the audience audit 2009
DESCRIPTION
The Audience Audit 2009 looks at who attended the arts in 2009 in Northern Ireland, and how they behaved.TRANSCRIPT
Audience Audit
About Audiences NI
Audiences NI was established by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in August 2004 to help grow and diversify audiences for the arts and cultural sector in Northern Ireland. The agency is one of 12 audience development agencies operating throughout the UK, providing vital audience development support to organisations through the provision of market intelligence, training, projects, research and forums.
Since its inception, Audiences NI has been carrying out research on audiences for the arts in Northern Ireland, including demographic and geographic profiling using Mosaic NI, trend analyses on box office data and customer focused online surveys for its members.
For more information on Mosaic NI and interpreting the results of this analysis, please email [email protected] or phone 028 9043 6480.
Please note that the contents of this document may not be cited, reproduced or distributed without express written permission from Audiences NI.
Report compiled by Chris Palmer, Research Officer, Audiences NI.
www.audiencesni.com
Audiences NI 20 Mount Charles
Belfast
BT7 1NZ
t. +44 (0) 28 9043 6480
f. +44 (0) 28 9023 1429
W. www.audiencesni.com
2009
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With the publication of this, our second Audience Audit, we can for the first time accurately quantify to what extent the market for arts events has grown in Northern Ireland across two consecutive years.
The results are encouraging given the economic climate of 2009, as a small but solid expansion in audiences of 2% shows the importance which the arts continue to play in the leisure and cultural life of Northern Ireland.
This growth is proportionate to the expanding population though, and audience trends have remained remarkably consistent across the two years. The way we interact with our audiences through programming and marketing is therefore producing good, but consistently similar results.
If we are to continue to grow audiences for the arts and increase much needed ticket revenues in these days of standstill funding, we must embrace new approaches and ways of thinking. Whether individually, or working collaboratively on projects like Test Drive The Arts NI, we need to maximise the most valuable resource we have – a seat at one of our events.
The Audience Audit 2009 represents the benchmark against which we can measure the sector’s performance in future years.
Introduction
Produced in partnership with:
2
Steven HadleyChief Executive,Audience NI
11
Conclusion
The Audience Audit 2009 cements the conclusions from the 2008 report; the arts are not the exclusive preserve of any socio-demographic group and are enjoyed by the full spectrum of Northern Irish society, even during one of the longest economic downturns in history.
More households are attending the arts year on year, and the amount contributed to the Northern Irish economy in 2009 was at least £16.2 million, 11% up on the year before (although this includes venues which were dark in 2009). In real terms, the economic impact goes much further beyond the money spent on tickets into secondary spend and wider economic benefits to restaurants, bars and hotels and the vital animation of the towns and cities of Northern Ireland.
The unique households which attended the arts varied between 2008 and 2009, but the type of people living in those households and how they behave remained consistent across the two years analysed. This consistent, and therefore predictable, behaviour provides a strong basis for developing sound marketing strategies to increase and deepen existing audiences’ engagement with the arts and attracting new audiences.
As we continue to track attendances over time in future years, the Audience Audit will form an increasingly robust benchmark for year on year comparison, strengthening the case for arts funding and enabling arts organisations to more effectively target new audiences.
Glossary
Household: A household comprises one person living alone, or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address within common housekeeping – that is, sharing either a living room or sitting room or at least one meal a day. (NI Census)
Mosaic NI: Mosaic NI is a Northern Ireland Specific consumer classification system, which segments consumers into 9 groups based on a mixture of census information and lifestyle surveys. Any data which includes a post code can be classified using the profiling software, providing demographic information specific for each group, and allowing records to be geographically mapped.
Penetration: A comparison of one amount against a total figure to give a percentage. In the case of audience specific data, the extent to which a facility is attracting actual users or attenders from within its relevant identified markets. (An A-Z of Commonly Used Terms and Protocols relating to Box Office and Audience Data, Stephen Cashman/Audience Data UK, 2005)
Performance: An individual show within a run of performances.
Post Code: A code used to identify a postal address, made up of a combination of letters and numerals. All Northern Ireland Post Codes begin with BT, followed by a one or two digit number, a space, a one digit number and two letters. These typically relate to around 15 residential addresses or one large user, such as a business address. (www.royalmail.co.uk)
Revenue: The amount (in Pounds £) paid per single ticket to see a performance.
Ticket: A ticket is a single seat sold for a single event.
Visit: A visit is where a booker attends a venue to see a single performance of a show along with any other person they have booked tickets for. Regardless of the size of the party, this constitutes 1 visit. However, if the same customer attends an arts event a second time in 2009, even if it is the same show at the same venue on a different date, this constitutes a separate visit.
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Contents
2 Introduction3 ContentsandExecutiveSummary4 Methodology5 2009incontext6-8 Whobookedfortheartsin2009?9 AttendancebyArtform&PurchasePatterns10 Seasonality11 Conclusion&Glossary
The Audience Audit is based on box office data drawn from twenty arts organisations across Northern Ireland. These organisations were included on the basis of their having box office systems connected to Vital Statistics, the analytics software used by Audiences NI. Therefore, while the findings from this report represent the most robust piece of arts marketing intelligence available in Northern Ireland, they do not represent a comprehensive overview, rather they represent a minimum level of arts attendance in 2009. The Audience Audit covers the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009, a full calendar year of arts attendance.
The Audience Audit findings show that:
17% of households in Northern Ireland booked tickets for arts events in 2009.
There were 349,463 visits to 7,905 performances of arts events in Northern Ireland, equating to just over 1.1 million tickets worth just over £16 million.
Arts attendance is not exclusive to people on high incomes – 29% of households were likely to have incomes of less than £13,500 a year.
The average price paid for a ticket to the arts in 2009 was £14.70.
Visits to arts events peaked in March with 11% of all visits in the year concentrated in this month.
July showed the least activity across all four measures (household bookers, visits made, tickets sold and revenue generated).
The most tickets sold and the most revenue generated was in December.
53% of the tickets sold for an event were sold in the 4 weeks leading up to an event, and primarily within 1 week of the performance (30%).
Theatre continued to be the most popular artform, accounting for 56% of the ticket sales for arts events in 2009.
In real terms, the number of households attending the arts across the sector rose by 7% in 2009 compared to the year before, the number of tickets sold increased by 8% and the amount of revenue generated increased by 11%. However, when venues that were dark in 2008 are excluded, this growth is closer to 2%.
3
Executive Summary
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A two tier methodology was used in this report – transactional analysis (e.g. how many tickets were sold) and demographic profiling (e.g. what type of people were attending).
Sales were analysed across four key measures: the number of household bookers, the number of visits made, the number of tickets sold and the amount of ticket revenue generated. (See the Glossary on Page 11).
About Vital Statistics
Audiences NI is connected to the box office system of twenty arts organisations across Northern Ireland via its Vital Statistics software, allowing us to collate anonymised data on ticket transactions on a daily basis. The intelligence being gathered on audiences remains robust, as customer name and address data was captured on 85% of the visits made, 91% of the tickets sold and 97% of the revenue generated in 2009.
This analysis is based on households rather than the total number of people attending as there is currently no standard process for gathering information on who a booker is bringing with them, so the most reliable level of data to analyse is the combined purchase history of everyone within each individual Northern Irish household.
About Mosaic NI
Mosaic NI is a classification system which segments consumers into nine demographic groups specific to Northern Ireland, based on the post code attached to the customer record. It is a useful way of understanding what type of person comes to see your show (e.g. likely age range, marital status and social grade) and where they come from geographically.
About the Audience Data UK Artform Classifiers
The ADUK artform classifications are a set of common artform categories designed to help analyse attendances at arts events, which have been adopted for use by Arts Council NI and Audiences NI for reporting purposes. For the Audience Audit, the Top Tier (Artform) has been used to analyse events in 2009. To view the full ADUK classifiers, including the various Genre sub-classifications which comprise each Artform, visit www.aduk.org.
Comparisons with The Audience Audit 2008
Due to different datasets currently available, the arts organisations which have been included in this report differ from those included in the original Audience Audit from 2008. As any direct comparisons between the two published reports would be misleading, all comparisons drawn between 2008 and 2009 in this report are based on the same venues included in the 2009 report, using a retrospective analysis of their 2008 data.
Methodology
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Bookings for the arts in 2009 came from 119,548 households that could be verified as being within Northern Ireland (based on records having captured identifiable BT postal addresses). This represents 17% of the total households in Northern Ireland (based on a Mosaic NI household estimate of 693,150).
Overall, an individual Northern Irish household which booked for the arts in 2009 was worth an average of £99.16 per year in ticket revenue to the arts in Northern Ireland. On average, bookers bought 3 tickets per visit worth £53.32 in total.
How does 2009 compare with 2008?
With the Ulster Hall reopening and the Lyric Theatre programming a full season at the Elmwood Hall in 2009, sales increased by between 7% and 11% across the four primary measures between 2008 and 2009, while the number of performances rose by 6%.
Excluding these venues, the number of households booking for the arts grew by 2% in 2009, the number of tickets sold grew by 2% and the amount of ticket revenue generated grew by 5%. Estimates from Mosaic NI show that the total number of households in Northern Ireland overall also increased by 2% in the same time period, so the growth in arts bookers in 2009 was proportional to the expanding population, but the growth in ticket revenue generated was disproportionately higher.
There was a slight increase in the penetration level of households in Northern Ireland per year, rising by 0.4% to 17% in 2009. However, over the full two year period of 2008 and 2009, 25% of Northern Irish households have attended the arts at one of these 20 organisations so penetration is increasing as the timescale analysed widens.
There are only very small variances across the two years so arts attendance overall has remained consistent in terms of composition and behaviour between 2008 and 2009.
Do all organisations behave in the same way?Not all arts organisations exhibited exactly the same sales patterns year on year.
However, there is nothing in the data to suggest that any of the individual organisations analysed in this report experienced a drastic change in the make-up of their audience base or customer behaviour in 2009 compared to the previous year.
2009 in Context
5
Performances NI Households Visits Tickets Revenue
6% 7% 10% 8% 11%
Number of Household Number of Number of Amount of revenue performances bookers visits to events tickets sold generated overall
7,905 166,727 349,463 1,105,524 £16,246,156.67
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Who booked for the arts in 2009?
6
Younger Nestmakers: 9%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 25 - 44 and children aged 0-4 • co-habiting or married couples• social grades A/B, C1 and C2• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of £13.5k+, £25k+ and £50k+
Housing Exec. Tenants: 10%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 18-24 and children aged 0-4 and 5-17• single people, cohabiting couples and divorcees• social grades D and E• people with O-Levels, • household incomes of less than £7.5k and £13.5k+
Better Off Families: 14%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 45-64 and children aged 5- 17• married couples• social grades A/B and C1• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of £25k+ and £50k+
Ageing Suburbanites: 21%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 45-64, 65+ & 85+• married couples• social grades A/B and C1• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of £13.5k+ ,£25k+ and £50k+
Wealth & Wisdom: 13%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 45-64, 65+ & 85+• married couples• social grades A/B and C1• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of £25k+ and £50k+
Farming Communities: 14%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 45-64, 65+ & 85+• married couples• social grades A/B and C1• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of £25k+ and £50k+
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7
KEY:
• Each coloured dot on the map represents a postcode in Northern Ireland which contained an arts booker in 2009
• Each House Unit represents 1% of households in Northern Ireland booking in 2009
Small Town Renters : 8%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 65+ • divorcees, widowers and cohabiting couples• social grades C2, D and E• people with O-Levels• household incomes of less than £7.5k, £75.k + and £13.5+
Poor Seniors & Solos: 5%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 45-64, 65+ and 85+• single people, cohabiting couples, widowers and divorcees• social grades D and E• no levels of qualification• household incomes of less than £7.5k and £13.5k+
Students and Singles: 6%
Above average levels of:
• people aged 18-24, 25-44 and 85+• single people, cohabiting couples and divorcees• social grades A/B, C1 and E• people with A-Levels and Degrees• household incomes of less than £7.5k and £50k+
Copyright © Experian Ltd 2007,Copyright © NAVTEQ 2007,
Based on Crown Copyright material
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No single Mosaic NI group was particularly prominent in 2009, but a higher percentage were coming from Mosaic NI groups which are more likely to contain older married people, with degrees and household incomes in the higher ranges (£25,000 + or £50,000 +) and in Social Grades A/B, C1 or C2.
However, not all arts attenders display these characteristics, e.g. 29% of households were in a Mosaic NI group which contains above average levels of households with incomes of less than £13,500 a year.
The percentage breakdown of household bookers by their Mosaic NI group is almost identical in 2009 compared to the previous year, so while the number of bookers has increased, the number coming from each group has increased in an approximately proportional manner. The only Mosaic NI group which didn’t show a numerical increase in the number of households booking was Wealth and Wisdom, and this dropped by less than 100 households.
In 2009, compared to the overall make-up of the population, some groups were more inclined to attend than others.
Wealth & Wisdom, Better Off Families and Ageing Suburbanites showed above average levels of interest
Students & Singles showed an average level of interest
Farming Communities, Small Town Renters, Younger Nestmakers, Poor Seniors and Solos and Housing Exec. Tenants showed lower than average levels of interest
Wealth & Wisdom, Better Off Families and Ageing Suburbanites can therefore be considered the Mosaic NI groups which are most likely to yield arts bookings.
Penetrations
The highest penetration was within the Wealth & Wisdom Mosaic NI group, where 32% of the households in this group in Northern Ireland booked tickets in 2009.
The lowest penetration was in the Mosaic NI group Poor Seniors & Solos, where 9% of the households in this group booked tickets in 2009.
There is potential amongst all of these Mosaic NI groups to increase audiences, including the four groups which have been identified as the most likely to attend arts events.
Do some Mosaic NI groups spend more than others?
A household in the Mosaic NI group Wealth & Wisdom was worth the most in average ticket revenue per household at £111.85, while Housing Exec Tentants households were worth the least to the arts on average in 2009 at £86.70.
64% of the spend in 2009 was made by the four most prominent groups, Wealth and Wisdom(15%), Better Off Families (15%), Ageing Suburbanites (20%) and Farming Communities(14%).
However, only one Mosaic NI group was making more visits, buying more tickets and spending more money than you would expect given the number of households attending. 13% of the households in 2009 were Wealth and Wisdom, but this group accounted for 16% of the visits, 14% of the ticket purchases and 15% of the revenue generated.
8
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Theatre (which includes drama, entertainment, children’s theatre, variety, musicals, and comedy amongst others) was the most popular artform in 2009, with 64% of Northern Irish households which booked for the arts attending one or more of the 1,897 theatre performances. Theatre goers made 47% of the visits, accounting for 56% of the tickets bought and 58% of the revenue spent. Every artform generated more ticket revenue in 2009 than in 2008, although for Literature and Dance this was despite a drop in the number of tickets sold. However, the percentage distribution of sales across the various artforms throughout the year remained reasonably consistent across all the measures above, varying by only +/- 3% at most across all the measures.
Purchase Patterns
A larger percentage of households were booking more than four weeks in advance (88,518 households, 74%) than were booking in the four weeks leading up to an event (75,197 households, 62%). 59% of ticket revenue was generated more than four weeks in advance, but only 47% of tickets purchased were sold in the same time frame. Within the month leading up to an event, the week of the event is more prominent for ticket sales than any other week in that month (30% of tickets sold and 19% of ticket revenue generated).
Overall, patterns of booking times leading up to an event in 2009 were consistent with 2008, with only a +/- 2% variance between the two years. Arts attendances are therefore still planned and booked in advance rather than being a spur of the moment decision to attend, either more than a month in advance or on the week the event takes place.
2 Household figures apply to only those in Northern Ireland, but sales figures refer to all sales, irrespective of where they originated.3 Data capture on film admissions is traditionally low.4 A large percentage of the sales under Museum/Exhibition are for one event which had multiple daily performances throughout the year.
Attendance by Artform and Purchase Patterns
Theatre 75,923 614,137 £9,421,707.52 164,464 1,897 £15.34
Music 50,036 304,517 £5,035,399.71 100,912 1,120 £16.54
Film3 3,998 88,137 £408,631.94 48,850 1,808 £4.64
Museum/Exhibition4 4,740 28,955 £81,350.00 8,751 2,004 £2.81
Participatory Events 2,554 10,865 £144,624.79 6,374 777 £13.31
Dance 10,098 46,831 £1,059,959.27 15,192 111 £22.63
Literature 2,084 9,517 £80,111.44 4,147 141 £8.42
Visual Arts & Crafts 483 2,565 £14,372.00 773 47 £5.60
Total 119,548 1,105,524 £16,246,156.67 349,463 7,905 £14.70
NorthernIrish AverageArtform Housholds2 Tickets Revenue Visits Performances TicketYield
On the Day 144,397 13% £1,016,158.24 6%Day Before 41,784 4% £431,071.81 3%2 - 7 Days 140,894 13% £1,673,330.44 10%8 - 14 Days 105,203 10% £1,381,235.15 9%15 - 28 Days 147,237 13% £2,143,990.62 13%Over 4 weeks before 522,083 47% £9,568,941.09 59%Total 1,101,598 100% £16,214,727.35 100%
Purchase %ofTickets %ofRevenue Time Tickets Purchased Revenue Generated
9
Attendance by artform
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The graph above shows sales for events in 2009 broken down by the month the event occurred in across the four primary measures. In 2009, all four measures followed a similar trend, starting high in January, rising to a peak in March, before falling away to an annual low in July. The indicators then grow to a peak in December after a slight dip in November.
Household bookers peaked in March with 23,339 making a booking for an event in that month (19%).
Visits also peaked in March at 38,782 visits (11%).
Ticket sales peaked in December with 180,630 tickets sold (16%)
Revenue also peaked in December with £2.5 million worth of tickets sold (16%).
Sales per month only fell below £1 million in 3 months (June, July and August).
July attracted the fewest number of bookers (6,353 households, 5%), recorded the lowest number of visits (15,271, 4%), sold the fewest tickets (39156, 4%), and generated the least revenue (£475,652.80, 3%).
The average spend per visit to an arts event in 2009 across the year was £49.03, with an average of 3 tickets purchased per visit. However, in December the average spend per visit was £71.45 (average of 6 tickets per visit) while in January it was £56.68 (average of 4 tickets per visit).
Sales increased in seven months of the year across all four measures compared to the previous year, while they decreased in five months compared to 2008. However, despite these changes, the distribution of sales across the year remained relatively consistent, with variations of only +/- 2% per month on average compared to 2008.
The largest variations between 2008 and 2009 were in March (3% increase in tickets sold, 4% increase in household bookers and 5% increase in revenue generated compared to the previous year) and in October (3% less visits, 5% less ticket revenue generated and 7% less household bookers compared to 2008).10
A: TicketSales
B: Revenue
C: NumberofVisits
D: NumberofHousholds
Seasonality
A
C
B
D
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With the publication of this, our second Audience Audit, we can for the first time accurately quantify to what extent the market for arts events has grown in Northern Ireland across two consecutive years.
The results are encouraging given the economic climate of 2009, as a small but solid expansion in audiences of 2% shows the importance which the arts continue to play in the leisure and cultural life of Northern Ireland.
This growth is proportionate to the expanding population though, and audience trends have remained remarkably consistent across the two years. The way we interact with our audiences through programming and marketing is therefore producing good, but consistently similar results.
If we are to continue to grow audiences for the arts and increase much needed ticket revenues in these days of standstill funding, we must embrace new approaches and ways of thinking. Whether individually, or working collaboratively on projects like Test Drive The Arts NI, we need to maximise the most valuable resource we have – a seat at one of our events.
The Audience Audit 2009 represents the benchmark against which we can measure the sector’s performance in future years.
Introduction
Produced in partnership with:
2
Steven HadleyChief Executive,Audience NI
11
Conclusion
The Audience Audit 2009 cements the conclusions from the 2008 report; the arts are not the exclusive preserve of any socio-demographic group and are enjoyed by the full spectrum of Northern Irish society, even during one of the longest economic downturns in history.
More households are attending the arts year on year, and the amount contributed to the Northern Irish economy in 2009 was at least £16.2 million, 11% up on the year before (although this includes venues which were dark in 2009). In real terms, the economic impact goes much further beyond the money spent on tickets into secondary spend and wider economic benefits to restaurants, bars and hotels and the vital animation of the towns and cities of Northern Ireland.
The unique households which attended the arts varied between 2008 and 2009, but the type of people living in those households and how they behave remained consistent across the two years analysed. This consistent, and therefore predictable, behaviour provides a strong basis for developing sound marketing strategies to increase and deepen existing audiences’ engagement with the arts and attracting new audiences.
As we continue to track attendances over time in future years, the Audience Audit will form an increasingly robust benchmark for year on year comparison, strengthening the case for arts funding and enabling arts organisations to more effectively target new audiences.
Glossary
Household: A household comprises one person living alone, or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address within common housekeeping – that is, sharing either a living room or sitting room or at least one meal a day. (NI Census)
Mosaic NI: Mosaic NI is a Northern Ireland Specific consumer classification system, which segments consumers into 9 groups based on a mixture of census information and lifestyle surveys. Any data which includes a post code can be classified using the profiling software, providing demographic information specific for each group, and allowing records to be geographically mapped.
Penetration: A comparison of one amount against a total figure to give a percentage. In the case of audience specific data, the extent to which a facility is attracting actual users or attenders from within its relevant identified markets. (An A-Z of Commonly Used Terms and Protocols relating to Box Office and Audience Data, Stephen Cashman/Audience Data UK, 2005)
Performance: An individual show within a run of performances.
Post Code: A code used to identify a postal address, made up of a combination of letters and numerals. All Northern Ireland Post Codes begin with BT, followed by a one or two digit number, a space, a one digit number and two letters. These typically relate to around 15 residential addresses or one large user, such as a business address. (www.royalmail.co.uk)
Revenue: The amount (in Pounds £) paid per single ticket to see a performance.
Ticket: A ticket is a single seat sold for a single event.
Visit: A visit is where a booker attends a venue to see a single performance of a show along with any other person they have booked tickets for. Regardless of the size of the party, this constitutes 1 visit. However, if the same customer attends an arts event a second time in 2009, even if it is the same show at the same venue on a different date, this constitutes a separate visit.
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Audience Audit
About Audiences NI
Audiences NI was established by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in August 2004 to help grow and diversify audiences for the arts and cultural sector in Northern Ireland. The agency is one of 12 audience development agencies operating throughout the UK, providing vital audience development support to organisations through the provision of market intelligence, training, projects, research and forums.
Since its inception, Audiences NI has been carrying out research on audiences for the arts in Northern Ireland, including demographic and geographic profiling using Mosaic NI, trend analyses on box office data and customer focused online surveys for its members.
For more information on Mosaic NI and interpreting the results of this analysis, please email [email protected] or phone 028 9043 6480.
Please note that the contents of this document may not be cited, reproduced or distributed without express written permission from Audiences NI.
Report compiled by Chris Palmer, Research Officer, Audiences NI.
www.audiencesni.com
Audiences NI 20 Mount Charles
Belfast
BT7 1NZ
t. +44 (0) 28 9043 6480
f. +44 (0) 28 9023 1429
W. www.audiencesni.com
2009
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