In an Indigo Share webinar on 25 April 2024, we shared the latest on arts audiences in the UK.
The data we reported on was gathered by UK cultural organisations using our Indigo Share: Subscription during 2023/24, generating 67,000 audience responses.
Where relevant, we made comparisons with previous years and with the census.
Watch the webinar recording
Explore the key findings
Profile
- Arts audiences are not representative of the general population - they are older (65% are aged 55+ compared to 35% - 38% in the census*), more likely to identify as White / White British (95% compared to 82% in the England & Wales census*) and less likely to identify as disabled (11% of audiences compared to 18% - 24% in the census*).
- Only 9% of arts attenders have children under 16 living at home.
- Despite being generally slightly better off, audiences are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis - 56% say their attendance is being impacted 'a little' by financial and economic pressures and 18% 'a lot'.
*Census data shown as the range of metrics due to separate census data from England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Behaviour
- Audiences are looking for entertainment - but many like variety and a challenge too.
- The production itself is the main motivator but the social experience is also very important.
- Special occasions are an important motivator for first-time attenders. Find out more about first-time attenders in our Tomorrow's Audience report →
- Digital marketing channels have grown significantly since 2019/20, with audiences who saw a social media post or advert increasing from 6% to 26% and email from 21% to 37%.
- Audiences are not travelling as far to get to cultural venues as they used to and over half of audiences are getting to cultural venues within half an hour.
Attitude
- Arts attenders are having a wonderful time at cultural venues: the average Net Promoter Score is 71.
- Audiences think staff at cultural organisations are excellent (4.6/5 rating) and say they feel welcome and included.
- They also think the productions are great (4.6/5 rating).
- They consider tickets to be good value for money, but drinks and food come in a little lower.
Impact
- Audiences love sharing the experience with other people (4.3/5 agreement rating).
- Over a third go somewhere locally for drinks and food, contributing to the local economy as part of their visit to an arts organisation.
- Younger audiences in particular don’t think cultural organisations are doing enough to show commitment to sustainability, and only 51% of all audiences agree 'this organisation is demonstrating a clear commitment to environmental sustainability'. Find out what your audiences think by taking part in Act Green 2024 →
- 91% of respondents agree with the statement ‘this organisation is important to our local community' - they value arts organisations and the role they play in society and the wider cultural ecosystem.