All Evidence Articles

Changes in party sizes

October 2024

“Has there been a recent drop in single ticket purchases?”

Flatliners

October 2024

Are audience numbers finally on the move…? 

Sales changes: the biggest movers

August 2024

Despite an overall decline in ticket sales, segments like Frontline Families and Trips & Treats have surged, while Home & Heritage and Commuterland Culturebuffs have seen significant drops, underscoring the importance of understanding audience subsegments to navigate these shifts effectively.

Sales changes: an overview

August 2024

It’s been a changeable few years for ticket sales in the cultural sector. What we’d initially hoped would only be a sharp ‘V’ shape in ticket sales, with a quick rebound after a one-off bad year due to the pandemic, has turned into something more complex…

Use of social and digital by Audience Spectrum

July 2024

Use of digital media and digital varies between Audience Spectrum, suggesting different potential routes to reach different segments. 

The election through Audience Spectrum

July 2024

Now that the election’s over, the ballot boxes stowed away again in the basements of town halls across the country, and hundreds of new MPs have taken the train to Westminster to be sworn in, we thought it would be a bit of fun to look at the election results using Audience Spectrum.

Comparing over-represented Audience Spectrum Segments in seats won in the 2024 General Election

July 2024

Gain a deeper understanding of the 2024 election with our Audience Spectrum Analysis, where we break down the profile of each party's seats compared to the national average, revealing key trends and the demographics each party represents.

Interest in history and heritage

June 2024

Heritage is broadly popular with the general population, with high proportions saying that it’s an interest of theirs.

Attitudes to heritage

June 2024

We asked the extent to which people agreed or disagreed with a range of statements about history and heritage, to better understand the attitudes which people bring to their engagement. These results were surprising in a number of ways: neither consistently conforming to a traditional nor a progressive perspective. 

Cost of Living

June 2024

It’s no surprise that the UK population feel worse off than they did last year (33% feeling worse off, 49% about the same and only 18% better off, a net 15% reduction).

Creative Places: Changing Hours

May 2024

We’ve been seeing a range of changing audience behaviours and attitudes since the pandemic, including shifting attitudes to event timings.

Creative Places: Activities

May 2024

In our latest wave of the Cultural Participation Monitor, we asked about a wider range of cultural activities to get a fuller picture of the sorts of things people do outside our usual arts, cultural and heritage scope.

Report | Let's Create: Opera and Music Theatre Analysis

March 2024

Arts Council England have published a report into the opera and music theatre sector.

What’s happening with Panto and Christmas show audiences post-pandemic?

January 2024

Arts and cultural events continue to increase booker numbers post pandemic, but the cost-of-living crisis that followed is affecting some artforms more than others. Panto and Christmas shows are among those that are particularly affected.

Audiences prefer live events to digital

January 2024

This report uses data from wave 9 of the Cultural Participation Monitor (CPM) to understand the extent audiences engage with live versus digital events, finding that:

• All audiences prefer live events, followed by at home viewing and then watching at a cinema screening.
• Lower engaged segments are more open to viewing at home and at the cinema compared to higher engaged segments.
• Younger people are more open to all viewing platforms and artforms compared to audiences aged 45 and over

Audiences prefer live events, but how much varies by artform

January 2024

Data from the CPM suggests that the more popular an artform is the more open audiences are to viewing it in different formats other than live. This report presents insights into how the popularity of an artform and the initial audience interest can determine how engaging people find non-live events for a particular artform.

Audience preferences on venues' values

November 2023

Social and environmental issues are at the forefront of much news about the cultural sector recently: cancellation of fossil fuel sponsorships; repatriation of museum artefacts and decolonialisation of collections and displays; demonstrations of support for Black Lives Matter; the emphasis on environmental action in Let’s Create and National Portfolio funding, to name but a few topics. But where is the voice of the audience in these discussions?

Younger audiences prefer more relaxed behavioural codes

November 2023

Younger people are generally more tolerant of all divisive behaviours at live events, though some activities are universally off-putting (smoking/vaping, talking on the phone), while being 'allowed' to do others (eating, drinking, taking photos) actually makes people of all ages keener to attend.

Cost-of-Living is hitting lowest engaged groups hardest

July 2023

Cost-of-living fears still soar above receding Covid concerns as the driving factor behind declining attendance, though less so for settled suburban groups - meanwhile the already least engaged audiences continue to be most affected, compounding the existing inequality gap in cultural consumption.

Nothing beats the live experience

July 2023

While attending 'live' cultural events in person is everyone's strong preference, when it comes to alternative modes of engagement, watching from home, either streaming online or on TV, appeals more to all groups than doing so at the cinema, though both options are more popular among younger audiences.

Social issues and climate concerns matter to audiences

July 2023

People (especially younger ones and better off families) say that they care whether venues share their own social and environmental values - particularly when it comes to the Climate Crisis - and that they are more likely to attend if organisations take an active stance on these issues.

The cost-of-living crisis and audiences’ attendance

July 2023

The cost-of-living crisis continues to expand and impact individuals in the UK. The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 6.3% in the 12 months up to September 2023 according to the Office for National Statistics. It is affecting many individuals’ daily lives and is having an impact on engagement at cultural and arts events and on organisations’ income, at an already difficult time.

Cost of living outweighs covid

March 2023

Over 60% say that the cost-of-living is already slashing their ability to attend culture events (more than twice than because of Covid concerns), with even higher numbers expecting this to still be the case in 6-24 months' time.

Engagement trends

March 2023

1/3 still report attending arts and culture less than pre-pandemic, though under 35-year-olds are returning more than others, and are more likely to identify as the 'initiators' of social cultural activity with friends and family.

Late booking trends

March 2023

Panto season pre-sales stand out as being back on track, though this goes against an overall trend towards later booking, with over 40% saying that they now tend to book more last minute than they used to.

Social media behaviour

March 2023

More than 1/3 people say they follow an 'arts and culture' organisation on social media, though report being more inclined to do so out of interest in the broad topic or artform, than in that specific organisation and its events.

Support for organisations

March 2023

Half of those who previously did so intend to donate less over the next couple of years, but most who have cancelled memberships do intend to restart them, and c.80% of lapsed volunteers expect to return to their activities.

Cultural Tourism? What we know about bookers from outside Wales

October 2022

Our takeaways on where non-Welsh audiences are from and what impact the pandemic has had on cross-border culture visits.

Cost of living crisis

September 2022

The vast majority of respondents say that they are worried about the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on them and their household, with a whopping 92% intending to scale back on entertainment spend outside of the home as a result, especially among mid-engaged, middle-aged and less urban groups.

Everyday creative participation

September 2022

While financial uncertainty might make people nervous about splashing out on more expensive arts and culture activities, over 40% of people say that pursuing creative hobbies in their own time is a key interest, a trend that skews towards younger participants and has increased through the pandemic.

Ongoing Attitudes to Covid

September 2022

Fears surrounding Covid-19 are softening, with half feeling 'back to normal' and fewer than 1 in 10 people expressing strong concern about catching the virus themselves, although over half still worry about vulnerable friends and family, while support for certain safety precautions remains high.

Plans for future attendance

September 2022

While willingness to attend continues to trend upwards however, people do anticipate that their future in-person participation will be less frequent than pre-pandemic, though outdoor events are an exception, and they also intend to engage with cultural activities more locally (and inexpensively) than before.

Recent Engagement Trends

September 2022

Recent arts, culture and heritage attendance has risen to an impressive 90% among respondents, with film and museums/heritage proving especially popular, particularly with families, while online arts activities continue to attract a younger and more ethnically diverse audience.

Spend in cultural shops and cafés

September 2022

As audiences tighten their belts, they also plan to reduce their general spend in venues' shops and cafés, though the former looks to be harder hit than the latter, where younger and highly culturally engaged visitors express a willingness to pay slightly more for greener and more ethical alternatives.

Safeguarding Disabled Audiences' Future Engagement

August 2022

Despite calls for inclusive reopening from a range of advocates and advocacy groups, disabled people are at risk of being ignored within the wider desire to return to normal.

How audiences' spending and attendance habits have changed

July 2022

For the first time in 2 years, arts, culture and heritage venues were able to welcome back audiences to a 'business as usual' Spring and Summer programme, so we've considered how their return has impacted sales and income, compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Wales | 2022

July 2022

Booker and population data through the lens of the new Audience Spectrum subsegments

Willingness to attend events, especially outdoors, is rising

April 2022

Overall there is much increased willingness to attend events and optimism about future attendance, though some groups continue to be especially concerned, with disabled people less likely to be willing or able to attend.

Nearly half of people engaged with arts and culture digitally during the pandemic

April 2022

Nearly half of people say that they engaged with arts and culture online in some form during the pandemic, weighted towards audiences who are younger, typically high cultural engagers anyway, or disabled.

Support for Covid-19 safety measures is starting to ebb

April 2022

Safety measures are rated as less important than they have been previously, but desire for them continues, with half of audiences still saying that they would not attend if precautions were removed all together.

The cost of living crisis is starting to impact people's willingness or ability to spend on arts and culture

April 2022

The cost of living crisis is emerging as a predictable barrier to engagement, and is particularly likely to affect frequency of attendance (more than spend per attendance - though increased prices would act as a further deterrent).

Working from home is here to stay

April 2022

Working from home is still prevalent, preferred and expected to continue in to some degree for most, which is likely a contributor to the widespread intention to attend more locally in future than before the pandemic.

Wales | 2021

March 2022

Multiple lockdowns have meant working from home has become the norm and unlike some of their counterparts across the border, Welsh Government rulings have kept doors shut for many organisations.

Wales | Welsh and Welsh Language Performance

March 2022

During Wave 5 of the Cultural Participation Monitor, we asked respondents based in Wales four additional questions about Welsh Language.

Willingness to attend cultural events in person may be on the rise

November 2021

Willingness to attend might be going up slightly, but still a third are not comfortable returning in-person (even before Omicron).

Attendance rose significantly in 2021, even though it hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels yet

November 2021

In-person engagement doubled in 2021 compared to 2020, especially for film, heritage sites, and museums, while online engagement is starting to trend down.

Audiences still care about Covid safety measures

September 2021

Attenders still feel strongly about Covid safety measures in place at cultural venues, and they would like to see them continue. Ventilation and crowd management are the safety measures rated most important.

Shifts in audience behaviour are likely to be longer term – but may bring new audiences

September 2021

People are expecting to keep attending less culture in-person than they used to, with audiences likely to skew towards younger, more urban groups, or families.

Increased wellbeing is offset by continued worry

September 2021

While people's sense of wellbeing continues to slowly improve, the same audiences' concern about falling ill with Covid-19 is growing, and most expect further lockdowns both this year and next.

A lot of people still don't feel safe to attend

September 2021

Willingness to attend has not increased since June and people remain worried about others' behaviour, though they don't appear to think there is much more organisations themselves should be doing to make them feel safe.

Changed working habits may trigger a surge in localness

September 2021

Most people who have worked at home for some or all of the pandemic expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable. As these tend to be high cultural engagers, they may drive increased local attendance in future.

Engagement is set to decline and pantos may struggle

September 2021

People expect to engage less in general with arts, culture and heritage in the coming months, with a particular decline in interest in festive shows potentially signalling a bleak midwinter for venues.

Digital Audience Survey | Findings

July 2021

Latest findings from The Audience Agency's Digital Audience Survey show how audiences have responded to arts, culture and heritage organisations moving so much of their offering online during the COVID-19 lock-down period.

Indications Audience Behaviours May Change After the Pandemic

July 2021

There are already indications that audience behaviour will be different in the 'new-normal' after the pandemic, particularly in relation to more local attendance, greater digital engagement (alongside, and in some cases replacing, live attendance) and openness to changes in event formats from significant minorities of the population (e.g. through blended digital and live events).

Wellbeing has Taken a Serious Blow, but Arts can Help

July 2021

Wellbeing has taken a serious blow across the population, although many say that arts do help increase wellbeing.

Audiences are Proving Slow to Return

July 2021

Audiences are proving slow to want to return, with a continuing sense of risk to health and only slow rises in engagement.

Summer Analysis

June 2021

The profiles, behaviours and motivations of audiences who attend arts, culture and heritage in the peak summer months are distinct and strikingly aligned with how people engage over the festive period.

 

Inequality through COVID

April 2021

Looking at Cultural Participation Monitor data to see who is more negatively impacted and how that relates to, or exacerbates, previously existing and ongoing inequalities in audiences.

Wales | 2020

February 2021

This report summarises results for Wales from the first wave of The Audience Agency’s COVID-19 Monitor.

Audience Spectrum in the Context of COVID-19

June 2020

Understand the impact of lockdown on the behaviours of different Audience Spectrum groups.

Live Literature Events Audience Report

January 2020

This report draws together what we know of Live Literature Events from the many hundreds of organisations that contribute booking and survey data to Audience Answers.

Report | The adoption of digital technology in the arts

December 2019

This report is intended specifically to help Welsh arts organisations adopt and make use of new digital technologies – and to transform their business models as a result.

Report | Creative People and Places: Digital Engagement & Opportunities

September 2019

Insight and practical recommendations for how CPPs can harness digital tools more effectively.

Audiences for Visual Arts Report

August 2019

Visual artists and curators create spaces where communities can face challenging ideas constructively.

Museums Audience Report

November 2018

This report demonstrates the breadth of people museums are able to engage through their diverse appeal, collections, learning activities and specialist knowledge.

Outdoor Arts Audience Report

July 2018

Outdoor Arts audiences are distinctive. Unlike audiences for many other artforms and cultural activities, they tend to be representative of the demographics of the public in their area.

Audiences for Classical Music

March 2017

Five things you might not know about classical music audiences, discovered through Audience Answers Data.

Report | Who Donates Among Arts Audiences?

July 2015

While the majority of arts audiences are venue loyal, new research suggests donors behave differently.