TRG Arts And Purple Seven Study Reveals Slow Start In Sales For 2021-22 Holiday Season At Performing Arts Venues

As of the middle of July 2021, the crucial 2021/22 holiday Season was tracking well behind 2019/20 in ticket sales and revenues for most theatres in North America, according to a new study released today by international arts management consultants TRG Arts and UK arts data specialists Purple Seven. The study, "Festive Season Forecast," is based on data collected from the COVID-19 Sector Benchmark, an initiative led by TRG Arts and Purple Seven, which has grown into the largest global arts and cultural consumer dataset in the industry. Data from venues in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland are also presented in the study.

Among the study highlights, in the U.S. and Canada:
• By the end of February 2021 advance ticket sales and revenue for The Nutcracker and other 'blockbuster' Lyric Productions to be staged from December 6, 2021 to January 12, 2022 were tracking behind performance in February 2019.
• In 2019/20 the 21 productions in this category collectively sold over 554K tickets worth $42 million. By the end of June 2019 they had already sold 12% of tickets and taken 14% of final revenue. If 2021/22 follows the same trajectory as 2019-20, ticket sales will be reduced by 395K and revenue will fall by $32.6 million.
• Average Ticket Price achieved (ATP) is down from 2019/20, and the collapse in sales is most pronounced in the market for groups, particularly groups of over 50.
• The current number of other productions on sale with at least 10 performances is down 68% from 2019/20.
• If ticket sales of other productions follow the same trajectory as 2019/20, aggregate box office for the season will fall by $32.9 million.
• While aggregate sales are currently extremely concerning for the crucial 2021/22 holiday period, some U.S. and Canadian organizations are performing very well. 10% were outperforming their 2019/20 advance sales in the middle of July.

"After 2020's largely 'cancelled' celebrations, it might have been expected that that the 2021/22 season would be a bumper one for the performing arts venues in North America, fuelled by pent-up demand," said TRG Chief Executive Officer Jill S. Robinson. "Clearly early signs are generally not positive, but with 10% of organizations pacing ahead of 2019 the picture is not entirely bleak. In the U.K. we are observing strong early performance of 'blockbuster' productions this Christmas, demonstrating that those producers and venues making an investment in marketing are seeing a return on it. There's still a long way to go and with concerted action in every venue and collectively across the industry, this Christmas could still be a good one for theatres."

"We are seeing fewer productions on sale, a lower proportion of tickets sold for those that are on sale compared to previous sales cycles, and a far smaller proportion of those tickets that have been sold being purchased by groups," commented Purple Seven Managing Director David Brownlee. "However, the fact that 10% of organizations in this study are outperforming 2019/20 demonstrates that there is latent demand that can be tapped through effective marketing strategies."

The data from 372 organizations (109 in U.S., 12 in Canada, 235 in the U.K. and 16 in the Republic of Ireland) represent a majority of theatres, but there is also a representation of arts centres and orchestras. The COVID-19 Sector Benchmark tracks sales on a daily basis from the box offices of both funded charities and commercial arts organizations.

The full study of "Festive Season Forecast" is available for free download at https://go.trgarts.com/InsightsReport_Aug21.

TRG Arts and Purple Seven have published a number of studies on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and culture sector:
• May 2021, "Green Shoots in April 2021?" https://go.trgarts.com/InsightReport_May21
• February 2021, "COVID-19 and Philanthropy - Giving in 2020" https://go.trgarts.com/BenchmarkInsights_Jan2021.
• November 2020, "Ticket Sales & Philanthropy" https://trgarts.com/blog/benchmark-insights-nov-2020.html
• October 2020, "Who is Giving?" https://go.trgarts.com/InsightReport_Oct20
• September 2020, "COVID-19 and the Performing Arts - Six Months After Closure" https://trgarts.com/blog/insights-report-sep-2020.html
• August 2020, "Who is booking now? Changes in ticket buyer demographics post COVID-19" https://go.trgarts.com/InsightReport_Aug20
• June 2020, "Individual Donations - Is New Philanthropic Income Replacing Lost Ticket Income?" https://go.trgarts.com/InsightReport_July20
• May 2020, "Tracking the Initial Impact of COVID-19 on the Performing Arts in the UK and North America" https://go.trgarts.com/InsightReportMay2020

TRG Arts offers a range of free resources for cultural and arts professionals throughout the US, Canada, the UK and the EU to ensure the field of arts and culture thrives now and after the COVID-19 crisis:
• TRG 30, a biweekly 30-minute webinar series of crisis counsel and best practices that attracts hundreds of executives globally each week: https://go.trgarts.com/TRG30.
• TRG blog for the latest on COVID-19 related topics: https://go.trgarts.com/Blog

About the COVID-19 Benchmark Dashboard
Purple Seven and TRG Arts continue to offer free access to the free COVID-19 Benchmark Dashboard to organizations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. To register visit https://go.trgarts.com/benchmark.

Expansion of the COVID-19 Benchmark Dashboard is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to SMU DataArts, a national centre for arts research and TRG Arts' long-time partner in advancing the arts and culture sector.

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