Data on Convention Sizes

Conventions and other events, fandom, stores, manga-ka, animators, and other people, etc
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runesaint
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Data on Convention Sizes

Post by runesaint »

I came across this ->
Image
And thought that others here might find it interesting. The original data came from https://www.geeknative.com/66694/conventions/

I don't know what anyone else will think of it, but I thought seeing the relative sizes of, say, GenCon, Dragoncon, and Anime Expo was interesting.
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DKop
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by DKop »

I'm wondering if they're pulling the data on Comiket from the main one in the summer and not including the winter one. But I wonder if you combine both attendance to those what the actual number might be. I feel like the data they have is just from one event.

I feel like AWA needs to be up there, it did larger numbers than Otakon, and Otakon is supposed to be the biggest con on the east coast that might "rival" Anime Expo.
SteveH
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by SteveH »

I'm not sure what value this has. Hard, factual and honest numbers are not always stated. Anime Matsuri in specific is currently being hashed over for claiming numbers that direct observation and the limitations of their convention site cannot possibly support.

If AWA is omitted then the people involved in this chart clearly aren't paying attention to reality.

I know it's not meant to be 'all' conventions but good gosh this is just embarrassing. Why would the L.A. Comic Con be considered an anime con?

And they want you to vote...OK, no. This thing is a set-up to datamine from 'geeks' and fanboys.
davemerrill
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by davemerrill »

looking at the chart, it seems like whoever made it was trying to get a worldwide grasp on fan events, and I can see where AWA might be merely one of several North American conventions in the same size range, that 27500-30000 range. I can understand not having AWA or Anime North or Sakuracon or Anime Central on that chart. It's also interesting to see the sizes of European and Asian festivals.

It does feel like "geeknative" is trying to mine some sort of data. I guess public awareness of certain conventions? As Steve noted, attendance figures are sketchy at best and deliberately fudged at worst. Anime Matsuri, looking at you and your one hundred eighty thousand attendance figure that nobody believes, and specifically is why Animecons.com gave up on keeping their top ten convention attendance list for 2018.

the truth is that any ticketed event knows EXACTLY how many tickets were sold. Period, no question. When money is involved suddenly people's math skills improve dramatically. Fan conventions get to fudge their numbers by counting staff, guests, comp passes, vendors, and other non-paying attendees. If they want to look even better they start giving out "turnstile" numbers, meaning "how many people came into the facility every day" which can be extended to include hotel and facility employees, hired security, Mom and Dad looking for Sonny, and Bob from accounting who poked his head into the hall to see what all the fuss was about.

As a con chair, the only number I was ever interested in was paying customers. Everything else was background.

Fun fact: paid attendance at the AWA / AN level of 30K seems to be levelling off, if not dropping slightly. More competition for the fandom convention dollar, is what it feels like to me (both cities have more conventions happening)
runesaint
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by runesaint »

I .. apologize for posting? I just came across this on the internet and thought that it might be of interest to others here. I didn't think it was a trap to mine geeks, I just found the visual representation of comparisons between different conventions interesting and thought I would pass it along.
davemerrill
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by davemerrill »

please don't apologize, this is fascinating stuff.
Fireminer
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by Fireminer »

Why did they put DragonCon under the "tabletop" category? I thought they do all sort of sci-fi/fantasy stuffs there?

Also, why is NY Comic-Con bigger than San-DIego? Is it because of the size of the hosting city, or there is a difference between West Coast and East Coast fandoms?

And finally, I would have thought that if they put E3 on there, they would have talked about the number of people watching on stream and such (are you guys aware of anyone who stream anime fan conventions?). And included Tokyo Game Show, too.
davemerrill
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by davemerrill »

DragonCon started off as a RPG gaming convention, so that might be why they have it listed under "tabletop". DragonCon didn't stay that way for very long, though.
runesaint
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Re: Data on Convention Sizes

Post by runesaint »

Fireminer wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:02 pm Why did they put DragonCon under the "tabletop" category? I thought they do all sort of sci-fi/fantasy stuffs there?

Also, why is NY Comic-Con bigger than San-DIego? Is it because of the size of the hosting city, or there is a difference between West Coast and East Coast fandoms?

And finally, I would have thought that if they put E3 on there, they would have talked about the number of people watching on stream and such (are you guys aware of anyone who stream anime fan conventions?). And included Tokyo Game Show, too.
At this point, almost every convention is multi-genre - some are just more one genre than another? Not that I can say for sure, I have been able to attend one convention in the last decade :(
But! If everything continues the way it has, I will have finished paying off my credit cards and my student loans sometime in the year 2044.. so..um.. something to look forward to ?
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