While in grad school I had the chance to study quantitate methods of study and was tasked with running a small survey. I ran a survey through social media to take a look at the demographics of Fandom. I was a bit overwhelmed when over 500 people responded to the survey. While the survey is not perfect (hey I was in school learning about surveys at the time) I found the responses very interesting and wanted to share the results.
This one matches most conceptions of fandom as a female dominated space. Many of the creators of fanwork are women and the community skews female. This survey is also influenced by the reach of social media and the demographics on use on those sites.
This presents a different idea of fandom than many people have preconceived. Fandom is frequently viewed as the space of teenagers. However, the results show that the community is primarily between 18-34 not primarily under 18.
This is heavily influenced by the location the survey was posted on social media sites and by my own network that the survey was exposed to which is heavily USA based.
For most people fandom is a large part of their entertainment, expression and community. However, in all categories fandom was view as most important even if by a slim margin.
The theme of community and expression continue in this question. Many people admitted to finding and making friends based on a shared fandom. In the open answer portion of this question, it also represented a safe space for many people to explore and question topics ranging from sexuality to morality.
The majority of those who responded viewed fandom as very important part of their lives.
Again the distribution of the fandom survey via social media skewed the results and the majority of respondents said social media was a means of interaction. (Also I'm so sorry I neglected to include cosplay as an option! I spaced out on that. )
Overwhelming the majority of people viewed fandom as an important part of their identity and that labeling themselves as fans/nerds/geeks was an important part of who they were.
The majority viewed themselves as moderately involved.
You can view the full presentation about these results, including many of the extra comments included below: