Among international entertainment events in Thailand, fan meetings are some of the most successful, consistently drawing a considerable volume of attendees and attracting organisers to create more events to tap the burgeoning market.
Details of the Asia Entertainment Expo released last week sparked a media frenzy, with online media outlets dubbing it 'the first adult video expo in Thailand'.
Devoted fans are key targets for several corporations, who use fan meetings to strengthen brand awareness and increase customer expenditure.
Starting with K-pop stars, fan meetings have evolved and expanded to cover more niches, including those interested in adult content.
Q: What is the economic potential of adult fan meetings?
The value of the adult entertainment market tallied US$58.4 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach $96.2 billion in 2032, enjoying a compound annual growth rate of 5.2%, according to Allied Market Research.
Even though a bill proposed by the defunct Move Forward Party to legalise the adult entertainment industry and its products failed to pass the first hurdle in the House of Representatives earlier this month, Thailand's reputation as a place where people can freely express their sexual orientation was confirmed earlier this year when same-sex marriage was legalised.
In Asia, Taiwan was the first country to legalise the right to same-sex marriage in 2019 and among the first to hold an adult expo, named the Taiwan Adult Expo (TAE).
The recent edition in April this year marked the 10th anniversary of TAE, with 150,000 attendees joining.
In November of 2024, Bangkok is expected to follow suit with the first edition of the Asia Entertainment Expo (AEE) at Impact Exhibition Centre.
Details of the expo released last week sparked a media frenzy, with online media outlets dubbing it "the first AV [adult video] expo in Thailand", as one of the three sections plans to hold fan meetings and activities, allowing visitors to meet 15 renowned actresses in person.
AACF International Exhibition Co, the organiser of AEE, said this expo can be a business channel that helps the Asian industry showcase various products and services.
During the three-day expo, the organiser said it wants to provide exhibitors a platform to directly engage with customers, potential distributors and industry professionals.
With an exhibition space of more than 20,000 square metres, roughly 200 domestic and international exhibitors are expected to offer online and offline entertainment products and services.
Entry is restricted to people age 20 and older. Mario Xu, general manager of AACF, said it should draw at least 150,000 local and international attendees.
By encouraging close relations with entertainment industry associations and chambers of commerce in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, the company wants exhibitors and traders from those countries to present their products in Thailand.
Mr Xu said the AEE would form part of the Asia Amazing Cultural Festival, which would introduce an array of cultural events, animation exhibitions, video game expos, artificial intelligence showcases, modern lifestyle events, music festivals, and unique meet-ups such as the Songkran festival and Japan's fireworks festival in the near future.
Q: What innovative fandom strategies have been adopted by corporations?
Hiring celebrities or K-pop stars has been a common practice for luxury brands in Thailand for decades, requiring them to visit stores when launching new collections or branches.
Last year, locals were thrilled by the marketing campaign of hypermarket Lotus's, which spent the most for a second consecutive year, persuading fans of Korean actor Park Seo-Joon to spend in any Lotus's outlet to secure one of 3,000 seats for his fan meeting event.
The top five spenders won a chance to take a one-on-one photo with Mr Park and sat in the front row during the show.
The top spending values of customers were frequently updated and shared on social media platform X. The campaign went viral, sparking intense competition between consumers who are fans of the actor.
The top spending value skyrocketed to 78 million baht, followed by 51 million for second place. Overall spending for the top five consumers totalled 254 million baht.
Most of the spending was at gold shops, where some devoted fans lost hundreds of thousands of baht from differences in buying and selling rates.
Lotus's plans to continue the strategy this year, selecting Korean actor Gong Yoo for a meet and greet after he won a customer poll.
However, the company is excluding gold shops from participating this year, though the other rules remain the same, such as reserving 2,000 seats for top spenders nationwide and allocating 1,300 seats for lucky-draw winners with shopping bills worth a minimum of 100 baht.
Q: Why is Bangkok popular for fan meetings?
For fan meetings focused on foreign attendees, Bangkok is an ideal location because of convenient travel connections.
Mr Xu said the government's visa-free schemes, Bangkok's reputation as a tourist destination and the diversity of cultures make the city a natural draw for fan events.
Fan meetings, signings and concerts are growing in Thailand, thanks to the popularity of K-pop stars initially, followed by a boom in Thai boy's love and girl's love series.
According to a Statista survey in 2023, 36% of respondents in Thailand said K-pop was widely popular in the country.
During a recent interview with the Bangkok Post, Craig Grossarth, general manager of UOB Live, a new venue in the city, said K-pop might be restricted in some parts of China, giving Thailand an advantage in welcoming fans from the mainland and other countries as it celebrates a vibrant concert culture and offers various world-class venues.
All three large exhibition centres in Bangkok -- Impact, Bitec and Queen Sirikit National Convention Center -- provide smaller halls to accommodate fan meetings, which require a more intimate and exclusive atmosphere.
Many new Bangkok malls come equipped with convention space, which caters to fan meeting activities, such as KBank Siam Pic-Ganesha at Siam Square One, Paragon Hall at Siam Paragon, UOB Live at Emsphere, and Central World Live at CentralWorld. All of these venues have direct connections with mass transit.
In addition to a solid fan base that can guarantee sellouts, the average rental price of exhibition venues in Thailand is relatively low compared with other leading destinations such as Hong Kong and Singapore, according to the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau.
Many fan meetings for Korean celebrities sold out within an hour of going on sale, prompting organisers to add more shows to their Bangkok tour, including for Babymonster and Byeon Woo Seok in June.
Paul Kanjanapas, chief executive of Bangkok Land, the operator of Impact Exhibition Management, said the number of concerts at Impact in the first half of this year rose 20% year-on-year to 90 shows, which included fan meetings with both international and Thai artists.
International concerts tallied 52, while local artists held 38 shows at Impact. Bookings for the second half remain robust, posting growth of 40% year-on-year, said Mr Paul.
He said apart from the large space at Impact arena, smaller spaces such as Thunder Dome and Hall 5, which can accommodate a maximum of 5,000 attendees, are popular choices among entertainment organisers.
