Comic-Con '08: The Question of the ‘Con
ABC Family exec says TCA, Comic-Con can coexist.
By Christopher Lisotta -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/27/2008 4:53:00 PM
The question of the ‘Con. That’s what John Rood, senior vice president of marketing for ABC Family, called the running debate over whether Comic-Con has outgrown San Diego.
With the costumed masses teeming through the downtown Gaslamp District, people lining up by the hundreds for panel after panel and a simple walk across the convention floor sometimes taking a half-hour, it is no wonder more and more conventioneers are wondering if Comic-Con has already maxed its capacity.
“I personally am not concerned,” Rood said by phone Sunday. (He had made the trek back to Los Angeles the day before). “There is still such earnest fanaticism. Logistically, yeah, it gets a little hot on the floor, but I have only good things to say for the planning committee.”
Rood noted that Comic-Con planners ”have done a great, great job” when it comes to how they carefully monitor what breakout hits need to have their panels move to bigger spaces and how they try to predict what is going to pop once people start showing up in San Diego.
As for chatter that once the current contract ends, Comic-Con might consider a move to a bigger convention venue like a certain gambling mecca in the desert, Rood warned, “A lot of magic would be lost if we went to Vegas.&rdquo
And one place Rood never wants to see Comic-Con is the Los Angeles Convention Center. “I am not for it going to L.A.,” he explained. “There is too much Hollywood attitude now.”
And while Rood knows he is one of the big monsters on the convention floor, he feels that the kind of return he gets from the event is because there is such a diversity of product all around him.
“The booth of the independent illustrator is as important to Comic-Con as the big ABC Family booth, Sony booth or Warner booth,” he said.
Rood pointed out that this was a banner summer, considering huge superhero films from DC Comics (The Dark Knight) and Marvel (Iron Man), plus a bumper crop of high-profile TV shows for the fall. “I don’t think we’ll ever have a summer as big as this one,” he added. “Maybe it ebbs and flows.”
For this year’s Comic-Con, Rood hit all of his marks with an established convention performer in Kyle XY, the promotion of a recent ABC Family debut in The Middleman and the buildup to the yet-to-premiere Samurai Girl.
Rood was asked if Comic-Con was now more important that the twice-yearly Television Critics Association sessions, which put cable networks like ABC Family in front of both trade and popular press.
“They are equally valuable,” he answered, noting that for his company, Comic-Con is “the bloggers’ TCA of sorts.”
For the millennials and tweens ABC Family is trying to reach, the attendance of fan bloggers to Comic-Con is incredibly important, since ABC Family boasts Web traffic of 2 million unique users per month. While some of ABC Family’s competitors like USA Network, TNT and FX may be ahead in the linear ratings, Rood touted ABC Family’s advantage in terms of online hits. A positive response from the online community out of Comic-Con has become vitally important to ABC Family, Rood said.
“When I’m up there on a panel spreading the good word, I am not blowing smoke,” he added. “We need every attendee of Comic-Con more than ever before.”
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Preserve the San Diego tradition! 2008 was my first comic con and I believe San Diego is the best place for it. The Convention Center is a beautiful piece of glass and metal architecture on the water. Even though Vegas would be closer to me, I'd rather fly from Washington DC to San Diego any day.
Beth Gawthrop - 7/30/2008 11:05:00 PM EDT -
Please, please move it to Vegas. The San Diego convention center and surrounding areas have reached their max.
Ann - 7/27/2008 10:17:00 PM EDT
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