The cost of being a Fan: Ally Bank Finds Sports Fans Breaking the Bank for the Love of the Game | Thetafan Intelligence

Spending fueled by passion, not planning: 57% of sports fans admit to overspending, yet 85% report having no dedicated savings set aside for expressions of fandom

Nearly 7 in 10 fans (67%) say spending on women's sports has increased or stayed the same, with Gen Z and millennials especially viewing their women's sports fandom as a reflection of personal values.

Research: Brain Mechanisms across the Spectrum of Engagement in Football Fans - A Functional Neuroimaging Study | Thetafan Intelligence

What Happens in the Brain When Football Fans Win or Lose.

Football fandom is often described emotionally. Fans talk about joy, heartbreak, loyalty, and rivalry as if the game lives inside them.

New neuroscience research suggests that description may be more literal than metaphor.

A functional MRI study published in Radiology examined what happens in the brain when football fans watch their team score or concede against a rival. The results reveal how deeply fandom is wired into human emotional and social processing.

For organizations trying to understand modern communities, it highlights something important: fandom isn’t just cultural. It’s neurological.

Challenging Ableism and Disablism in English Football Fandoms | Thetafan Intelligence

Exploring Disabled Football Fans and the Quiet Power of Everyday Resistance

Football fandom is often portrayed as loud, visible and collective. Chants, protests, and coordinated supporter movements dominate the narrative around fan activism. But new research into English football fandom suggests that some of the most meaningful resistance happens in quieter ways.

A recent academic study, ‘ Challenging ableism and disablism in English football fandom: disabled supporters and repertoires of ‘everyday resistance’ by Connor Penfold, Paul Darby & Paul Kitchin, explores the experiences of disabled supporters and reveals how everyday actions inside stadiums are reshaping the culture of football fandom.

Political Analysis: Power Now Runs on Belief and Fandoms Sustain It | Thetafan Intelligence

If global politics feels louder than it used to, that’s because it is. Not louder in substance, necessarily. Louder in tone. Louder in symbolism. Louder in performance. Foreign policy no longer arrives quietly in communiqués and briefing notes. It arrives as spectacle, designed to be felt before it’s understood.

Once you notice that shift, a lot of recent geopolitical behaviour starts to make sense.

Japanese Young People See Oshikatsu Fandoms as Way to Enrich Personal Life | Thetafan Intelligence

The practice of oshikatsu, vigorously expressing fandom for a musician or other entertainer, or even a fictional character or inanimate target of support, is nothing rare in Japan, with nearly 30% of working-age people—and around half of those in their twenties—taking part.

Special Report: China’s Sports Fandoms - The formation mechanism of the “sports fandom circle” in the digital media era | Thetafan Intelligence

The rise of the “sports fandom circle” has become a significant phenomenon in the digital media era, reshaping the emotional and social dynamics of sports fan communities. This study employs grounded theory methodology to analyze web-scraped data from 40 selected accounts on major Chinese social media platforms [Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili] over a two-year period.

New Research Reveals Being a Fan is a Family Affair and Brands are Missing a Trick | Thetafan Intelligence

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.  

Fans Want More: The Post-COVID Surge in Sports Fandoms | Thetafan Intelligence

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.” In comparison, 88% see themselves as “being a fan until they die.”

Scientific Report: Fan Biases, The Myth-Buster | Thetafan Intelligence

Fan Analytics: Creating and Harnessing Consumer and Cultural Passion | Thetafan Intelligence

The success of modern sports, entertainment, political, and other cultural categories is driven by organizations’ ability to create and manage fandom. This book explores fandom from a marketing perspective, providing a multidisciplinary framework for understanding, measuring, and growing fandom.

Gatekeeping the Gatekeepers: Gaming Fandoms and TikTok Algorithms | Thetafan Intelligence

From celebrity advocacy to fan advocacy: Harness the power of participatory fandom culture | Thetafan Intelligence.

Intelligence Insight: St. Jude’s success isn't just a result of 200 celebrity partners; it's a result of those partners acting as catalysts for a global participatory culture. For modern nonprofits, the goal isn't to find a spokesperson—it's to ignite a movement.

K-pop Fan Taxonomy: Mapping Loyalty with Network Embedding | Thetafan Intelligence

How do fan types differ? A taxonomy of K-pop fandom with network embedding

Since fandom as a distinctive customer group known for their exceptional loyalty and profitability has increasingly gained influence, fandom marketing has become crucial for the success of businesses.

Healthcare Fandoms (Part 2): Study of influencers in the pharmaceutical field and connection with their audience | Thetafan Intelligence

Through a methodology based on content analysis, the publications and reactions of the main pharmaceutical-themed profiles on TikTok are examined, delving into the communication resources, interaction strategies and topics with which they connect with their audience.

Healthcare Fandoms (Part 1): How to Boost Engagement by Creating Fans | Thetafan Intelligence

Podcast: The Science of Fandom: Why We Obsess Over Celebrities and Shows | Thetafan Intelligence

Thetafan Intelligence | Fans, Fandoms, Fanzines and Archiving Science Fiction Fannish History

How to spot the difference between innocent fandoms and fanaticism

Thetafan Intelligence | Fandoms meet artificial intelligence: Rethinking participatory culture as human–community–machine interactions (HCMI)

The Dynamics of Online Fan Communities | Thetafan Intelligence