Exactly, when a speculator buys up 1k copies of a comic they think they’re gonna be able to sell for double their money now or later isn’t “true” demand…
Or the retailer who bought 1000 copies of BRZRKR #1 so they can get that fancy 1:1000 ratio variant is not demand…
I’ve watched Comictoms subscribers increase 5-FOLD in the last 18 months.
@agentpoyo what percentage increase for individual visits has CHU experienced in the same timeframe?
I would imagine it’s huge.
He’s a poor choice to use I think… ComicTom is a snake oil salesman…
The main site is dipping and trending downwards now while the forums are consistently growing but the number of active users (logged in and commenting) is about the same since 2019 when the pandemic started, the middle of 2019 is when the forums started to take off and I’d imagine a lot of this new traffic is due to more people working remote with more flexibility from day jobs, etc.
That doesn’t answer the question. What percentage increase for individual visits has CHU experienced in the same timeframe?
Sorry, mean forums peaked in 2020 during pandemic. Since that time, they’ve stayed pretty consistent. Here’s the graph for users per day:
Slightly went up in 2021 but leveled off and down a bit, but then slightly increased. But overall, pretty consistent.
I used to work at JC Penney and like their products. Every comment you make today is insulting things I like, lol!
I’m not changing your bathroom bucket in the basement this week as punishment.
That’s awesome. I’m happy for you guys.
You’ve had over a 5-Fold increase too. And incredibly consistent too.
You’re not counting the 5 fold decrease on main site though… those stats above are just the forums.
We survived the 90’s. The collapse of the market was rough. But back then there were no movies like what we have now. As long as the MCU keeps rolling, comics will stay relevant.
That’s merely a consequence of moving 99.9% of the content to the forums.
Not really. Like said, the forums are traffic driven by users posting comments where as our main site posts the actual articles that has not changed at all.
Year after year, we saw nothing but growth on main site. It’s been the last year or so it’s dropping without any major changes to what we do on it.
Exactly. We create 99.9% of the content here on the forums.
What’s the user data look like for the main site for the same timeframe?
And a large majority of that is just witty banter and chatter, joking, memes, etc. I’d say probably a good 5-10% is actual reliable data that is relevant.
I’ll just say one thing though, one of the fallacy’s though being used here is stating the publishing numbers are going up, so the industry is healthy… that’s a hasty generalization fallacy in a sense that you’re not counting all the other factors that are in play for the overall industry.
Or saying well, ComicTom’s subscribers have increased 5 fold in the past year… well, how many of these signed up and never bother reading or looking again? CHU has thousands of subscribers on main site and I"m sure we could probabaly do some cleanup on removing all the bouncebacks, etc. I’m sure a large majority don’t followup when the email is sent, etc. So, take it all with a grain of salt still.
Just like people who sign up for gym memberships each January after new years resolutions where they say 90% never show back up only to then cancel months or years later after they realize they’re wasting dollars doesn’t indicate one bit that the gym industry is “healthy”, or we wouldn’t have an obese pandemic going on here in America. Sure the gyms are making money but not as they should… 
I agree with that. It’s one of many metrics one should consider evaluating the state of the hobby.
Wouldn’t these issues be the same with or without growth? The fact is that both him and CHU have experienced 5-fold growth.
The data for CHU is amazingly consistent. This implies that the growth is real.
Same for ComicTom’s Top-10 videos. Look at the view counts. Growing, growing, growing.
Subscription numbers on a spec group or watching a video tells us nothing about the overall health of the comic book industry though. This is almost using the The Correlation/Causation Fallacy, example again, ComicTom’s subscribers has increased, therefore the comic book industry is healthy. Maybe some just watch him cause they think he’s a huge dork and love to watch his hand wave around like one of those inflatable tube men in front of used car dealerships…
In the end, subscriptions and views on a video tell us only one thing, the amount of people who clicked a button to subscribe or read/watch, it tells nothing else in what they’re actually buying within the comic book hobby and industry.
