COVID-19 Impact On Theatre Sales Uneven Across The UK

Today international arts management consultants TRG Arts and UK arts data specialists Purple Seven have released new analysis of the impact on daily sales in different parts of the UK.

In the six-week period before closure (1 Feb - 16 March) comparative performance with 2019 varied hugely across the country. While the UK average declined by 19% year-on-year, Wales saw sales fall by just 7% and England by 16%, but Scotland fell by 30% and Northern Ireland by 49%.

Sales since 17 March 2020 have fallen by at least 90% in all nations with England at that level, but the biggest reductions in revenue are in Scotland (96%) and Wales and Northern Ireland (both 97%).

TRG's Chief Executive Officer Jill Robinson commented:
'Given the scale of media coverage of the spread of the global pandemic, we might have expected sales to slow significantly long before they did. Aggregated revenues across venues in the UK generally held strong in February. It was only at the end of the month that sales showed a steep decline. Scotland had a good February overall, but sales fell dramatically in March. Data for Northern Ireland shows year-on-year decline since the beginning of January, so the scale of the 49% drop in the shoulder period may be caused by other underlying issues in addition to COVID-19.'

Purple Seven's CEO Stuart Nicolle added:
'The disparity in sales across the UK since the shutdown is concerning for the smaller UK nations. In the coming months it will be crucial to ensure arts organisations are fully skilled up with the tools and tactics that they'll need to re-build audiences in the recovery phase.'

TRG Arts and Purple Seven are now inviting UK arts organisations to join a free COVID-19 Benchmarking group, allowing them to compare their experiences and performance with the sector as a whole. To sign up visit https://go.trgarts.com/benchmark.