Developing and Applying an Audience Segmentation for Theatre
If 70% of bookers only attend once a year, how do you inspire them to re-attend? We took up this challenge and investigated the audiences of 12 middle scale producing theatres to see what could be done differently to keep people engaged.
At the heart of this was the development of a tailor-made audience segmentation.
Using primary research techniques we investigated the factors affecting decision making of theatre audiences, from initial interest through to booking, visit and possible return. The research considered different types of the theatres' audiences, from infrequent to frequent attenders. This was interpreted alongside extensive box office database analysis and previous audience research in the theatre sector.
The results of this research helped inform:
- A customer segmentation model - Infrequent attenders were grouped into different segments based on their attitudes and motivations for attending.
- Development of a joint online presence and accompanying marketing campaign - An online portal has been developed which contains information on the LTC theatres and their offerings - www.tastetheatre.com. The marketing campaign aims to drive infrequent attenders to the site and in turn increase attendance.
This research was one of the components of the Thrive! project; an initiative where Audiences London worked with 12 London theatres to help them build their audiences through better understanding of audience behaviour and focussed marketing campaigns during 2009/10. The theatres involved were:
Almeida Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Tricycle Theatre and Young Vic.
Download the summary report below and if you'd like to know more about our methodology, analysis or results please contact .
Downloads
- LTC Segments Summary Report
Filesize: 320kb