Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Pony convention ticket prices around the world

It's often been said – by me, among others – that we in the UK face massively higher costs for going to My Little Pony conventions than fans in other countries where cons are held. Is it true, though? I did a little research on the matter and discovered that it's true to an extent – but not for all the events held over here.

The graph below shows the cost of a standard adult weekend ticket (in pounds) for a number of pony conventions around the world, using 2015 prices if I could find them or 2016 ones if they were already available. For cons with variable pricing according to when you book, I chose the non-discounted advance option.

Comparative price graph showing the cost of admission to each con
Red = UK, Blue = North America, Green = Europe, Purple = Other
BUCK is by far the most expensive pony convention in the world, and not just when compared with North American events. Another UK con, GBBC, comes in second. However, the other two British conventions, UK PonyCon and BronyScot, are much cheaper and nestle comfortably in with the bulk of the international pack.

On the plus side, the embracing of FiM by the all-gens UK PonyCon and the arrival of BronyScot last year mean that it's not a case of having to pay £100 for a ticket if you want to go to a British convention at all. These events are valuable features on the con landscape, and having that choice is a fine thing.

Please don't use this graph simply to have a go at BUCK. Yes, their tickets are extremely expensive by global standards, there's no denying that. But bear in mind that their running costs are stupidly high and that they simply couldn't make the sums add up with £40 tickets. Our big-event economy is, frankly, broken. :(
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown1 September 2015 at 12:09

    Good gumdrops... Now that chart really does put things into perspective. I had no idea that the costs for the UK conventions were quite *that* bad, compared to the others. Even at a glance, you can tell that BUCK is way over twice the cost of Bronycon and that is frankly staggering. As you said, it isn't their fault at all. There are so many other reasons that all play a part in it. I have no idea at all if it costs more to hire audio equipment in the UK compared to other countries, but it wouldn't entirely surprise me, and that's just one of many factors.

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  2. Present Perfect2 September 2015 at 00:15

    I think it's just because your currency is so stupidly overvalued. :V

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