The reception of the American TV show Game of Thrones (2011–) by French and Spanish fans and nonfans is addressed via a qualitative methodology, the goal of which is to understand how European viewers perceive themselves as fans and what it means for them to be fans. Analysis of characteristics of a specifically European reception helps us learn what fan studies tell us about fans and what fans really think about fandoms.
This study is based on a sample of Spanish viewers of audiovisual fiction, seeking to understand behavior associated with fan identity. A quantitative method was used to explore the characteristics shared by viewers who define themselves as fans, as well as the existence of differences according to various sociodemographic variables. To that end, the Fan Identity Questionnaire was prepared and validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results confirm four types of behavior associated to media fans that, together, can explain and define fan identity with respect to the consumption of media content in Spain: experience, knowledge, collecting, and viewing. The study also shows that those viewers who define themselves as fans obtain higher values in this scale. Taking media fans into account, no significant differences were found in the mean of the Fan Identity Questionnaire based on sex, age, occupation and education and, as a result, we are able to conclude that fan identity is found in the Spanish sample regardless of the above-mentioned sociodemographic characteristics.
