The 2017 Weibo Fan Festival, the biggest online and offline interaction event between fans and showbiz celebrities in China, was held in Beijing’s 798 Art District from Aug. 26 to 27. The picture shows pop star William Chan taking a photo with his fans.

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The fan economy refers to commercial activities based on the relationship between fans and celebrities. By increasing their fan base and optimizing word-of-mouth marketing effects through mass media, celebrities are able to create both economic and social benefits.

China’s growing economic strength and the public’s rising purchasing power are the major factors contributing to the emergence of the fan economy, said Zhang Huifeng, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China. In addition, the prosperity of the cultural industry also creates the objective conditions, he said, adding that the cultural industry and the fan economy promote each other once the relationship is established.

The fan economy is, in essence, a kind of cultural consumption, which should satisfy consumers’ need for actual goods and services as well as their psychological needs. Yang Lin, a professor of communication from Xi’an Jiaotong University, said that consumer demand for cultural consumption is pushing the rapid development of the cultural industry. The existence of fans creates consumers in the industrial model of culture, Yang said.

The social psychological foundation of the fan phenomenon is idolization while the economic basis is the consumption of symbolic value, said Li Jie, a professor from the College of Media and International Culture at  Zhejiang University.

The key prerequisite for the fan economy is the rise of internet, Li said. “Idolization and the consumption of symbolic value are not something new. Only with the technological support of the internet can the fan phenomenon evolve into an economic phenomenon,” Li said.

As internet technology continues to advance rapidly, the fan consumption model is becoming an important way for the cultural and entertainment industries to make profit. Yang said that from the perspective of cultural communication, a large following is necessary in order to achieve the best effect in dissemination. In this sense, the fan economy helps satisfy the cultural industry’s demands for audiences, she said. 

Meanwhile, unlike other industries, the maximization of benefit in the cultural industry should always be based on the coordination between its social and economic effects, Yang said. The number of fans is not the only criterion when evaluating the healthy development of the cultural industry, she said. If it blindly  panders to fans, the cultural industry will make itself kitschy, she said.
  Zhang said that on the one hand, the fan economy will drive consumption. On the other hand, emotional or irrational consumption will hinder the market’s accurate appraisal of cultural products, Zhang said.

The potential of fans in an age of social media cannot be underestimated. Without proper guidance, the fan economy might cause irrational activities. Yang said three means could be considered to properly guide the fan economy:

First, various types of culture should have their own loyal fan bases, especially the good part of traditional Chinese culture. Second, fans’ appreciation for fine culture should be fostered. In this way, the cultural industry itself will feel the pressure to produce elaborate works and improve their professional capacity. Last of all, the fans should be respected and made into disseminators of fine culture and an audience for elaborate artwork. These approaches can realize the prosperity of China’s fine culture, Yang said.

 

 

 

ZHAO LU is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.