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Ghosts (CBS) fandom is really small (around 160 fics on AO3, last I checked; obviously small is relative and your mileage may vary). I don't mean that as a grievance, because at this size, it moves right at my speed. (Like, obviously more fans mean more discussion, more fic and more art, and I'm as greedy as any other fan, but again, that would also mean that the fandom would likely move a little too fast for me.)
But it does make me curious about why it's doing so well ratings-wise, yet that doesn't seem to translate in terms of people joining the fandom. Which made me curious about what drives people to fandom in general (a topic fandom navel-gazers like me have kicked around for decades).
(By "fandom", I mean "fandom the way I do it and participate in it". Fandom contains multitudes. Your way may not be my way. Again, mileage always varies.)
At first I was like, "Well, Ghosts is a sitcom, and sitcoms don't tend to get as big fandoms as sff one-hours." Except Ghosts has sff elements (see the title) and the UK version has a more robust fandom -- not huge, but bigger. But it also has four seasons under its belt, whereas CBS/US version just started its second.
And What We Do In The Shadows, another sff sitcom, feels big (although I just checked AO3 and it's (only?) got 2k stories, vs something like, idk, Stranger Things). And Big Bang Theory had this surge of activity in its early seasons. And How I Met Your Mother seemed to have a lot of activity as well. (Although, at least in terms of fic, BBT is around the same size as WWDITS and HIMYM is between Ghosts CBS and WWDITS).
And I was like, "I wonder what drove people to those fandoms?" And I'm wondering if it's that all of those shows had a group of active shippers that create a kind of Will They Or Won't They energy around their ship where the excitement is about whether or not the characters will get together canonically.
( more; spoilers for The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Our Flag Means Death, S1 & 2 of Ghosts (CBS) )
But it does make me curious about why it's doing so well ratings-wise, yet that doesn't seem to translate in terms of people joining the fandom. Which made me curious about what drives people to fandom in general (a topic fandom navel-gazers like me have kicked around for decades).
(By "fandom", I mean "fandom the way I do it and participate in it". Fandom contains multitudes. Your way may not be my way. Again, mileage always varies.)
At first I was like, "Well, Ghosts is a sitcom, and sitcoms don't tend to get as big fandoms as sff one-hours." Except Ghosts has sff elements (see the title) and the UK version has a more robust fandom -- not huge, but bigger. But it also has four seasons under its belt, whereas CBS/US version just started its second.
And What We Do In The Shadows, another sff sitcom, feels big (although I just checked AO3 and it's (only?) got 2k stories, vs something like, idk, Stranger Things). And Big Bang Theory had this surge of activity in its early seasons. And How I Met Your Mother seemed to have a lot of activity as well. (Although, at least in terms of fic, BBT is around the same size as WWDITS and HIMYM is between Ghosts CBS and WWDITS).
And I was like, "I wonder what drove people to those fandoms?" And I'm wondering if it's that all of those shows had a group of active shippers that create a kind of Will They Or Won't They energy around their ship where the excitement is about whether or not the characters will get together canonically.
( more; spoilers for The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Our Flag Means Death, S1 & 2 of Ghosts (CBS) )
