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That’s according to a Variety story which suggests that Fangirls are the new golden girls for marketers at Con:

In the past, many of the women who came to Comic-Con left the show shortly after the “Twilight” panel ended. But over the years, they’ve been increasingly sticking around to check out the artists, toymakers and other exhibitors on the show floor, as well as panels.

Studios like Disney, Warner Bros., Legendary, and Sony naturally hope to attract that audience to pics like “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Superman reboot “Man of Steel,” giant robot actioner “Pacific Rim” and remake “Total Recall.”

“Those girls are being exposed to science-ficition and action properties that are more traditional Comic-Con fare,” Kirkpatrick said. And there’s an upside for the typical Comic-Con attendee: “All of those boys there are being exposed to actual girls.”


That snark aside, it’s been obvious for years that the female audience for genre material is huge and growing. All you have to do is not actively turn them off, a lesson some marketers have yet to learn.

1 COMMENT

  1. Kinda shameful that we need to provide these statistics.

    At least now the rest of the world knows comic cons aren’t sausage fests (anymore).

  2. and continuing the snark…

    All those girls are being exposed to all those boys.

    Did Variety mention “Her Universe”?

  3. I’ll be more impressed when things like Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey aren’t around and girls still show up.

    Total Recall and Man of Steel don’t exactly scream “massive gender crossover” to me.

  4. Here’s a thing. Every nerd surge to do with women over the past few years, from manga to twilight, has contained a heavily sexy component or had a heavily sexual focus from the female fanbase.

    Between the two big lady franchises of late being a more teen friendly version of sexy vampire books and straight up erotica, I’m going to argue it’s not so much the interest in nerdgirlery that’s emerged as women are just really, really into porn.

  5. I believe a majority of girls/women are @SDCC for the non-American comic book stuff: Manga, Twilight, tv shows & movies etc.

    Go to a regular comic book convention and there are barely 10% women there…and I bet the majority of them were dragged there by their boyfriends/husbands! :-P

    To think otherwise is ludicrous…

  6. What, just 40%? Based on media coverage of the event and photos posted by both mainstream and enthusiast media alike, I could have sworn women made up at least 85% of Comic-Con attendees.

    Think about it. Whether it’s a general news outlet like CNN or a “genre material” focused destination, the visual narrative advanced regarding conventions, particularly Comic-Con, is one of “where the celebrities and the ladies in the fantasy costumes are.” It’s been that way for years now. No wonder people believe the old preconceived notions of what a “nerd” or a “comicbook nerd” is are “just a made-up stereotype.” I assure you they do exist and in vast quantity, but they’re just not the ones people are taking pictures of.