Wizard World Conventions are losing money – a reaction
Today it was reported that Wizard World will be scaling back a number of their cons due to a $4.25 million loss in 2015.
As a con goer and someone who has been to their shows, I am not surprised. We recently discussed what it is to be a consumer who attends these shows regularly and the impact it has on our wallets.
This has been a sign that some cons have reached a saturation point and consumers will only spend so much. When one looks at what Wizard cons used to be – a comic book fan friendly convention – vs the media-centric show that it’s become, it’s no wonder that shows like these aren’t making money.
Another issue I have been hearing about a lot more, is that Wizard World (and more recently MegaCon) have attempted to charge people for panels. How greedy must one be to do this? It’s not enough to charge people to come into the show, pay more for a signature or a photo op, and if you choose to eat, you are paying the price that the vendors will escalate on the floor. Speaking of vendors, there are a lot of vendors who in recent years, that have stopped associating with larger shows such as Wizard World because they accuse them of charging high rental fees. Then on the back end of things, some of the celebrity guests are signed to exclusive contracts with some cons which does not allow them to even go to smaller shows. Meaning the majority of the money that guest brings in, stays at the show. That’s just a shady practice right there.
Mind you, I am not mad at the hustle. Wizard World and a few other shows that are now seeing losses in revenue decided a while back that, if just one person will pay the exorbitant price to come, then it’s permissible. Thus, each year the costs of shows crept up and up. The number and costs of celebrities kept going up. As mentioned, even hidden costs such as coming to panels were thrown in to take more money from consumers. Sadly, the last time this conversation came about, I talked to people who had maxed their credit cards, spent rent money and even a few that put cons over their health just to go to a show. Again, when you look at the guest lists that some of these shows, it’s worth it when you’ve got the money. But, honestly, can you justify parting with $200 for a photo op that may last just under 30 seconds?
With this news today, I think that this is just a sign that consumers have had enough. Most of us would love to go to these shows and meet these guests, but not at the risk of failing to be financially responsible for more important things. If 4 million in losses is not a sign that fans are saying ‘no’ to these practices, then don’t expect these shows to be around much longer if they continue them.
Pop Culture Uncovered 
I think that this has more to do with their business model than wallet fatigue. A lot of people drop a lot of cash over the year but they tend to hold out for the 1 or 2 big cons that come close to them. I hit, on average, 4 cons a year and that is solely as a con goer. Emerald City Comic Con and NYCC being the two biggest, with Awesome con DC and Baltimore comic con to round it out. While I do drop a ton of cash I have found very few con goers who hit as many or drop as much as I do. Most spend a significant part of the year saving what they can for that one con. Wallet fatigue is expected and planned for.
If I had to hazard a guess I would say that the real culprit is the manner in which they secure their media guests. I’m sure you’ve noticed that most of their big celebrity guests appear at several different cons. But only at wizard world cons. They are signing these celebrities to exclusive contracts that include multiple appearances. Instead of being free to choose any con that is convenient or the ones they like the most, they are stuck with wizard world. Forcing them to forsake other avenues of financial gain is expensive to begin with, throwing on multiple appearances is even more so.
The fastest way for wizard world to dig themselves out of this hole is to rethink their exclusive contracts. This means picking up different guests and signing them as they come, but at a reduced price. They’ll get more variation in their guests, but on the other hand, they’ll get more variation on their guests.
simply charging more or finding new things to charge for is not going to fill the hole.
LikeLike
Actually, while you are right about a few things, some you are wrong about. I know several people that go to many more cons a year than you do: on average 8-10. They do not spend a lot at any one con, instead choosing to spread their money around in order to get the items that they need in order to complete certain collections.
However, Wizard World has many more problems that what was listed in the article above. For one, they treat their guests like crap. Guests can be fined for being late to panels, photo ops, or even the start of an autograph signing session. They do not control how much is charged for certain things, like VIP Meet & Greets or professional photo ops, but are allowed to control other things such as autograph price and pic-at-table prices. A cut of that does go to WW.
While many guests do sign exclusivity contracts, they can, however, do other shows if those shows are booked before they re-new their WW contracts. They can also attend other events if, in their contracts with WW, they are only given a set number of WW cons to attend. So there are ways for them to attend other events.
Multiple appearances actually make it cheaper to get a guest vs a one time deal because a one shot con typically offers X amount for a guarantee vs X amount over X number of cons.
Look at this way, for a C/D level star (think wrestlers, grown-up child actors), at a regular con, you’re looking at a typical guarantee to include airfare, hotel, transpo to/from the airport, and per diem to eat on plus X number of dollars. The guarantee works like this: I’ll guarantee that you make X number of dollars over the 3 days of this con. If you don’t, then I will make up the difference between what I said you would make and what you actually made. Depending on how well the con negotiated that contract, they could be paying out nothing, a small amount, or way more than they can afford.
You also have some SAG members that require a guarantee that is equal to anywhere from 1/2 to full industry standard. The difference in guarantees can sometimes be reflected in prices charged for autographs and table photo ops, but not always.
WW appears to operate more on the appearance fee plus sales model more than the guarantee model, which makes sense for them since they do get a portion back from their guests.
Vendor space prices are insane, especially for those in 501c3 organizations, like the 501st.
It’s a matter of perspective, but if WW wants to return to a successful status, they need to scale down their line up, change out some of their guests, let up on the attendees, stop charging for panels, reduce both ticket prices and VIP M&G package prices, and stop acting like they’re the ‘end all, be all’ of conventions. They’re not and could learn a lot from several other conventions that are out there.
LikeLike
It’s ridiculous how much money all expenses are for a con. Between travel, accommodations, tickets (which can be like $30-80 a day for some places), autographs/pictures, food, merch, and if you cosplay the cost of that, one could be easily spending close to $1500 for a three-day thing in a crowded building.
My friend and I went to FanExpo last year (our first con ever) and we only went one day and didn’t buy anything extra other than entrance tickets and train fare, so it was like $75 each. While we had a good time and really enjoyed the con experience, neither of us regretted not doing anything extra because we knew it wasn’t worth it money-wise, considering we’re both still students with only minimum wage summer jobs. I don’t understand how people can regularly go to several cons because it’s so expensive. I’d love to be able to go to more cons and go for more than one day but even if I had the money I wouldn’t blow it all on that because it really is highway robbery and I wouldn’t support that. These cons are taking advantage of the fact that fans are dedicated.
LikeLiked by 1 person