The Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival generated a record NT$250 million (US$7.96 million) during its five-day run, with many attributing the boost to a policy aimed at stimulating culture-oriented spending by young people.
This year’s event, which ended on Monday, set a new record for the fair, event organizer the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association said.
The result surprised many exhibitors at the show, said association secretary-general Kao Shih-chuang (高世樁), who did not provide the previous revenue record.
Photo: CNA
The festival is usually held during the winter vacation for students after the Lunar New Year holiday, and benefits from young customers spending the money they received as gifts in red envelopes during the holiday.
This year, it was held before the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Thursday, meaning there was no red envelope money to boost spending.
That is why, in addition to a 35 percent increase in exhibitors to 800 this year, revenue also benefited from a Ministry of Culture policy aimed at encouraging spending in the cultural sector, Kao said.
Starting from Jan. 20, about 1.5 million residents aged 16 to 22 were eligible to claim NT$1,200 in digital vouchers, known as “culture points,” to spend on cultural activities or related venues.
The points, each equivalent to NT$1, can be used at participating independent bookstores, record stores, music stores, live music events and venues, cultural parks, bazaars and screenings of Taiwanese films, the ministry said in December last year.
Although not all products at the event could be purchased using culture points, Kao said the organizer had encouraged exhibitors to accept the vouchers, which helped spur sales.
Chang Yin-tzu (張尹慈) — a staffer at anime and manga distributor Muse, most of the customers of which are in the age group eligible for the culture points — said the vouchers served as an equivalent to the red envelope cash young people usually have after the holiday.
Chang said her company promoted the use of culture points online and set up scanning facilities to accept them at the festival, leading to the early sellout of popular works such as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and Attack on Titan on the second day of the fair.
A spokesperson for Kadokawa Taiwan agreed, saying that the company had anticipated a slower market this year at the fair, because the event was held before the Lunar New Year holiday.
With the culture points, the company’s revenue from the show was up 15 percent compared with last year, the spokesperson said, adding that its customers, mostly high-school students, spent about NT$2,500 per person at its stand.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS