Orchestral audiences ‘more loyal’ than other artforms

We’ve just issued a press release  letting people know what we’ve found out following a research project with 12 orchestral organisations in London. These are Barbican Centre, BBC Proms, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cadogan Hall, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Southbank Centre.

Among the findings:

• over the six years, 36% of the households represented went to an orchestral performance more than once, compared to just over 21% of households attending all ticketed artforms in an average year (shown in the ‘Snapshot London Benchmark’);
• income from the events totalled £35 million, of which some 70% was generated by people who attended more than once – demonstrating the significant value of repeat attenders to the orchestral marketplace;
• people tend to travel further for orchestral concerts (54.2% came from within 10 miles of the venue compared to 59.1% for Snapshot London Benchmark, while 17.5% came from over 50 miles away compared to 13.8% for Snapshot Benchmark);
• orchestral audiences are also more likely to book in advance. In each of the time spans of 2-7, 8-14, 15-28 and 29-60 days ahead, orchestral audiences showed a greater tendency to book earlier than the Snapshot London Benchmark. Just 8% of households booked on the day for orchestral concerts compared to 15.7% of households for all artforms in the Benchmark.

So there’s potential for the orchestras to improve their long-term position by converting more first- and second-time audience members into frequent attenders – and that’s what the group is moving on to.

You can take a look at the full press release on our website here.