Fandom’s Quest to Become the Go-To Platform for All Fan-Based Queries

If you've ever searched for information about a TV show, movie, book, or video game online, chances are your answer came from the wiki platform, Fandom. With 300 million unique visitors per month, Fandom's wealth of info is usually associated with general fan websites rather than the platform itself.

Now with a new CEO, Jay Sullivan, who joined in February, the fan community-led media company - owner of GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, and Fanatical - aims to change that perception. Sullivan's personal experience with Fandom saw him often landing on a Fandom wiki without realizing the platform it was on. This is a common occurrence even with younger users, as Sullivan discovered from his daughter's friend who regularly consulted Fandom while playing games on Roblox but was unaware that she was on a Fandom wiki.

Drawing more "general consumers" to Fandom regularly is one of Sullivan's top goals. However, this is quite the challenge as a significant part of Fandom's appeal comes from its in-depth information, which isn't very appealing to the casual reader.

Sullivan acknowledges the important role the wiki editors play in creating Fandom's experience and as such, there needs to be a balance in retaining the platform’s depth of content and making it more welcoming for new or casual users who aren’t as interested in detailed information.

Last year, former CEO, Perkins Miller left the company and Sullivan, previously an early member of Twitter's (now X) leadership team, was brought on board. He aims to redefine Fandom's consumer experience by integrating content from other media brands owned by the company, essentially creating “a much simpler front door to Fandom for new users” that feeds all the available content to the user in one place.

Fandom's data has seen increased usage over the years by Hollywood studios, video game companies, and book publishers to grasp their audiences better. Sullivan sees potential in hiring teams that could help expand these offerings. Fandom is planning to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to achieve this, although Sullivan cautions that the “human element needs to remain at the center of everything.” He believes that the distinctive value Fandom can offer is its human community creating the joy and lore.

Finally, Sullivan's vision for Fandom is to become the regular platform for both dedicated and casual fans, thus providing more real-time, action-based insights for studios about consumer preferences.