PRESS RELEASE
August 20, 2012
Media Contact:
Susan Fitzpatrick-Napier
DMG USA/Australia
Office: +1 61 2 8006 0424
susan@dmpr.com
AUSTRALIAN LIVE PERFORMANCE SECTOR REMAINS STRONG WITH $1.3 BILLION IN REVENUE, TICKET PRICES DOWN, AND 17.5 MILLION ATTENDING SHOWS
Melbourne, Australia – August 20, 2012 – Live Performance Australia [LPA], the peak body for Australia’s live entertainment and performing arts industry and presenter of the Helpmann Awards®, today released its Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey 2011, which shows the sector remains strong with attendance up by 0.6% and a marginal decline in revenue from $1.32 billion to $1.3 billion on 2010 figures.
This is the eighth annual Survey released by LPA and represents the most comprehensive survey available of ticket sales for Australian Live Entertainment events.
Chief Executive of Live Performance Australia (LPA), Evelyn Richardson, said “This year’s Survey confirms that demand for Live Entertainment remained strong in 2011, despite generally difficult economic conditions”.
The slight decline in revenue against an increase in attendance is due to a marginal fall in average ticket price (a 0.7% drop, from $86.43 to $85.86), in addition to a slightly larger proportion of complimentary, sponsor and zero-priced tickets.
Overall, the Survey recorded that 17,345,720 tickets for Live Entertainment Industry events were issued in Australia in 2011. While this does not yet match pre-Global Financial Crisis attendance levels, it does represent a healthy improvement on the figures recorded for 2008 and 2009, and continues the upward trend recorded in 2010. This is heartening for the industry, and is indicative of strong ongoing demand.
A major addition to this year’s Survey is the provision of a State/Territory breakdown of ticket sales and attendance for each genre. Overall, key trends were the 4.5% decline in Victoria’s share of industry revenue compared with 5% growth in New South Wales. The genre breakdowns reveal the impact of single state events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Womadelaide and the Sydney season of Richard III.
“The inclusion this year of Melbourne Recital Centre has had a positive impact on the data collected for Opera and Classical Music events while the addition of data from Foxtix has improved the collection rate for the genres of Contemporary Music, and Festivals (Single Category) giving a more comprehensive picture of industry trends, revenue and attendance,” said Richardson.
“When compared with 2010, most genre categories experienced positive revenue growth in 2011. The small overall drop can largely be explained by declines in attendance and revenue for Contemporary Music, Festivals (Single Category) and Special Events. While the drop in Special Events attendance and revenue can be explained by the impact of a single event (the Edinburgh Tattoo played Australia in 2010, but not 2011) the fall in the other two categories is more likely to be reflective of broader economic conditions – notably, declining levels of consumer demand and disposable income,” said Richardson.
Although the 2011 revenue figure for Contemporary Music (formerly “Non-Classical Music”) represents an 18.2% decline when compared with 2010, it still remains the second highest revenue figure recorded by LPA Surveys for the genre - and comfortably eclipses the pre-Global Financial Crisis high recorded in 2007.
“It should be noted that 2010 was a particularly exceptional year for Contemporary Music. Tours by major, high-grossing acts such as U2, AC/DC, Bon Jovi and Metallica all contributed to a bumper year.”
The genres which experienced the strongest growth in 2011 were Circus and Physical Theatre, Children’s/Family Events, and Comedy.
While significant growth in the Circus and Physical Theatre (464.3%) and Children’s/Family Events (88.1%) categories can be explained by the impact of single stand-out events (Cirque de Soleil’s Saltimbanco tour in the Circus and Physical Theatre category, and Walking With Dinosaurs in the Children’s/Family Events category), the 33.2% growth in revenue for Comedy is the result of generally strong demand for the category.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) had a record year in 2011, recording an 11% increase on revenue when compared with 2010.
“These figures reflect Australians continued appetite for live performance and affirm without doubt the importance of our industry to both Treasury’s coffers and the cultural fabric of our nation.”
About LPA www.liveperformance.com.au and www.helpmannawards.com.auwww.helpmannawards.com.au
Live Performance Australia (LPA) is the peak body for Australia’s live entertainment and performing arts industry, and the presenter/producer of the Helpmann Awards®. Established in 1917 and registered as an employers’ organisation under the Fair Work Act 2009, LPA’s activities centre around three core areas:
• Workplace Relations
• Policy & Strategy
• Membership Services & Events
Our members work in the live performance sector across all artistic genres, including contemporary and classical music, musicals, theatre, comedy, dance, opera, circus and physical theatre. We represent producers, venues, promoters, performing arts companies, festivals and industry suppliers such as ticketing companies and technical specialists.
LPA also services the cinema and exhibition industries.
LPA is the trading name of the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA).