All Evidence Articles
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The market for gifts of vouchers and memberships
December 2024
We’ve seen that gifts of vouchers to visitor attractions and memberships for heritage organisations, are seen as ‘good presents’, and that vouchers for a range of culture and leisure organisations have become more popular in recent years. But who is the market for them?
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Are vouchers and memberships good presents?
November 2024
In this article we explore how likely people are to appreciate vouchers and memberships as presents, and which groups to target with them.
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Flatliners
October 2024
Are audience numbers finally on the move…?
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Changes in party sizes
October 2024
“Has there been a recent drop in single ticket purchases?”
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Scotland | Sales Trends
September 2024
Delving into Audience Answers ticketing data to monitor Scottish sales trends.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Wales Population Profile Reports
September 2023
Explore the latest regional and national population insights for Wales.
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Local Audiences | North East Scotland and the Highlands and Islands
August 2023
A spotlight on audiences across Aberdeen, Inverness and the Shetland Islands.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Scotland | Audience Recovery Status Report 2022
June 2023
Delving into Audience Answers data to understand the extent to which arts engagement had recovered to pre-pandemic levels across Scotland, by the end of 2022
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Local Audiences | South and West Scotland
February 2023
A spotlight on audiences across Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and the Scottish Borders.
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Local Audiences | East Central Scotland
December 2022
A spotlight on audiences in Edinburgh City area, and across West, Mid and East Lothian.
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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.
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Local Audiences | West Central Scotland
October 2022
A spotlight on audiences across Glasgow, North and South Lanarkshire, and East and West Dunbartonshire.
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Local Audiences | Central Scotland
October 2022
A spotlight on audiences across Angus, Perth & Kinross, Dundee, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Fife and Falkirk
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Wales | 2022
July 2022
Booker and population data through the lens of the new Audience Spectrum subsegments
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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Philanthropy and Giving
March 2022
We asked respondents specific questions about their attitudes to financial support for the arts, either personally or politically:
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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.
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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.
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Wales | Hynt Cardholders
March 2022
Our analysis of HYNT cardholders maps the distribution of audience members by access preferences across Wales.
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Scotland | Pre-Covid 19 Audience Baseline Report
November 2021
We've looked at average Audience Finder Data from the years immediately preceding the pandemic to create a baseline that we can use to track Scottish Audience recovery.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Wales | 2020
February 2021
This report summarises results for Wales from the first wave of The Audience Agency’s COVID-19 Monitor.
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Scotland | 2020
January 2021
This report summarises results for Scotland from the first wave of The Audience Agency’s COVID-19 Monitor.
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Scotland | Intentions Survey
November 2020
In partnership with Creative Scotland, The Audience Agency has conducted a 'temperature taking' survey of organisations across the nation and their audiences' attitudes to returning to culture post-COVID.
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Audience Spectrum in the Context of COVID-19
June 2020
Understand the impact of lockdown on the behaviours of different Audience Spectrum groups.
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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.
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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.
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Report | Creative People and Places: Digital Engagement & Opportunities
September 2019
Insight and practical recommendations for how CPPs can harness digital tools more effectively.
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Audiences for Visual Arts Report
August 2019
Visual artists and curators create spaces where communities can face challenging ideas constructively.
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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.
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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.
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Audiences for Classical Music
March 2017
Five things you might not know about classical music audiences, discovered through Audience Answers Data.
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Report | Who Donates Among Arts Audiences?
July 2015
While the majority of arts audiences are venue loyal, new research suggests donors behave differently.
