Shifts in audience behaviour are likely to be longer term – but may bring new audiences
September 2021
Cultural Participation Monitor
Wave 5 | Winter 2021
This research is from The Audience Agency's nationwide longitudinal (ongoing) panel survey of changing views about participating in creative and cultural activities through the recent and ongoing crises, and beyond, the Cultural Participation Monitor.
Themes
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.
Most groups expect to attend all cultural activities less often in the future, compared to pre-pandemic levels. 27% saying they’d expect to go to the cinema less often in the future, compared to before the pandemic. On the other end, 22% expect to attend outdoor heritage venues more in the future.
This is consistent with audiences’ feelings about how Covid will affect our lives in the long term: 78% felt the impact will still be felt in a year’s time, and just over half (57%), believe the impact will still be felt in two years’ time.
Older groups expected to attend cultural activities in-person less often compared to before the pandemic, and inversely younger people (especially under 35s) and students were more likely to expect attending more often. Families (especially with those with younger children) and those living in cities were also more optimistic.
The trend towards less future attendance was true across the Audience Spectrum groups, apart from for Metroculturals. There were substantial reservations among the medium engaged groups.
Other findings from Wave 5 | Winter 2021
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Attendance rose significantly in 2021, even though it hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels yet
In-person engagement doubled in 2021 compared to 2020, especially for film, heritage sites, and museums, while online engagement is starting to trend down.
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Willingness to attend cultural events in person may be on the rise
Willingness to attend might be going up slightly, but still a third are not comfortable returning in-person (even before Omicron).
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Audiences still care about Covid safety measures
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.
