2009
Audience Tracker
Introduction The publishing of the Audience Tracker 2009 completes our second year of reporting across ticketed organisations in Northern Ireland. In conjunction with the Audience Audit, this not only delivers a much deeper understanding of how audiences are behaving, but also to what extent this is changing over time. What is clear from these results is that audience behaviour has remained remarkably consistent between 2008 and 2009, despite a large percentage of the households making bookings in each year being different. If patterns of customer behaviour are to be changed to increase engagement with the arts then we must look beyond the traditional means of communicating with audiences and embrace a holistic approach to managing relationships, balancing attracting new customers with retaining existing ones and increasing the frequency with which they attend. With the majority of household bookers only attending the arts once a year, there is huge potential to increase engagement with the arts and increase ticket sales amongst the existing audience. Convincing even a percentage of the 95,000 households attending once in the year to go a second time could have a large impact on ticket sales.
Steven Hadley Chief Executive, Audiences NI
Of necessity we have presented the findings of this report anonymously, with each arts organisation assigned an alphabetical letter. However, we look forward to revealing identities to individual organisations and more importantly sharing this vital knowledge in collaboration. The Audience Tracker and Audience Audit for 2009 represent the benchmark against which we can measure the sector’s performance in future years.
Produced in partnership with:
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Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 & 9 10 & 11 12 & 13 14 15
Introduction Contents & Executive Summary Methodology 2009 in Context Booker Churn Frequency of Attendance Customer Loyalty Crossover Between Organisations Crossover Between Genres Conclusion Appendices
Executive Summary The Audience Tracker 2009 demonstrates that there is potential for existing bookers to engage at a higher level with the arts in both the short and long term. By increasing the frequency with which customers are attending each year, and by retaining more customers year on year, the core audience base for the arts in Northern Ireland can be expanded, maximising the value of unsold seats. The Audience Tracker covers the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 and shows that:
154,000 households attended events at 18 arts organisations across Northern Ireland in 2009. These household bookers purchased 975,608 tickets worth nearly ÂŁ15.6 million in ticket revenue. 54% of the household bookers in 2009 had also made a booking for at least one arts event in either 2007 or 2008, although not necessarily at the same venue as they attended in 2009. 65% of household bookers made just 1 visit to the arts within the year. 55% of households making multiple visits to the arts in 2009 would be considered as organisation loyal as they only attended one single organisation that year. Bookers overall were less organisation loyal than in 2008, (down from 64% amongst those making multiple visits), but this was primarily because the Ulster Hall and Lyric have been included for analysis for the first time in 2009. 23% of households making multiple visits to the arts in 2009 attended only one individual genre that year and would therefore be considered genre loyal, up slightly from 22% in 2008. Where a household has booked for more than one event in 2009, they are therefore much less genre loyal than they are organisation loyal. Only 8% of household bookers attended one single genre multiple times, compared to 27% who attended multiple genres. Every organisation in this report shared at least 4% of their household bookers in 2009 with another organisation, and at most 35% with another single arts organisation that year. 13 out of the 18 organisations included in this report recorded their highest level of crossover in 2009 with the same arts organisation. Most genres were primarily experiencing higher levels of crossover (greater than 10%) with Drama, Theatre ‘Entertainment’, Popular Music and Musicals. As in the 2008 report, organisations in Belfast are still more likely to crossover with each other than organisations outside Belfast.
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Methodology The Audience Tracker is based on box office data drawn from 18 arts organisations across Northern Ireland connected to Vital Statistics, the analytics software used by Audiences NI. Now in its second year, it continues to be one of the most robust pieces of market intelligence to date in Northern Ireland. However, it does not represent a comprehensive overview of frequency and attendance in 2009 as only organisations using computerised systems can be included. The Audience Tracker covers the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009. For the purposes of analysing crossover between organisations, each organisation was anonymised and given a randomly assigned letter of the alphabet from A through to R. Each organisation retains the same letter throughout the report. To analyse crossover between genres, each arts event in 2009 across these 18 arts organisations was classified using the 2nd tier of the ADUK Artform Classifiers. For more information on the ADUK Artform Classifiers, please visit www.audiencesuk.org. While complementary to the Audience Audit 2009, the Audience Tracker is not directly comparable as:
Some databases have been excluded as their box office system covers multiple different organisations or data capture is low, which would affect crossover calculations.
The household count for the Audience Tracker is for every household booking tickets in 2009, regardless of the household’s geographic origin, while the Audience Audit looks purely at those households in Northern Ireland.
About Analysing Frequency and Crossover This analysis is based on households rather than the total number of people attending, as name and address data collected during the booking process is related solely to the person making the booking. There is currently no standard process for gathering information on who a booker is bringing with them, so the most reliable level of data to analyse is the combined purchase history of everyone within each individual household. However, under certain circumstances (listed below), some attendances from a household may not have been counted in this analysis.
A household may also have booked for an organisation not included in this report.
A household may not have had their data captured when they booked.
A household may have attended an event, but did not make the booking themselves.
Also, some events programmed in 2009 were sold through more than one box office system, usually where events were sold both through a festival’s box office and also the box office of the venue, or where an organisation performed at another organisation’s venue; e.g. the Ulster Orchestra and the Belfast Waterfront. Bookers for these events would actually then be associated with two different organisations by the same booking. However, the Audience Tracker is based on which organisation processed the booking, so someone who booked for an Ulster Orchestra concert at the Belfast Waterfront via the Ulster Orchestra’s own box office would not also be identified as someone attending the Belfast Waterfront. Therefore, in reality crossover between organisations which share events across other box office systems will be higher than is stated here. This issue is likely to be more prevalent between Belfast organisations than outside Belfast.
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2009 in Context
153,971 Households
975,608 Tickets
286,725 Visits
£15,593,753.67 Revenue
Average Average Table 1.1 Sales By Genre 2009 Tickets Revenue Visits
Average Ticket Yield
Spend Per Visit
Tickets Per Visit
Theatre ‘Entertainment’
251,868
£3,540,140.17
52,821
£14.06
£67.02
5
Drama
145,926
£2,039,859.99
50,269
£13.98
£40.58
3
Musicals
142,638
£3,270,241.86
45,132
£22.93
£72.46
3
Popular Music
140,820
£2,899,990.59
49,634
£20.59
£58.43
3
Classical Music
64,133
£825,185.52
20,884
£12.87
£39.51
3
Children’s/Youth Theatre
51,758
£430,549.42
10,870
£8.32
£39.61
5
Culturally Specific Music
37,023
£517,604.48
11,472
£13.98
£45.12
3
Youth Music
20,435
£126,910.80
3,997
£6.21
£31.75
5
Community/Amateur Theatre
17,804
£118,912.90
4,140
£6.68
£28.72
4
Commercial Dance
16,082
£493,621.90
5,006
£30.69
£98.61
3
Opera/Music Theatre
14,138
£316,732.38
5,476
£22.40
£57.84
3
Ballet
13,406
£278,613.94
5,043
£20.78
£55.25
3
Workshops/Classes
9,853
£125,573.79
6,166
£12.74
£20.37
2
Culturally Specific Dance
9,133
£224,264.75
2,942
£24.56
£76.23
3
Literary Events/Activities
9,026
£77,273.44
3,915
£8.56
£19.74
2
Cinema Screenings
7,138
£71,533.94
1,913
£10.02
£37.39
4
Jazz
6,390
£126,150.94
2,342
£19.74
£53.86
3
Community/Amateur Music
6,031
£30,756.00
1,242
£5.10
£24.76
5
Contemporary Dance
4,120
£35,923.93
1,185
£8.72
£30.32
3
Youth Dance
4,090
£27,534.75
1,016
£6.73
£27.10
4
Other Theatre (Not Opera or Dance)
2,927
£14,138.18
848
£4.83
£16.67
3
Museum and Non-Art Exhibitions
600
£1,060.00
301
£1.77
£3.52
2
Visual Arts
180
£0.00
46
£0.00
£0.00
4
Literature/Publishing
56
£150.00
36
£2.68
£4.17
2
Crafts
33
£1,030.00
29
£31.21
£35.52
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Total
975,608
£15,593,753.67
286,725
£15.98
£54.39
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To view the full ADUK classifiers, including the various specialism sub-classifications which comprise each of these genres, please visit www.audiencesuk.org.
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Booker Churn Every year, arts bookers mirror the classic model of ‘The Leaky Bucket’.
82,560 household bookers from 2007 & 2008 returned to book again in 2009, remaining in ‘the bucket’.
132,144 household bookers from 2007 & 2008 did not book again in 2009, draining away at the bottom of ‘the bucket’.
This loss of bookers is replaced by 70,637 new or reactivated lapsed household bookers flowing into ‘the bucket’ at the top.
82,560 household bookers in 2009 had also booked in 2007 and/or 2008
To effectively grow the audience for the arts, the number of households entering the bucket at the top should be maximised, while at the same time minimising the number of households draining away at the bottom.
Visualised slightly differently, if all of the household bookers for the arts in 2009 were seated in one big auditorium, 54% of the seats would be filled with bookers retained from 2007 and/or 2008, compared to 46% who were either completely new household bookers or reactivated lapsed bookers from prior to 2007.
38,165 household bookers (25%) retained from both 2007 & 2008
26,402 household bookers (17%) retained just from 2008
17,993 household bookers (12%) retained just from 2007
70,637 household bookers (46%) were either new or reactivated lapsed bookers
However, those household bookers which were not retained in 2009 from either 2007 or 2008 would have been enough to fill 86% of the seats sold in 2009 a second time.
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Frequency of Attendance The majority of households booking for the arts in 2009 made only one visit to an arts event.
65% of households attended the arts ONCE in 2009
19% of households attended the arts TWICE in 2009 7% of households attended the arts THREE times in 2009 4% of households attended the arts FOUR times in 2009 5% of households attended the arts FIVE OR MORE times in 2009 Each
= 1% of household bookers in 2009
Households attended the arts at exactly the same frequency in 2009 as they did in 2008, with Single Time Attendance sitting at 65% and Multiple Attendances sitting at 35%. How these households engaged with different genres also remained consistent compared to 2008 as well (see Table 1.3 below). However, the percentage of households engaging with just one arts organisation in 2009 dropped by 3% compared to 2008 (mainly amongst those making 2 or 3 visits), while the percentage engaging with multiple organisations grew by a similar amount. These changes are directly linked to the re-opening of the Ulster Hall and the Lyric Theatre (performing at the Elmwood Hall).
Table 1.2
Frequency by organisation
Number of organisations visited by households in 2009
Frequency by genre
2 visits
1 Organisation
65%
12%
4%
2%
2%
84%
2 Organisations
6%
3%
1%
1%
12%
3 Organisations
1%
1%
1%
3%
4 Organisations
0.1%
1%
1%
5 or more Organisations
0.2%
0.2%
65%
19%
8%
4%
5%
100%
Total Table 1.3
1 visit
Number of visits to art events in 2009 3 visits 4 visits 5 or more visits Total
Number of genres visited by households in 2009
1 visit
Number of visits to art events in 2009 2 visits 3 visits 4 visits 5 or more visits Total
1 Genre
65%
6%
1%
0.4%
0.4%
73%
2 Genres
12%
4%
1%
1%
18%
3 Genres
3%
2%
1%
6%
4 Genres
1%
1%
2%
5 or more Genres
1%
1%
65%
19%
8%
4%
5%
100%
Total
= Combinations of visits and genres which are not possible.
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Customer Loyalty
18 organisations labelled A-R
— % Unique Bookers in 2009.
— % Shared Bookers in 2009.
Percentage of Household bookers in 2009
Loyalty to arts organisations
Organisations
55% of households making multiple visits to the arts in 2009 only attended one single organisation that year. This is down from 64% in 2008, primarily because new venues have been included for analysis in 2009. The more venues which are available for analysis, the more chances a booker has to crossover between organisations.
At most, a single organisation was sharing 60% of their bookers with other organisations (Organisation R), and at least they were sharing 13% (Organisation A).
Organisations were sharing a greater percentage of their bookers in 2009 than in 2008 – on average, 38% of bookers per organisation were shared in 2009, compared to 33% in 2008.
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Customer Loyalty
Loyalty to genres
21 Genres, each labelled
— % Shared Bookers in 2009.
Genres
— % Unique Bookers in 2009.
Percentage of Household bookers in 2009
Where a household has booked for more than one event in 2009, they are much less genre loyal than they are organisation loyal. 77% of households making multiple visits to the arts in 2009 attended more than one individual genre that year.
At most, a single genre was sharing 76% of their bookers in 2009 (Other Theatre – Not Opera Or Dance1) while Popular Music only shared 42% of its 2009 bookers with another genre.
Genres were sharing a smaller percentage of their bookers in 2009 than in 2008 – on average, 56% of bookers per organisation were shared in 2009, compared to 58% in 2008.
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Other Theatre – Not Opera Or Dance covers Experimental Theatre, Physical Theatre, Mime/Puppetry, Circus Arts and Street Arts.
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Crossover Between Organisations Every arts organisation in Northern Ireland shared bookers in 2009 with other organisations to a varying degree, so each of the 18 arts organisations included in this report will have diagrams which are slight variations on the “average” model (see Diagram 1 below). Each of the boxes in the diagram below represents an arts organisation in Northern Ireland included in this report. The inner box represents an ‘average’ organisation (i.e. it could be any 1 of the 18 organisations analysed), while the outer boxes represent the other arts organisations in Northern Ireland which the ‘average’ grey organisation could potentially share their bookers with. An “average” arts organisation in Northern Ireland in 2009 shared:
Diagram 1
20% to 30%
Between 20% and 30% of their bookers with 1 other arts organisation (red box),
Between 10% and 20% of their bookers with 1 other arts organisation (yellow box),
Up to 10% of their bookers with each of the remaining 15 arts organisations (green box),
No bookers with 1 other arts organisations (white box with red cross).
10% to 20%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
In 2009, each organisation shared on average:
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10% Up to 10%
Up to 10% Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
Arts organisations are therefore most likely to be exhibiting lower level crossover (Yellow box representing less than 10% of household bookers) with most other organisations. Organisations therefore differ in the amount of higher level crossover (yellow, red and purple boxes representing greater than 10%) they share with other organisations. The higher level crossover (greater than 10%) for each of the 18 organisations is shown on page 11.
About organisational crossover in 2009
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The maximum amount of shared bookers between any 2 single organisations ranged between 4% (the most Organisation A shared with another single organisation) and 35% (the most Organisation R shared with another single organisation) in 2009.
13 out of the 18 organisations included in this report recorded their highest level of crossover in 2009 with the same arts organisation.
Organisations in Belfast are still more likely to crossover with each other than organisations outside Belfast. On average, organisations outside Belfast shared between 1% and 4% of their bookers in 2009 with each other, while organisations inside Belfast shared between 3% and 10% of their bookers on average. However, individual organisations in Belfast do not tend to crossover by a considerable amount more than organisations outside Belfast; it’s just that there are more organisations to crossover with.
Crossover Between Organisations
B
D
E
F
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
20% to 30%
10% to 20%
G
20% to 30%
I
H
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
J
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
20% to 30%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
K
L
M
N
20% to 30%
20% to 30%
20% to 10%
30% to 40%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
10% to 20%
20% to 30%
O
P
Q
R
20% to 30%
20% to 30%
20% to 30%
20% to 30%
20% to 30%
30% to 40%
NB: Organisations C & A have no higher level of crossover (i.e. 10%) with any other single organisations.
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Crossover Between Genres Every genre in Northern Ireland shared bookers in 2009 with other genres to a varying degree, so each of the 21 arts genres included in this report will have diagrams which are slight variations on the “average” model (see Diagram 2 below). Each of the circles in the diagram below represents an arts genre in Northern Ireland included in this report. The inner circle represents an ‘average’ genre (i.e. it could be any 1 of the 21 genres analysed), while the outer circles represent the other arts genres in Northern Ireland which the ‘average’ grey genre could potentially share their bookers with. An “average” genre programmed in Northern Ireland in 2009 shared:
Youth Dance
Diagram 2
Ballet
Youth Music
3%
3%
Children’s/ Youth Theatre
7% 1%
1%
Between 20% and 30% of its bookers with Drama (red boxes),
Between 10% and 20% Popular of its bookers with Theatre 17% Music ‘Entertainment’, Popular Music and Musicals Other Theatre 1% (Not Opera (yellow boxes), or Dance)
Up to 10% of their bookers with the remaining17 genres (green boxes).
Workshops/ Classes Theatre ‘Entertainment’
3%
Cinema Screenings
19%
Opera/Music Theatre
2%
Commercial Dance
1%
Community/ Amateur Music
3%
Community/ Amateur Theatre
In 2009, each organisation shared on average:
4%
Musicals
Classical Music
8%
1% 16%
1% 3%
Literary Events/Activities
2%
20% 20%
Jazz
Drama
7%
Contemporary Dance
Culturally Specific Dance
Culturally Specific Music
Arts organisations are therefore most likely to be exhibiting lower level crossover (green boxes representing less than 10% of household bookers) with most other organisations. Organisations therefore differ in the amount of higher level crossover (yellow, red and purple boxes representing greater than 10%) they share with other organisations. The higher level crossover ( 10%) for a selection of the 21 genres is shown on page 13.
About genre crossover in 2009
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The maximum amount of shared bookers between 2 single genres ranged between 4% (Classical Music bookers also attending either Drama or Popular Music) and 33% (Other Theatre – Not Opera Or Dance attending Drama) in 2009.
7 genres out of 21 were crossing over most with Drama, 5 were crossing over most with Theatre ‘Entertainment’, 4 were crossing over most with Popular Music and 3 were crossing over most with Musicals. 2 genres were crossing over most with both Drama and Popular Music equally.
Crossover Between Genres
Musicals 18%
Musicals 11%
Popular Music 14%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 19%
Musicals 13%
Popular Music 13%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 17%
Popular Music 15%
Drama 15%
Drama 14%
Drama 19% Classical Music 10%
Musicals
Popular Music 12%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 17%
Popular Music 12%
Popular Music 12%
Musicals 18%
Drama 16%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 23%
Popular Music 12%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 17%
Musicals 20%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 13%
Musicals 12%
Musicals 18%
Classical Music 19%
Classical Music 11%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 15%
Popular Music 13%
Culturally Specific Music 11%
Classical music 13%
Classical music 13%
Popular Music 15%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 19%
Musicals 10% Culturally Specific Music 14%
Contemp Dance
Musicals 12%
Popular Music 26%
Culturally Specific Dance
Drama 19%
Theatre ‘Ent’ 19%
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Conclusion Booker Churn: 54% of household bookers in 2009 had also made bookings in 2007 and/or 2008, while 46% were either new bookers or hadn’t booked in the last two years. Those household bookers which were not retained in 2009 from either 2007 or 2008 would have been enough to fill 86% of the seats sold in 2009 a second time. Frequency Of Attendance: Despite the addition of new venues into the analysis, the frequency of attendance overall by households remained exactly the same in 2009 as it was in 2008, with 65% of households only attending once during the year. Loyalty: While patterns of frequency of attendance by genre also remained the same year on year, households were 3% more likely to be crossing over between different arts organisations in 2009 than in 2008. This is primarily due to the re-opening of the Lyric Theatre (performing at the Elmwood Hall) and Ulster Hall in 2009, rather than to an increased likelihood to cross over between venues. Despite this small increase however, household bookers in 2009 continue to be more organisation loyal than genre loyal, particularly amongst those households which are making multiple visits to the arts within the year. Crossover between organisations: On average, a Northern Irish arts organisation in 2009 shared 38% of their bookers overall with other arts organisations, but this varies widely between a high of 60% and a low of 13%.
The highest percentage of an organisation’s bookers which they share with one other single organisation is 35%.
13 out of the 18 organisations included in this report recorded their highest level of crossover in 2009 with the same arts organisation.
Organisations in Belfast are still more likely to have higher levels of crossover overall than organisations outside Belfast, but the crossover between individual organisations is approximately the same. This indicates that Belfast organisations do not crossover more with each other; it’s just that there are more organisations within their catchment to crossover with.
Crossover between artforms: A genre performed in Northern Ireland during 2009 shared on average 56% of its household bookers, with a high of 76% and a low of 42%.
The highest percentage of household bookers shared between two genres in 2009 was 33% (households booking for Other Theatre – Not Opera Or Dance that also attended Drama).
Genres were primarily experiencing higher levels of crossover (greater than 10%) with Drama, Theatre Entertainment’, Popular Music and Musicals.
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Appendix 1: Glossary
Churn: The degree of audience turnover, based on evaluating and comparing the rate at which new audience members are acquired, and existing audience members are retained or lost. Crossover: Where someone from the same household has made a booking for 2 or more different arts organisations or genres. Frequency of attendance: The number of visits made to an arts event within a given time period. Genre: A descriptive classification of an event type, which is more detailed than an artform but more generic than a specialism in its description. Genre Loyal: A household which has only booked for 1 genre within a given timeframe. Household: A household comprises one person living alone, or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address with common housekeeping – that is, sharing either a living room or sitting room or at least one meal a day. (Source: NI Census) Household Booker: A household that made at least 1 booking for an arts event within a given timeframe. Lapsed Booker: A household which has previously booked for the arts, but has not booked within a two year period prior to 2009. Organisation Loyal: A household which has only booked for an arts event at 1 arts organisation within a given timeframe. Revenue: The amount (in Pounds £) paid per single ticket to see a performance. Single Time Attender: A household which only made 1 visit to an arts event within a given time period. Ticket: A single seat sold for a single event. Visit: When a booker attends an organisation to see a single performance of a show along with any other person they have booked tickets for, regardless of the size of their party, this constitutes 1 visit. However, if the same customer re-attends at the organisation, even if it is to see the same show but at a separate performance, this constitutes a separate visit.
Appendix 2: About The Audience Data UK Artform Classifiers Audience Data UK was a joint partnership between the UK Arts Councils, the Arts Marketing Association, the national network of Audience Development Agencies and representatives of individual UK cultural institutions. It commissioned a set of common artform classifications to enable analysis that is consistent between arts organisations and builds up a detailed picture across the whole of the UK to support further analysis and benchmarking. These classifiers have now been adopted for use by the Arts Council of NI and Audiences NI for reporting purposes. For the purposes of this report, the 2nd Tier (Genre) has been used. Audiences UK has been tasked with ensuring the excellent work started by the ADUK partnership is further developed. To view the full classifiers, including the various Specialism sub-classifications which comprise each genre, please visit: http://www.audiencesuk.org/data-and-resources/resources/art-form-classifiers
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About Audiences NI Audiences NI was established by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in August 2004 to help grow and diversify audiences for the arts and cultural sector in Northern Ireland. The agency is one of 12 audience development agencies operating throughout the UK, providing vital audience development support to organisations through the provision of market intelligence, training, projects, research and forums. Since its inception, Audiences NI has been carrying out research on audiences for the arts in Northern Ireland, including demographic and geographic profiling using Mosaic NI, trend analyses on box office data and customer focused online surveys for its members. For more information on Mosaic NI and interpreting the results of this analysis, please email research@audiencesni.com or phone 028 9043 6480. Please note that the contents of this document may not be cited, reproduced or distributed without express written permission from Audiences NI. Report compiled by Chris Palmer, Research Officer, Audiences NI. www.audiencesni.com
Audiences NI 20 Mount Charles Belfast BT7 1NZ t. +44 (0) 28 9043 6480 f. +44 (0) 28 9023 1429 @. info@audiencesni.com W. www.audiencesni.com