ReedPOP will begin operating Crunchyroll Expo, the annual show tied to the WarnerMedia streaming service, in 2020, the company announced.  The 2020 event is planned for September 4-6 at the San Jose Convention Center.

"We know that fans continue to clamor for additional experiences hitting the cross-section of anime, manga, and cartoons," ReedPOP President Lance Fensterman said of the new deal.  "We couldn’t be more excited to work with a brand as strong and dynamic as Crunchyroll."

Crunchyroll Expo began in 2017, organized in conjunction with LeftField Media and held in Santa Clara, California (see "Crunchyroll Announces New Anime Con").  The move escalates Reedpop’s competition with LeftField over the anime event space to a new level.  The companies are already competing aggressively over the New York market, with LeftField launching AnimeNYC in 2017, and ReedPOP adding Anime Fest @ NYCC X Anime Expo, a separate anime event the same weekend as New York Comic Con in conjunction with Anime Expo, the following year.  The two events are less than 60 days apart; LeftField just completed its third event last weekend (see "AnimeNYC Report").