What makes a fandom popular?
(ETA: Anonymous replies screened but enabled.)
So I’ve been thinking about what attributes in canon material-be it a book, a movie, a TV show, an anime series or whatever-tend to create large, popular fandoms.
Take TV shows for example, on any given day, you’ll have many shows to choose from. Which do you watch and promptly move on to the next? Which can’t you get enough of, such that you turn to the Internet for more content? Which have the power to convert you from a content-consumer to a content-creator, and to compel you to make fan art, write fanfic, contribute meta, evangelize your fandom? What do those media have in common? What do they have that’s so moving that others lack?
Some fundamentals are probably good (and sustained) writing, good acting, good characterization, characters we can relate to, potential couples that people care about and “ship”, and for fantasy, interesting worlds that make great settings for new stories. But that’s true of a lot of content, and yet there seems to be only a handful of large fandoms that draw all the fannish activity. Supernatural. Sherlock. Doctor Who. Teen Wolf. Game of Thrones. Harry Potter. Then there are those with lasting power. The X-Files. Star Trek. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What sets them apart?
Also, does fandom activity peak when fans get what they want (such that they come to fandom to celebrate), or don’t get what they want (so that they can find or create alternative content)? Where should the line be drawn between fan-baiting and fan-servicing? When it comes to shipping, is angst best kept at a “cautiously optimistic” level, or should a show eventually make the fan-favorite ship an official couple, or risk losing fans to frustration over an oft-hinted-at-but-never-delivered non-ship subtext?
Is there a formula? Are there pitfalls? Do we have measurable stats, or known metrics about what works, what doesn’t? Other than Buffy, what fandoms do you participate in? Is there an obvious list of things they have in common?