The Influence of Fan Economy on Explosive Dramas

Luyao Hao

Suzhou Science Technology Town Foreign Language High School, Jiangsu, Suzhou, China

Keywords: Fan Economy, Case Study, Questionnaire Survey, Derivative Products, IP.

Abstract: In this era of Internet development, the emergence of TV dramas, web series, movies and other entertainment

products has made some stars, and intellectual properties gain great attention. Fan economy is a kind of

business operation mode to obtain economic and social benefits by enhancing the stickiness of the users. The

fan economy has enabled many companies to create not only ordinary entertainment products but also

promoted companies to establish derivative stores. This paper analyzes the consumer's preference of chasing

stars through the questionnaire survey and further analyzes that the emotional orientation in the fan economy.

This paper also briefly analyzes the commercial value transformation of the fan economy, and the results of

the research can help more companies find new business opportunities as well as the direction of company

transformation. Finally, this paper proposes the negative impacts of the fan economy as well as solutions.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the era when the Internet is becoming more and

more prevalent, fans are changing from passive

marketing objects to active Participants and even

becoming co-creators of content, the economy is

gradually changing from a THINKING economy to a

FEELING economy, and people's needs have shifted

from the most basic material needs to the need for

emotional value as a result of generating a FAN

ECONOMY. Fan economy is a dynamic business

model that relies on the interaction of fans and

followers to realize economic and social benefits by

enhancing user engagement and leveraging the power

of word-of-mouth marketing (Xu, 2024).

According to FundInfo.com, it is mentioned that

the global market size of fan economy-related

industries exceeded RMB 3.5 trillion (about USD 500

billion) in 2019 and is expected to exceed RMB 6

trillion (about USD 850 billion) in 2023 (Academia

Sinica Puhua Industry Research Institute, 2022).

So far, some previous articles have been able to

summarize the impact of the fan economy, and in the

article about the marketing strategy of makeup brands

studied by Xin Zhao, it was summarized that the fan

economy, the online e-commerce platform, and the

era of web traffic are not new concepts (Zhao, 2022).

They are an emerging marketing model spawned by

the development of the Internet and changes in

consumption patterns. Under this model, major

network e-commerce platforms mainly take fan

groups as their target audience, and through precise

positioning and personalized marketing strategies,

they have successfully attracted the attention and

Participation of a large number of fans, thus achieving

great sales performance. The core of this marketing

model lies in utilizing fans' loyalty and emotional

commitment to idols or brands and transforming them

into actual consumption behavior. By establishing a

close interactive Relationship with fans, e-commerce

platforms can better meet the needs of fans and

provide personalized goods and services, which in

turn enhances the shopping experience and

satisfaction of fans. This fan-centered marketing

strategy not only improves brand awareness and

influence but also brings considerable economic

benefits to the e-commerce platform, which has

become an important development trend in the field

of current Internet marketing. Therefore, fan

economy helps enterprises realize cost-effective

marketing and reduce brand promotion and marketing

costs through word-of-mouth communication and

interaction with fans (L i, 2022).

In some study of commercial benefits in 101

(China), also mentioned that combining different

forms of digital media with the fan economy can

indeed realize great benefits. In today's digital era, the

diversity and interactivity of digital media provided a

wide space for the development of fan economy.

Through various forms of digital media such as social

386

Hao, L.

The Inﬂuence of Fan Economy on Explosive Dramas.

DOI: 10.5220/0013992100004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 386-393

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

media platforms, live video streaming, online games,

etc., fans can interact with idols or brands more

conveniently and express their emotions and support.

This interaction not only enhances fans' sense of

Participation and belonging but also creates more

marketing opportunities for brands and businesses

(Zhang, 2023). There is also literature that suggests

fans can positively influence trends and pop culture

in addition to serving as a platform. The fan economy

is no longer limited to the pan-entertainment industry

but extends to multiple dimensions such as

commercial brand IP (Quan, 2023). Fan culture has

the power to evolve from a pure social phenomenon

to a creative and commercial entertainment business

that affects society. All these articles illustrate that

various types of industries can incorporate the fan

economy and utilize it to bring in a significant amount

of revenue.

In this paper, we will analyze the impact of IP’s

fans on its derivative products and episode airplay in

different cases by referring to the quantitative survey

of questionnaires on the consumption habits of people

with different levels of consumption, determine the

impact of the fan economy on the commercial value

of the episodes, and provide new ideas for new

companies to transform their commercial value.

2 METHOD DESIGN

2.1 Basic Information on Questionnaire

Survey

While previous studies on fan economy have used

less quantitative methods, this paper uses sampling to

study the percentages of various types of indicators in

different types of people's stargazing activities. This

paper studies the marketing of fan economy on

explosive dramas, and the questionnaire is mainly

designed around the Relationship between fans'

consumption behavior and explosive dramas and then

explores the impact of fan economy on explosive

dramas by analyzing different indicators.

This paper analyzes the impact of fan behavior on

explosive drama episodes by means of a

questionnaire. The number of samples recovered was

76, and the questionnaire questions included age,

gender, number of years of chasing stars, monthly

income or parents' monthly income, what products

were usually bought for chasing stars, activities

participated in when chasing stars, and how much

money was willing to invest for chasing stars. These

questionnaires were posted on the official website of

Questionnaire Star for data collection, and the

collected data were made into these figures. The

results are shown below.

Alt Text for the figure: This picture reflects the number of fans of all ages.

Figure. 1: Age group distribution of stargazers.

The Age Ratio of Fans

26-35 <18 18-26 36-45 >60 45-60

The Inﬂuence of Fan Economy on Explosive Dramas

387

Alt Text for the figure: This picture reflects the gender ratio of fans.

Figure. 2: Gender distribution of stargazers.

Alt Text for the figure: This pie chart reflects the monthly income of people in idolize.

Figure. 3: Distribution of monthly income levels of stargazers.

From the above three figures, it can be concluded

that in all age groups, minors and people aged 18-35

account for a large proportion of groupies, while in

all idolized people surveyed, the proportion of men

and women is unbalanced, with women accounting

for 78.96%. Among 76 people, the monthly income

of more than 20,000 RMB accounts for the largest

proportion, followed by 10,000-20,000 RMB, which

indicates that many people with relatively high

incomes will put their money into activities in idolize.

female; 60

male; 16

The Gender Ratio of Fans

female male

The Proportion of Monthly Revenue of Fans

>20000¥ 5000-10000¥ 10000-20000¥

<2000¥ Do not apply 2000-5000¥

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Alt Text for the figure: This bar chart reflects the situation of fans buying derivative products.

Figure 4: Consumption preference of stargazers.

It can also be inferred from Figure 4 that when

people consume products, Peripheral categories

(small cards, posters, pillows, etc.), albums (records,

electronic albums, etc.), offline co-branded

Peripheral products and brand endorsement products

all account for a high proportion of their purchases.

Whether it is the small cards sold by the company

when chasing idols, the new albums or records

released by singers, or the products endorsed by their

favorite stars or IP are very attractive to fans.

Alt Text for the figure: This column chart reflects the fans' preferences for viewing channels, such as live

broadcasts and second-generation content.

Figure 5: Activity preferences of stargazers.

As can be seen from Figure 5, the proportion of

fans watching TV dramas or movies starring their

favorite stars in this item is 78.95%, and the

remaining three options all account for at least 40%,

so it can be inferred that fans are most fond of TV

dramas or movies starring their favorite stars, and

there are also many who like to watch the derivative

of the secondary works such as video clips and

homoerotic novels, etc., and at the same time,

watching live broadcasts and going to places

endorsed by celebrities Carding is also their favorite

star-chasing activity.

Fans’consumption product preferences

Endorsement

Check-ins

Watch

Films/Shows

Fan

Creations(UGC)

Livestreams

Fan Engagement Preferences

The Inﬂuence of Fan Economy on Explosive Dramas

389

Through the data of fans' star chasing activities

and the proportion of consumption when chasing

stars, it can infer that fans increase the emotional

value of star chasing for themselves through

consumption and star chasing activities, and at the

same time, it will have a great impact on the stars and

some companies or products themselves, so we can

infer that the consumption of fans is positive and can

have a great impact on the publicity and marketing of

the explosive drama episode.

3 ANALYSIS STUDY

In addition to the first-hand information obtained

through the questionnaire, there are many past articles

that can help to understand the positive impact that

the fan economy has had on the breakout episodes,

and this paper will continue to analyze the impact that

the fan economy has had through specific case studies.

3.1 Case Study of the Untamed

The Untamed was adapted from the Chinese web

novel Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, which

quickly became a breakout hit after it aired. Fans'

emotional investment in it comes from the fact that

the content of the show aired is very much in line with

the original book and has no extraneous parts, and

although some fans of the original book will be very

atmospheric about the book flopping into a TV series,

there are still many fans of the original book who will

enjoy this new TV series (Zou & Guan, 2019). Just

because it has many fans of the original books, it will

be easier for fans to get invested in the show, and

there is a base fan base for the show itself. The

Untamed reached 280 million views in just one week

online, and by the end of 2019, the Douban rating was

already as high as 9.2, which made Xiao Zhan and

Wang Yibo the two main stars. Tencent video has

developed a series of animation, radio drama, TV

drama, film and television through the original

“Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” IP as a

starting point, thus giving full play to the maximum

value of IP cross-border. Therefore, the influence of

fans' emotional investment in the work is great

(Zhang, 2023). Fans' love for the original novels

translates into their attention and support for the

episodes, and they further enhance the heat of the

episodes by purchasing Peripheral products related to

the episodes, watching the secondary creative works

(e.g., fan-made homoerotic novels, comics, videos,

etc.), and engaging in a great deal of discussion on

social media. For example, fans created trending

topics such as “Weilan” on Weibo, and the readership

and discussion of these topics were very high,

providing a strong impetus for the dissemination of

the episodes.

3.2 The Soul Case Study

The Soul is adapted from a Chinese web novel of the

same name by Priest, a Jinjiang web writer, which has

accumulated more than 3 billion views after airing

and created 5,869,000 discussions on Weibo (Zou &

Guan, 2019). During the airing of The Soul, there

were daily related reports on social media such as

Weibo, WeChat friend circles, Zhihu, Douban, and

video websites to maintain the heat. According to

relevant statistics, as of July 2, 2018, the Sina Weibo

super topic Drama version of The Soul has been

ranked TOP1 for 7 consecutive days. Moreover, fans'

love for the original novels translates into their

attention and support for the drama episodes, and they

have been able to keep their attention and support for

the series by purchasing peripheral products related to

the drama episodes, watching the secondary creative

works (such as the fan-made homage novels, comics,

videos, etc.) and discussing a lot on social media,

which further boosted the heat of the drama..

3.3 Youth with You Case Study

Youth with You is adapted from Gu Man's novel of

the same name, and the drama quickly became a

breakout hit after airing; it directly exceeded 1.5

billion views in the first 60 hours of broadcasting (Ji,

2020). Fans also purchased many peripheral products

related to the drama (e.g., the same type of clothing

and accessories in the drama), watched the secondary

creative works (e.g., fan-made video clips, comics,

etc.) as well as engaged in a great deal of discussion

and dissemination on social media due to their love

for the drama, which greatly increased the drama's

popularity. For example, fans created several popular

topics related to Youth with You on Weibo, which

have very high readership and discussion, and the

super-high discussion will make more people start to

know about the drama, which further promotes the

dissemination of the drama.

All these cases show how fan activity can have a

huge impact on the sales of entertainment products

itself.

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3.4 Case Study of Swords of Legend

In Zhang, J. M.'s article, 'Produce 101' drove the

market success of the show and its spin-off content

through fan voting and social media communication

(Zou & Guan, 2019). Fans expanded the influence of

the show through social media interaction and

communication. They utilized the fan voting

mechanism and social media communication to

enable viewers to participate in voting on the internet,

increasing the sense of experience and emotional

value, forming a mechanism similar to that of a foster

system idol, successfully creating pop idol groups

such as Rocket Girls 101, and driving the sales of

related episodes and derivative products (Zhang,

2023).

4 THE TRANSFORMATION OF

COMMERCIAL VALUE OF FAN

ECONOMY

Most companies care a lot about their revenues and

profits, and using the principles of the fan economy

to promote the consumption of fans can bring a lot of

profit to the company. Therefore, the significant

impact of the fan economy on the economy will affect

the company's decision-making, and this chapter

analyzes the commercial transformation path of the

fan economy.

4.1 Derivative Works

Some high-quality and attractive derivative works

such as clips of TV series and novels can extend the

life cycle of the product itself, because after the TV

series and movies have passed their own popularity,

the derivative works can make some fans interested

in the product again or attract some new viewers.

They will start discussing the product again and even

develop some new ideas for the company's reference.

A study has analyzed the role of NetEase

LOFTER in driving the heat of film and television

works. LOFTER is a social software, which involves

photography, illustration, handmade works,

handbooks, dressing, food and other fields, and at the

same time, it also expands the software feature of

“original works platform” to make it more refined,

providing users with channels to display original

works and communicate with each other. The article

analyzes some of its features. The article analyzes

some of its functions, so that the same person with

more clicks is recommended to the homepage of more

people, thus attracting more people's attention, so that

more people can understand the original works and

increase the heat of the original works.

4.2 Immersive Consumption Promotes

the Growth of Commercial Value

Creating some consumption scenes combined with IP

or characters can better stimulate consumers'

consumption desire. The most typical examples are

Disney and Universal Studios, who use the heat of

their own IP to develop entertainment facilities and

resorts, so that people can consume more products

with their liking and enthusiasm for IP. There are also

some new cases in recent years. First, the restaurants

linked by Original Spirit and Universal Studios

present IP-centered offline scenarios and

entertainment experiences in the unique way of theme

parks, further satisfying the diversified entertainment

needs of young groups. Secondly, once the theme

coffee shop of Fox Spirit Matchmaker as an

immersive consumption scene combined with the IP

of the explosive series, this novel approach also had a

considerable impact at that time. In Chongqing's S,95

Super Dimension Center, the stationing of secondary

yuan brand stores and related activities led to a 5%

year-on-year increase in customer traffic and a 52%

increase in the chain, and sales of secondary yuan

brands drove the sales of the entire center to a 31%

increase in the chain (Xu, 2025).

4.3 Co-Branded Products

Many companies have gained a larger user base by

co-branding with IP's that match the characteristics of

their products. When they co-brand with other

entertainment products, it will not only make the

company's own user group feel novel, but also make

the fans of these IP interested, and to support their

favorite IP or celebrity, they will invest more money

and energy into this product. IP can play a big role in

the promotion of the product.

For example, IPs with international influence can

help brands break through geographical and cultural

restrictions and spread their products and brand

culture to a wider international market. For example,

products co-branded with Hollywood movie IPs can

quickly spread among consumers in different

countries and regions as the movie is released and

promoted globally, enhancing the brand's

international popularity and influence and promoting

cross-border communication and integration of brand

culture.

The Inﬂuence of Fan Economy on Explosive Dramas

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5 NEGATIVE IMPACTS

Fan economy can bring positive impacts to explosive

dramas, but at the same time there must be negative

impacts. First, fans may buy a large number of

peripheral products to support their idols, which are

often discarded after use, resulting in a waste of

resources (Song, 2024). For example, some studies

have shown that many fans purchase idol-related

support items (e.g., glow sticks, support hand signs,

etc.), which are often discarded after use, resulting in

a waste of resources. Second, fans spend a lot of

money on concert tickets, peripheral products, etc., to

support their idols, which may create a financial

burden for fans. For example, many fans had to

borrow money from their families or banks to buy

tickets for TFBOYS' 10th anniversary concert, which

puts financial pressure on fans. Finally, to pursue fan

traffic and commercial interests, some production

companies may neglect the quality of the content of

the episodes, resulting in problems with the episodes

in terms of plot and production level (Zhang, 2023).

Some dramas may make too many changes to the

original book in the process of adaptation, leading to

dissatisfaction of “book fans”, who may feel that the

rehashed dramas do not satisfy the characterization of

the original work, and therefore boycott the filming.

The Untamed” in the shooting, is also received by the

original fans of the boycott, fans of the main story line

changes caused by the filming of the unsatisfactory

adaptation of the event, resulting in the final crew

compromise, cut out the extraneous episodes (Zou &

Guan, 2019). Based on this, the team of the star or the

official team of the IP should advise the fans to follow

the star rationally and not to follow the star

excessively fanatically. Secondly, businessmen

should pay attention to screening what is a good

stargazing phenomenon and should not develop

products blindly following the trend, which is a waste

of natural resources and causes a bad social

atmosphere. Thirdly, the government can also guide

people's stargazing behavior by issuing policies,

which can set up some taxes or incentives against

both bad and good stargazing behaviors. Lastly, some

companies should produce under the government's

control and self-supervision to ensure high quality

and high reputation dramas instead of ignoring the

quality for the sake of profit. Through these four

advocated methods, society can develop the fan

economy in a relatively orderly manner, and

businessmen can rationally profit from the fan

economy boom.

6 CONCLUSION

This paper explores the influence of fan economy on

explosive dramas through the methods of

questionnaire survey and case analysis. For the

positive impacts of fan economy on explosive

dramas, firstly, this paper concludes that fan economy

can increase the broadcasting volume and heat of the

original works through the second creation products,

and secondly, the reasonable use of fan economy for

different consumer groups can make the dramas bring

higher income for the company. At the same time, fan

behavior can also bring some negative impacts,

including wasting resources, increasing the economic

burden of fans and decreasing the quality of work.

The article also suggests some solutions to the

negative effects. Specifically, the writers should

advocate fans to pursue stars sensibly and guide the

development of star-chasing in the direction of

rationalization. Government departments should also

formulate corresponding industry norms to

participate in supervision. Secondly, the company

should focus on the commercial value and artistic

value of the drama itself and create a work that meets

the expectations of the fans and at the same time can

bring influence and high returns.

In addition, there are still shortcomings in this

paper. Due to sample availability, 76 questionnaires

were collected in this survey, which may lead to

biased results as well as representative flaws. In the

future, the data can be further expanded to accurately

assess the impact of the fan economy.

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