Fandom Levels Up Campaign Measurement

Uncovering insights that power strategy with Sales Effect 

By NCS Marketing

Gamers head to Fandom for a full dose of community, engagement, and the latest in gaming news. Brands? They know it's a prime place to find their buyers. To help their advertisers see how much their ad dollars are boosting incremental sales, Fandom recently teamed up with NCS for campaign measurement using Sales Effect. We recently had the opportunity to chat with Brady Knippenberg, senior client partner at Fandom, to hear all about how they're using Sales Effect and incorporating it into their strategy.

NCS: What is Fandom and what sets Fandom apart?

Brady: Fandom is the world’s largest fan platform, bringing nearly 350 million people together every month to dive deeper into their favorite games, movies, and shows.

Whether you're just looking for a quick answer about a movie ending or you’re deep into lore, fan theories, or writing wiki pages, Fandom has something for everyone. We have over 250,000 fan communities and 50 million pages of content - from the biggest blockbusters to niche titles.

What makes us different? Fandom is built around joy scrolling - a positive space where people come to explore the fictional worlds they love, not stress about the real one. In fact, 81% of visitors say they feel more positive after spending time on Fandom.

NCS: What challenges are you helping advertisers to overcome?

Brady: Fandom is the go-to destination for gaming and entertainment, especially for Gen Z. But we know the real challenge for brands today isn’t just reaching people - it’s connecting with them in a way that feels authentic. 

That’s where we come in. We help brands tap into the passion fans already have for their favorite games, shows, and movies and become part of that story. Whether it’s through our first-party data, custom content, or immersive experiences, we help brands show up in the right way, at the right time, across every step of the fan journey.

NCS: Tell us about the campaign NCS measured

Brady: We worked with a well-known CPG snack brand to help them connect with gamers during some of the biggest gaming moments of their Q3. Using Fandom’s data, we were able to spot what content was trending and where fans were already leaning in. That gave us a great opportunity to place the brand right in the middle of the conversations fans were excited about. This gave the brand the ability to reach more unique gamers and buyers in places during that specific timeframe including Nintendo’s Switch 2 shining the light on titles like “Hades 2” and the launch of “Kingdom Come: Deliverance”. Because the goal of the campaign was to increase incremental sales with new and existing buyers, choosing NCS Sales Effect for campaign measurement was the most suitable choice for demonstrating success.

NCS: What did you learn from the Sales Effect study?

Brady:This study helped us learn that the right media mix really matters. Combining pre-roll video with high-impact display helped the CPG brand reach more gamers in the spaces where they’re already spending time and engaging with content. This strategy drove a higher sales lift than NCS norms. And when the brand leaned into gaming as part of its message, it felt natural to the audience. That made a real difference in driving both reach and incremental sales with the audience that mattered most to them. We were also able to demonstrate to the brand that finding existing buyers really matters - nearly 60% of the total incremental sales contribution came from current customers.

NCS: How will you use these insights in the future?

Brady: We’re taking what we learned to find new ways to target the right gamers and place CPG brands in the kinds of content and environments where they’re already seeing success. Sales Effect insights are key to helping Fandom pick the ad formats that really move the needle and help our client reach more households, making a bigger impact in the CPG/salty snack space.

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