Perception
Abstract
Attitudes and motivations have been shown to affect the processing of visual input, indicating that observers may see a given situation each literally in a different way. Yet, in real-life, processing information in an unbiased manner is considered to be of high adaptive value. Attitudinal and motivational effects were found for attention, characterization, categorization, and memory. On the other hand, for dynamic real-life events, visual processing has been found to be highly synchronous among viewers. Thus, while in a seminal study fandom as a particularly strong case of attitudes did bias judgments of a sports event, it left the question open whether attitudes do bias prior processing stages. Here, we investigated influences of fandom during the live TV broadcasting of the 2013 UEFA-Champions-League Final regarding attention, event segmentation, immediate and delayed cued recall, as well as affect, memory confidence, and retrospective judgments. Even though we replicated biased retrospective judgments, we found that eye-movements, event segmentation, and cued recall were largely similar across both groups of fans. Our findings demonstrate that, while highly involving sports events are interpreted in a fan dependent way, at initial stages they are processed in an unbiased manner.
Nature.com / Markus Huff, Frank Papenmeier, Annika E. Maurer, Tino G. K. Meitz, Bärbel Garsoffky,. Stephan Schwan
