Anime conventions have now become popular "attractions" that young people eagerly visit.

According to incomplete statistics, at least 413 anime conventions will be held nationwide during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, covering almost all provinces. Large-scale anime conventions attract tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of visitors, with tourists traveling from other regions specifically to attend, and companies from various industries entering the market... What makes anime conventions so appealing?

Over 400 Anime Conventions Nationwide During Mid-Autumn and National Day Holidays

From October 2-3, Wonder Festival (WF) 2025, hosted by Bilibili Inc., was held in Shanghai. According to information, WF is the world's largest figure and model exhibition, originally organized by Japanese toy manufacturer Kaiyodo.

In January 2024, Bilibili Inc. partnered with Kaiyodo to obtain exclusive hosting rights for WF in mainland China. WF 2024, held in Shanghai from October 2-3, 2024, attracted 100,000 visitors.

On September 25, it was observed on Bilibili Inc.'s official website that WF 2025 general admission tickets priced at 120 yuan and VIP tickets at 580 yuan were both sold out.

A representative from Bilibili Inc. stated that WF 2025 saw corporate exhibitors and individual creators increase by 33% and 11% respectively; the number of licensed works doubled compared to last year; available ticket quantity increased by 20% year-over-year, with first-day tickets selling out in 4 minutes, setting new records for both scale and popularity.

According to data provided by Bilibili Inc., WF 2025 featured over 400 corporate exhibitors, more than 2,000 individual exhibitors, and over 100,000 exhibited items.

On online platforms, numerous purchasing agents are helping anime enthusiasts who couldn't attend WF 2025 in person. Sources from some purchasing agents indicate that their orders are already "overwhelming," with some figures being "too popular to handle." For example, a figure originally priced at 1,680 yuan by an individual creator has been speculated to 7,000-8,000 yuan, and is "definitely impossible to obtain."

From October 7-8, Comicup 2025 Shanghai Plus (CPSP), also held in Shanghai, similarly experienced rapid ticket sellouts. According to Ctrip data, by the end of September, hotel and homestay bookings near the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), where CPSP was held, increased by 524% year-over-year for October 6-8.

There are many more anime-themed exhibitions during the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays. According to incomplete statistics, from October 1-8, at least 413 anime conventions will be held nationwide, including commercial exhibitions and fan conventions.

Geographically, anime conventions are not exclusive to first-tier cities, with almost all provinces hosting conventions during the holidays. From the statistics above, first-tier and new first-tier cities combined hosted 157 conventions, accounting for approximately 38% of the total. "Small city anime conventions" also occupy a considerable proportion, with third-tier cities and below accounting for 24.9% of conventions.

Why Are Young People Enthusiastic About Anime Conventions?

Hegel (pseudonym), a Beijing event organizer who has worked in the anime convention industry for nearly 14 years, explained that young people love attending anime conventions because anime enthusiasts are primarily young people who want to establish a venue for communicating with like-minded individuals. "Face-to-face offline communication is an experience that the internet can hardly replace. Especially for younger anime enthusiasts, they have strong social needs. Regardless of the format, gathering together and discussing things they love is a form of entertainment for young people."

The consumption generated by anime conventions is also substantial. According to the official social media account of Firefly Animation and Gaming Carnival, three Firefly anime conventions held during this year's Spring Festival, May Day holiday, and summer period attracted 200,000, 180,000, and 288,300 visitors respectively. The summer convention, lasting 4 days, drove regional consumption exceeding 180 million yuan, with 31.09% of visitors being inter-provincial tourists. According to data disclosed by Firefly in August, the average spending per visitor at the exhibition was 663 yuan, with 18% of visitors spending over 1,000 yuan.

In May this year, Comicup's CP31 exhibition in Hangzhou attracted over 160,000 visitors. In July, BilibiliWorld 2025 (BW) attracted 400,000 attendees, a 60% year-over-year increase, with visitors from over 20 countries and regions. According to Meituan Travel data, during the BW anime convention, hundreds of thousands of "post-2000s" flocked to Shanghai, with nationwide flight bookings to Shanghai increasing by 50%, hotel bookings near the venue rising nearly 5-fold year-over-year, and related cultural tourism orders increasing by 35%. In August, 2025 ChinaJoy attracted over 410,000 visitors, with out-of-town visitors accounting for 61% and visitors aged 24 and under comprising 43%.

The minimum ticket prices for summer Firefly anime convention, CP31, and BW 2025 were 85 yuan, 98 yuan, and 128 yuan respectively. Calculated at minimum ticket prices, these conventions each generated ticket revenue exceeding 10 million yuan.

According to Hegel, commercial anime conventions primarily rely on ticket sales and brand sponsorship for revenue, with costs including venues, security, supporting services, promotion, and guests. Influential guests (such as voice actors, content creators, cosplayers) attract their fans to purchase tickets, becoming a stable revenue source.

In February's BW 2025 sponsorship information, sponsorship categories mainly included chief sponsorship, industry sponsorship, single-brand booths, and IP licensing cooperation, with numerous companies like Chow Tai Fook, Fanta, Kotex, and AITO appearing at the convention. Firefly and other conventions similarly feature brands from various industries including fast-moving consumer goods, automotive, and hospitality.

Currently, Hegel's company has only about ten members, some of whom are part-time workers. According to Hegel, this is "considered a large team" in the anime convention industry. She noted that non-leading brands or large companies in the anime convention sector find it difficult to achieve profitability solely through organizing conventions, often requiring other business activities. Currently, Hegel's company's exhibitions attract daily attendance of approximately 8,000-10,000 people. If they successfully organize their November event, they expect to achieve profitability.

iiMedia Research data shows that China's pan-anime user base continues to grow annually, reaching 503 million in 2024, with projections of 570 million by 2029. China's pan-anime and peripheral market size also shows an upward trend, valued at 597.7 billion yuan in 2024, expected to reach 834.4 billion yuan by 2029.

Jiang Han, senior researcher at Pangoal Institution, noted that in the current business environment of severe homogeneous competition, traditional retail and service formats face declining foot traffic and insufficient user stickiness. Anime culture inherently carries high emotional density and strong community attributes, enabling it to inject differentiated content into commercial entities and reconstruct consumption scenarios.

"Anime enthusiasts demonstrate the strongest willingness to 'pay for emotional value.' Their consumption decisions are more driven by 'flow experiences' and 'fantasy compensation' rather than utilitarianism. Against the backdrop of continuously rising spiritual consumption proportions, this group has become the most stable and predictable high-value customer segment in the emotional economy, with extremely strong industrial monetization potential," Jiang Han said.