The Gathering Competitors

VidCon is the world’s largest celebration of digital culture and its creators in real life. For 15 years, it has been the only event that sits at the intersection of all aspects of the creator economy — creators, fans, brands, and the industry. In 2026, we announced VidCon x LIONS Creators, the premier global platform for the creator economy, connecting the cultural and commercial forces shaping the creator economy. Together, our two powerhouse brands will gather all of the audiences that power the creator economy to celebrate digital culture, develop the next generation of creators, build relationships, drive business, and shape what’s next. VidCon x LIONS Creators will debut as part of the North American event, Insight to Impact, taking place in Nashville in the fall of 2027. Stay tuned for more. VidCon was founded by veteran YouTube creators John and Hank Green (Vlogbrothers) and recently joined the LIONS business within Informa PLC. LIONS is recognized as the global benchmark for creative excellence, and includes Effie, WARC, and Contagious. LIONS’ global Festival programme convenes the creative marketing community at Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx, Eurobest, Insight to Impact, LIONS Asia, LIONS Riyadh, and Most Contagious.

The SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION (Comic-Con International) is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized for charitable purposes and dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, including participation in and support of public presentations, conventions, exhibits, museums and other public outreach activities which celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture. Comic-Con International: Started as a one-day “minicon” in 1970. The success of the minicon led to the first full-fledged, three-day San Diego Comic-Con (called San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con) at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Over 300 attendees packed into the hotel’s basement for that groundbreaking event, which featured a dealers’ room, programs and panels, film screenings, and more: essentially, the model for every comic book convention to follow. The show's main home in the 1970s was the El Cortez Hotel. In 1979, Comic-Con moved to the Convention and Performing Arts Center, staying there until 1991, when the San Diego Convention Center opened. With attendance topping 130,000 in recent years, the event has grown to include satellite locations, hotels, and outdoor parks. Programming events, games, anime, Independent Film Festival, and the Eisner Awards all take place outside of the Convention Center, creating a campus-type feel for the convention throughout downtown San Diego. WonderCon: Aspects of that show, including comics, movies, TV, animation, the Masquerade, and more. The event has grown in all aspects over the years: more attendees, more exhibitors, more programming, and more fun. WonderCon was started in 1987 in Oakland. Comic-Con International took over the show in 2002 moving it from Oakland to San Francisco in 2003. After 15 years as a Bay Area event, WonderCon was forced to move to Anaheim in 2012 (construction at the Moscone Center) and has been held in southern California since.

Gen Con, The Best Four Days in Gaming™, is a consumer and trade convention dedicated to tabletop gaming culture and community. For nearly 60 years, the Gen Con brand has remained synonymous with the ultimate tabletop gaming experience. Peter Adkison, founder of Wizards of the Coast, established Gen Con LLC in May 2002 to continue the Gen Con annual gaming convention, which was originated by Gary E. Gygax and his co-founders in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1967. Gen Con is the world’s original and longest-running gaming convention. Each summer, more than 71,000 unique attendees visit Gen Con, with four-day turnstile attendance topping 200,000.