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[KaineMaxwell]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=4490

BAAF third largest Anime Event


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Big Apple Anime Festival contacted ANN to point out that they are in fact the third largest Anime Event in North America, according to Festival Director, "12,000 paid admissions (rounded down to nearest thousand) and 832 Industry/Press/Professional complimentary admissions." So then, rounding to the nearest thousand, AX and Otakon are tied at 17 000 and BAAF is comfortably the third largest event with no other events exceeding attendance of 10 000 in 2003.
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This article is a follow-up of: New Largest Event In North America (2003-12-22 21:03:12)

[hnt]

Yea... it's suprising though :P I found out BAAF is holding a planning meeting by the end of February so all we have to do is wait =/

[Eriol]

Everybody is showing off. heh

[Sorahana]

Showing off? Lol XD. WE ARE NOT! lol kidding XD. But I'm still shocked BAAF is the 3rd biggest con in the country.............wow!

[Eriol]

Originally Posted by CCAmanda

Showing off? Lol XD. WE ARE NOT! lol kidding XD. But I'm still shocked BAAF is the 3rd biggest con in the country.............wow!

At this point, the cons seem to be jockeying for position. Anything to attract more mindshare and people. heh

I wonder if BAAF had to play with the numbers to get the 3rd position? Since BAAF is also a film festival, not everybody went to the con part of BAAF.

[PatrickD]

Originally Posted by Eriol

At this point, the cons seem to be jockeying for position. Anything to attract more mindshare and people. heh

I wonder if BAAF had to play with the numbers to get the 3rd position/ Since BAAF is also a film festival, not everybody went to the con part of BAAF.

Yes, BAAF does play with the numbers. The BAAF staff at AnimeNext said that they count people multiple times. If you went to three movies at BAAF, you got counted 3 times.

...so basically they're third largest if you go by the numbers reported, but everyone knows they didn't REALLY get 12,000+ people.

[Eriol]

Originally Posted by PatrickD

Yes, BAAF does play with the numbers. The BAAF staff at AnimeNext said that they count people multiple times. If you went to three movies at BAAF, you got counted 3 times.

...so basically they're third largest if you go by the numbers reported, but everyone knows they didn't REALLY get 12,000+ people.

So, we have a failure in journalistic integrity since anime *news* network bought the claim hook, line, and sinker?

Most of the veterans can see through the smoke and mirrors, but the newcomers are the one who won't know the difference.

Too bad "truth in advertising" seems to be dead.

[PatrickD]

Originally Posted by Eriol

So, we have a failure in journalistic integrity since anime *news* network bought the claim hook, line, and sinker?

Most of the veterans can see through the smoke and mirrors, but the newcomers are the one who won't know the difference.

Too bad "truth in advertising" seems to be dead.

A lot of conventions (not anime conventions) will report attendance numbers by adding the attendance for each day. ...so for example if a computer convention had 50000 people on Monday, 60000 on Tuesday, and 40000 on Wednesday, they'd report having 150,000 attendees. This is also referred to as "attendee days". This is also how Comiket reports numbers, apparently...but BAAF seems to be the only US anime con to do it this way.

If you divide their numbers by 3 days, you get roughly around 4000 people...which seems to be much more in line with what people reported the crowds as being in relation to other cons.

If you ranked cons by attendance, 4000 people would put them FAR down the list...around the #11 spot for 2003. Certainly a far cry from #3.

[echocharlie]

Originally Posted by PatrickD

A lot of conventions (not anime conventions) will report attendance numbers by adding the attendance for each day. ...so for example if a computer convention had 50000 people on Monday, 60000 on Tuesday, and 40000 on Wednesday, they'd report having 150,000 attendees. This is also referred to as "attendee days". This is also how Comiket reports numbers, apparently...but BAAF seems to be the only US anime con to do it this way.

If you divide their numbers by 3 days, you get roughly around 4000 people...which seems to be much more in line with what people reported the crowds as being in relation to other cons.

If you ranked cons by attendance, 4000 people would put them FAR down the list...around the #11 spot for 2003. Certainly a far cry from #3.

Pat,

I don't think they reported "attendee days". Here's the full text from the ANN article:

Big Apple Anime Festival contacted ANN to point out that they are in fact the third largest Anime Event in North America, according to Festival Director, "12,000 paid admissions (rounded down to nearest thousand) and 832 Industry/Press/Professional complimentary admissions." So then, rounding to the nearest thousand, AX and Otakon are tied at 17 000 and BAAF is comfortably the third largest event with no other events exceeding attendance of 10 000 in 2003.

They referred to paid admissions. So yes, they would count one person who purchased tickets to multiple movies multiple times. But no, they do not count a 3-day pass 3 times, unless the attendee purchased 3 separate passes. So there is double-counting going on, but not as much as you'd think. You can't just divide by 3. I was helping run the Manga room (sponsored by AnimeNext), and we saw a *ton* of 1-day passes. In fact, the majority of them were 1-day passes. Don't forget that BAAF sold 1/2 day passes as well, so their "paid attendee" number is definitely acheivable.

I was there this year, and it was definitely more than 4000. By comparison, Katsucon has 4000+ attendees in roughly the same square footage, and BAAF felt more crowded by far. I can't give an exact number, but it's definitely more than 4000 and less than 12,000. I would estimate in the 6k-8k range to be more precise.

[PatrickD]

I stand corrected.

Originally Posted by echocharlie

I was there this year, and it was definitely more than 4000. By comparison, Katsucon has 4000+ attendees in roughly the same square footage, and BAAF felt more crowded by far.

Actually, from my conversations with a high-level member of Katsucon staff back in April, they had only about 3200 this year.

[Eriol]

If I recall, BAAF was an anime film festival to begin with. So they may have treated themselves as a normal convention with standard attendee counting methods.

My gripe, overall, is with the counting system. It must be marketing terminology since if 40,000 show up the first day and 50,000 show up the second day BUT 30,000 are the same people as the first day.

I don't consider that 90,000 unique attendees. I count that as 90,000 paid 1-day admissions.

I can't readily believe any numbers I hear these days. Cons compete for sponsorships. Spinning the attendance numbers to make themselves reflect favorably is a way to attract sponsors.

[echocharlie]

Originally Posted by PatrickD

I stand corrected.

Actually, from my conversations with a high-level member of Katsucon staff back in April, they had only about 3200 this year.

I also stand corrected. =)

[RoboGundam6]

Well it IS in NYC, thus very acsessable to NJ, Conn, Penn (kinda), Long Island and Mass.

SO YAY ALOT OF ANIME FANS!