In 2020, we were very surprised at the numbers DC Comics was able to bring in for its first FanDome event. Some have said the 2021 event was not as good, but that didn’t stop the live stream event from tripling last year’s numbers.
The 2020 event reached 66 million viewers, and DC claims they tripled the number for this year, though it should be pointed out that the press release from the publisher doesn’t list a number for this year.
“With triple the fan traffic of last year, DC FanDome 2021 exceeded all of our expectations,” said Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks. “We continue to innovate across the company in service of our fans, and I cannot overstate the creativity and hard work that went into this highly curated, global digital event. We gave fans what they wanted – the very best of all things DC – and their engagement and response have been fantastic. We’re as excited as they are to deliver on all the great content DC FanDome highlighted.”
Regardless of the actual number, I suspect the success of this year’s event is the signal to Warner Bros. that big, expensive, exclusive events like Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con have come to an end. Of course, the only way we will know for sure is when we move out of this pandemic period, and conventions return in full force.
