CANNES — In a media landscape flooded with fleeting trends and fragmented audiences, Fandom’s Chief Revenue Officer Jeremy Steinberg says the wiki platform offers something marketers crave: direct access to the heart of pop culture, and to elusive Gen Z audiences.
“Fandom can help marketers get to the center of pop culture, because we are the center of pop culture,” Steinberg told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “We reach 350 million people every month, and those people traverse 300,000 different communities of every movie, TV show and video game ever produced on the planet.”
That unrivaled scale and depth of entertainment communities, Steinberg said, gives Fandom a unique vantage point to track the ever-changing world of pop culture — and help brands tap into the moments that matter most.
“For a marketer, it’s all about finding the right moments,” he said. “Whether it’s big tentpole moments like blockbuster movie launches or game releases or the smaller, fluid moments happening every day, we help marketers align to those moments, and most importantly, to Gen Z.”
Fan culture has evolved dramatically in the era of social media, as fans now have unprecedented, direct access to professional athletes, celebrities and creators they admire. This constant connectivity has transformed fan culture from passive admiration to active participation, fostering deeper engagement and real-time interaction.
Gen Z: Passion-driven, not profile-driven
Reaching Gen Z remains a top priority for brands, but Steinberg cautioned that the traditional demographic playbook doesn’t apply.
“The most important thing to know about Gen Z is they really are defined by their passions, not necessarily their profile,” he said. “Gen Z will say that marketers who prioritize their passions—they’re way more receptive to those marketers than anybody else.”
According to Steinberg, Fandom ranks among the top five platforms for Gen Z in the United States, driven by its deep integration with entertainment and gaming culture. But building authentic connections with this audience requires more than simply showing up during fixed marketing moments like back-to-school or the holidays.
“Different shows, different games trend all the time — and a lot of times you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Steinberg said. “Our ability to help marketers connect to those key moments based on the fixed and fluid time periods they care about is really our power.”
Data, themes and AI-powered storytelling
At the core of Fandom’s strategy is its proprietary FanDNA Helix platform, which leverages AI to decode user behavior across its vast content ecosystem of 60 million pages and thousands of entertainment communities.
“Data is really our superpower,” Steinberg explained. “We’ve built out our platform to understand not just genre and sub-genre, but most importantly, theme — the motivation behind why people like certain things.”
That insight informs creative messaging and storytelling. For example, Steinberg noted that the upcoming Fantastic Four movie resonates with audiences around the theme of friendship, while the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat video game taps into nostalgia.
“Once you understand the ‘why,’ it can help in creative messaging in all sorts of ways — but most importantly, it helps marketers really connect to the passion of Gen Zers,” he said.
AI for impact, not just efficiency
While many discussions around AI in advertising focus on cost savings and efficiency, Steinberg emphasized the technology’s role in enhancing creativity and campaign performance.
“Most people, when they think about leveraging data, it always starts with targeting,” Steinberg said. “But I don’t think many people realize that creative is even more impactful than just basic targeting. When those two things come together, that’s when you have the best performance and the best outcomes.”
Fandom’s AI-powered ad platform helps marketers align personas and mindsets with the motivations behind entertainment content, enabling more relevant messaging and deeper brand connections.
Summer of diverging passions
With summer underway, Steinberg said marketers need to recognize the varied passion points across different audience segments.
“For example, Gen Z — they care a lot about Fantastic Four, that’s going to be a huge movie launch this summer,” he noted. “But for parents, they’re less interested in that. They care about things like [Hulu series] The Bear.”
That diversity underscores Fandom’s value for marketers navigating today’s fragmented media landscape.
“Summer’s a great time for many different reasons for different types of audiences,” Steinberg said. “But whether it’s Gen Z or parents, understanding passion points is how you make meaningful connections.”
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