COVID-19 Sector Benchmark: Insight Report August 2020

Who is booking now? Changes in ticket buyer demographics post COVID-19

by Jim De Good

Executive Summary – Key Findings

  • Data from 260 CRM systems suggest that while ticket sales have greatly reduced for all buyer types, the greatest decline has been in older audiences in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

  • While the prospect of an audience return to ‘normality’ with a younger average demographic would be welcomed, it presents potential challenges to the financial viability of arts organizations since the combined average value of ticket purchases and donations is far higher for older patrons.

  • Organizations who balance growing the number of younger patrons engaging with alternative artistic product while also retaining older generations’ philanthropic support seems to be an emerging best practice for finding resiliency through COVID-19.

Source: TRG Arts and Purple Seven