What are animation communities?

Communities for animators working in 2D, 3D, stop motion, and character design. Reddit and Discord are the main platforms for sharing work, getting feedback, finding job opportunities, and connecting with other professionals at all stages of the craft.

Where do most animation communities live?

Reddit is the most common platform in this report (31% of 16 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

94% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical animation community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 165K members and the median is 33K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (94%). Others that show up often include live chat.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Animation topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Animation Communities Report: Stats, Platforms, Trends &...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 16 animation communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: animation communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated 2023-05-24

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Communities: 16
Platforms: 5
Avg members: 165K
Median members: 33K

Where Animation Communities Are Hosted

Reddit
5(31%)
Independent Platforms
4(25%)
Facebook
3(19%)
Discord
2(13%)
LinkedIn
2(13%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
12(75%)
Chat communities
2(13%)
Other platforms
2(13%)

Most listings are forum / feed-based (75%).

Reddit leads, but Independent Platforms and Facebook also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
0(0%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
1(6%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
1(6%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
9(56%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
1(6%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
1(6%)

3 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (165K vs 33K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Animation Differs From Other Categories

Animation is more free-to-join than typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Animation	Hive Index average
Free to join	94%	85%
Median members	33K	25K
Average members	165K	669K
Paid or apply-to-join	6%	15%
Live chat	19%	38%
Discord share	13%	16%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
94%
Live Chat
19%

Niche Features

Courses
13%
Newsletter
13%
Online/Offline Events
13%
Job Board
6%
Member Perks
6%
Requires Application
6%

Forum appears on 94% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 91

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Reddit	5	31%	14	19%
Independent Platforms	4	25%	3	4%
Facebook	3	19%	22	31%
Discord	2	13%	32	44%
LinkedIn	2	13%	1	1%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord gets 44% of clicks but only 13% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Forum / feed-based
39(54%)
Chat communities
32(44%)
Other platforms
1(1%)

Most-clicked features

Forum
44(61%)
Live Chat
32(44%)
Courses
4(6%)
Member Perks
4(6%)
Newsletter
4(6%)
Online/Offline Events
4(6%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Large
28(39%)
Huge
24(33%)
Massive
13(18%)
Medium
4(6%)
Gigantic
2(3%)

Top-clicked listings

Sir Wade Animation
28(39%)
Professional Animators
13(18%)
r/3dAnimation
8(11%)

Most clicks go to forum / feed-based and chat communities communities.

Trends

Founded year

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2015

2017

2019

2020

Most listed groups were founded around 2009.

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Animation. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

•This is a smaller slice of Hive Index's database, so read trends as directional.
•Last updated 2023-05-24

FAQ

: Communities for animators working in 2D, 3D, stop motion, and character design. Reddit and Discord are the main platforms for sharing work, getting feedback, finding job opportunities, and connecting with other professionals at all stages of the craft.
: Reddit is the most common platform in this report (31% of 16 listings).
: 94% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 165K members and the median is 33K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (94%). Others that show up often include live chat.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Animation topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Keep exploring

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