LPA Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2016

Photo: Kinky Boots, Michael Cassel Group, Matthew Murphy

Overall Category Highlights Click for moreinfo

This section presents an analysis for each of the 12 event categories as defined in the Appendix. While total ticket sales revenue and attendance maintained a slight increase of 1.2% and 0.8% respectively, most of the categories experienced dramatic shifts in growth and decline. This is primarily due to the impact of major tours or events, particularly international tours, in the market in any given year.

As with previous years, Contemporary Music and Musical Theatre command the largest share of the live performance market respectively. However, the majority share held by Contemporary Music has been declining over time.

Comedy, Children’s/Family Events, Classical Music, Theatre and Special Events all experienced significant increases in revenue and attendance in 2016. The Comedy, Children’s/Family Events and Classical Music categories in particular experienced record-breaking growth this year. Growth in these categories was primarily driven by major tours and events, particularly international tours that took place across Australia in 2016.

Circus and Physical Theatre, Festivals (Contemporary Music) and Ballet and Dance experienced decreases in revenue and attendance in 2016. This is primarily due to the absence in 2016 of major events that took place in 2015.

Festivals (Multi-Category) and Contemporary Music experienced moderate declines in revenue, despite increased attendance. Significant decreases in the average ticket price for these categories in 2016 contributed to the decrease in revenue.

Opera and Musical Theatre both maintained moderate increases in revenue, driven by increases in the average ticket price.

Photo: Porgy and Bess - Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Keith Saunders

Top 5 Categories - Revenue and Attendance

Close Table
Revenue Attendance
Category Revenue Share of industry Category Attendance Share of industry
1 Contemporary Music $440,083,629 30.8 % 1 Contemporary Music 5,658,753 30.1%
2 Musical Theatre $347,684,296 24.3% 2 Musical Theatre 3,298,051 17.6%
3 Comedy $86,382,773 6.0% 3 Festivals (Multi-Category) 1,549,007 8.2%
4 Festivals (Contemporary Music) $79,865,326 5.6% 4 Comedy 1,409,299 7.5%
5 Theatre $79,584,271 5.6% 5 Children's/Family 1,376,254 7.3%

Top 3 Biggest Changes in Revenue by Category

Biggest Increase Biggest Decline
Category % change in revenue (from 2015) Category % change in revenue (from 2015)
1 Comedy 57.3% 1 Circus and Physical Theatre -26.2%
2 Special Events 44.1% 2 Festivals (Contemporary Music) -25.2%
3 Children's/Family 41.6% 3 Festivals (Multi-Category) -8.9%

Top 3 Biggest Changes in Attendance by Category

Biggest Increase Biggest Decline
Category % change in attendance (from 2015) Category % change in attendance (from 2015)
1 Comedy 42.0% 1 Special Events -66.8%
2 Children's/Family 27.3% 2 Festivals (Contemporary Music) -48.2%
3 Classical Music 22.7% 3 Circus and Phyical Theatre -13.9%

Percentage Movement by Category

Photo: Dream Lover - Gordon Frost Organisation, Brian Geach

Photo: Beethoven Symphony No. 9 - Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Ken Butti

Supplementary performances by category

Close Table
Category Number of performances Share of industry Average revenue per performance Average attendance per performance
 Ballet and Dance 479 6.2% $7,917 215
 Children’s/Family 862 11.1% $5,312 301
 Circus and Physical Theatre 120 1.6% $5,158 239
 Classical Music 305 3.9% $9,228 351
 Comedy 298 3.9% $18,185 429
 Contemporary Music 1,018 13.2% $12,817 307
 Festival (Multi Category) 71 0.9% $8,772 549
 Festival (Single Category) 348 4.5% $3,119 104
 Musical Theatre 418 5.4% $8,576 291
 Opera 89 1.2% $8,485 226
 Special Events 1217 15.7% $1,865 160
 Theatre 2511 32.5% $1,995 85
Total 7,736 100% $5,636 202