Understanding ticket sales, loyalty, and returning audiences
What proportion of patrons return to the same arts organization after one year?
Data from hundreds of Spektrix users across the US and Canada shows that there's an opportunity to capitalize on renewed interest from new and existing patrons as we work to drive the sector's ongoing recovery.
Existing patrons
There's been a gradual, long-term decline in loyalty among arts audiences. Over the last decade, year on year reattendance reduced from just under 35% in 2013 to 32.4% in 2019. But after a dip during the pandemic, reattendance rebounded - and since 2022, it's stayed well above the trendline, with a 2023 reattendance rate of 33.1% unmatched since 2018.
This is an opportunity for arts leaders to rebuild their loyal audience base through incentives such as multibuys, memberships, and subscriptions - but it will be vital to take an agile, data-driven approach, offering patrons the flexibility and choice they're looking for in an ever-changing environment.
First-time audiences
Among first-timers - people who purchased their first tickets in one year, and returned the year after - there's a more positive direction of travel. Reattendance by first-time audience members dropped faster than other patrons from 2013 through to 2019, reducing from 29% to just 17.5%. That crucial second visit is a hard win for arts marketers!
However, after a dip and recovery during COVID closures, reattendance by new patrons has continued trending upwards. The chart above shows that 19.3% of audiences who first bought tickets in 2022 attended events at the same organization in 2023 - roughly equivalent to 2018 and heading in a positive direction.
It's tricky to keep first-timers attending regularly in the long term. But audience members who first attended in 2022 seem eager to keep visiting - creating a real opportunity to reverse decline and build a new, loyal, post-lockdown patron base.
