It was revealed that the online broadcast Air Comiket, which replaced the Comic Market 98 (Comiket 98) convention, amassed a total of 443,357 visits over the course of four days, according to data provided by the official Twitter account of the Comic Market convention.
The Air Comiket hashtag also inspired approximately 68.00 posts and retweets, out of a total of 283,494 different users. The information also includes data for April 12, the day the online event was announced.エアコミケの設営日～当日の数字がまとまりましたので、ご報告します。大変多くの皆さんにご参加・ご協力いただきありがとうございました。#エアコミケ pic.twitter.com/YS5mAoOqAi— C98は中止★コミックマーケット準備会 (@comiketofficial) May 9, 2020
About Air Comiket
The event was part of the “Ganbarou Doujin!” Initiative, which aims to incentivize doujin authors who were originally listed in the Comiket 98 catalog. The books were printed and sold through online stores, something that was highlighted during the live broadcast.
The previous edition, Comiket 97, was held between December 28 and 31 last year, and received 750,000 people over the course of four days, breaking the attendance record for all winter editions. In fact, it wasn't until Comiket 96 that the event started to last four days instead of the usual three days.
Hajime Okada, who has worked in the printing business for almost 30 years, told NHK television that Air Comiket was a boon in these difficult times. Book printing has been on the decline. When the Comiket was canceled we were desperate as the news came at the worst possible time. Even though the event has not taken place, I am very grateful that there was an opportunity to do the business. Of course, the quantity requested does not compare with what would have been had the actual event taken place, but production orders have arrived daily without fail. ”
Representatives of the Comic Market Committee, Yoshiyuki Fudetani and Kouichi Ichikawa, mentioned that they are immensely grateful for the support received and described the Air Comiket event as a gesture of encouragement to continue moving forward despite the difficult situation.
In a broadcast on Nico Nico on April 12, Ichikawa mentioned that buying the Comiket 98 catalog online would be crucial to the future of the event, especially the upcoming one. The catalog became the best-selling book on Amazon after the announcement of the event's cancellation on March 27. Toranoana and Melon Books offer special illustrations by doujinshi artists and other products to those who purchase or reserve the catalog through their stores.
Furthermore, Comic Market 98 was scheduled to take place at the Tokyo Big Sight, but was canceled due to the Japanese government's recommendations to prevent further COVID-19 outbreaks. However, the availability of the space for the months of December 2020, and July-August 2021, cannot yet be confirmed, because the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were also postponed until next summer.
Via Otakomu
