LPA Ticket Attendance and Revenue Report 2018

Photo: The Book of Mormon, The Gordon Frost Organisation, Jeff Busby

Revenue and Attendance by State

Overall Results

Between 2017 and 2018 the live performance industry across Australia has experienced growth in both revenue and attendance. The variation in growth generated in each market is primarily impacted by major tours or events, particularly international tours, that take place in each state or territory in any given year.

NSW experienced the highest growth in revenue (by 22.4% to $753.7m) and third highest growth in attendance (by 19.4% to 8.2m) between 2017 and 2018. The increase in revenue was driven by significant increases in revenue in Special Events (380.7%), Festivals (Multi-Category) (134.2%), Theatre (58.3%), Comedy (46.7%), Musical Theatre (31.2%) and Contemporary Music (26.1%). This revenue was partially offset by declines in Circus and Physical Theatre (55.4%), Festivals (Contemporary Music) (5.2%) and Classical Music (2.1%) revenue.

  • Special Events revenue increased primarily due to a 21.2% increase in attendance and increase in average ticket prices in 2018. Festivals (Multi-Category) revenue increased primarily due to a 29.9% increase in attendance and increase in average ticket prices in 2018. The growth was driven by festivals such as The Falls Music & Arts Festival, and VIVID Festival. Comedy revenue increased primarily due to a 78.5% increase in attendance in 2018. Musical Theatre revenue increased significantly due to a 19.2% growth in attendance. Contemporary Music revenue increased significantly due to 16.0% growth in attendance driven by performances from Ed Sheeran, Pink, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift.
  • Circus and Physical Theatre revenue declined, primarily due to the absence of Cirque du Soleil’s tours in 2018. Festivals (Contemporary Music) revenue declined, despite an increase in attendance of 6.8%. This is primarily due to the fall in average ticket prices in 2018.

Queensland experienced the second highest growth in revenue and second highest growth in attendance amongst all states and territories. Between 2017 and 2018, revenue increased by 20.2% (to $317.2m) and attendance increased by 20.1% (to 3.8m). This significant growth was primarily driven by major performers such as Pink and Ed Sheeran, musicals such as Aladdin, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and special events presented as part of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Victoria experienced an increase of 9.2% in revenue (to $698.9m) and 8.6% in attendance (to 8.0m) between 2017 and 2018. The increase in revenue is primarily driven by a significant increase in Festivals (Multi-Category) (73.5%), Contemporary Music (59.1%), Comedy (58.7%) and Opera (44.2%).

  • Festivals (Multi-Category) revenue growth was primarily due to a 199.0% increase in attendance in 2018. The growth was driven by festivals such as The Falls Music & Arts Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival. Contemporary Music revenue increased primarily due to an increase in attendance by 34.8%, driven by performances from Pink, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift. Comedy revenue increased primarily due to an increase in attendance by 85.4%, driven by events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, For the Love of Mrs. Brown and performers such as Kevin Hart.
  • Circus and Physical Theatre category revenue declined, primarily due to the absence of Cirque du Soleil’s tours in 2018. Festivals (Multi-Category) category revenue declined, primarily due to the decline in average ticket prices. The decline in revenue and attendance in Musical Theatre may be explained by the closure of the Princess Theatre for refurbishment and the movement of The Book of Mormon to NSW.

WA witnessed an increase in revenue by 7.5% (to $211.4m), while there was a 6.5% growth in attendance (to 2.8m) between 2017 and 2018. The growth in revenue was largely driven by increases in the following categories:

  • Comedy witnessed a significant growth of 64.0% (to $15.8m) in revenue, while there was an increase of 85.9% (to 0.2m) in attendance between 2017 and 2018. The growth was primarily driven by Perth Comedy Festival; performances from Kevin Hart and Jim Jefferies, and events such as For the Love of Mrs. Brown.
  • Musical Theatre witnessed a significant growth of 58% (to $33.8m) in revenue, while there was an increase of 89.1% (to 0.4m) in attendance between 2017 and 2018. The growth was primarily driven by musicals such as We Will Rock You, New Jersey Nights, Legally Blonde, Carousel, In the Mood, Aladdin and Mamma Mia!
  • Ballet and Dance experienced growth of 37.5% (to $5.7m) in revenue, while there was an increase of 23.9% (to 0.1m) in attendance between 2017 and 2018. The growth was primarily driven by productions such as The Nutcracker, Dracula and Swan Lake.
  • Children’s/Family experienced growth of 21.4% (to $7.7m) in revenue, while there was an increase of 9.1% (to 0.2m) in attendance between 2017 and 2018.

SA experienced a growth in revenue of 6.5% (to $131.6m), while attendance increased by 5.4% (to 2.2m) between 2017 and 2018. Major categories which contributed to the growth in revenue were:

  • Comedy witnessed a significant growth of 142.0%, contributed by a significant increase of 246.3% in attendance driven by events such as For the Love of Mrs. Brown and performers such as Carl Barron and Jim Jefferies.
  • Ballet and Dance witnessed growth of 32.6% in revenue, with a 22.5% increase in attendance, primarily attributable to events such as The Sleeping Beauty and Ballet Revolucíon.
  • Special Events experienced a growth of 49.5% in revenue and 48.2% growth in attendance, primarily attributable to Harlem Globetrotters.
  • Festivals (Contemporary Music) experienced a growth of 37.4% contributed by 57.5% growth in attendance. The growth in revenue is primarily attributable to events such as Groovin’ the Moo and Spin Off Festival.

Tasmania witnessed the third highest y-o-y growth in revenue and the highest y-o-y growth in attendance in 2018. Tasmania witnessed a y-oy- increase in revenue by 17.0% (to $19.0m), while attendance increased y-o-y by 67.1% (to 0.7m).

ACT revenue increased by 12.3% (to $27.8m), while attendance increased by 12.6% (to 0.4m) between 2017 and 2018. This was driven by significant growth across Festivals (Multi-Category), Opera, Comedy, Theatre and Special Events categories.

NT is the only jurisdiction which witnessed y-o-y decline in revenue in 2018. The jurisdiction experienced a decline in revenue by 12.8% (to $2.9m) between 2017 and 2018, despite moderate growth in attendance by 1.9% (to 67.9k). This is primarily attributed to the decline in average ticket prices for the Northern Territory across different categories.

Close Table

Total Revenue and Attendances by State/Territory (2017-18)

State/Territory Revenue Share of Industry (2018) Share of Industry (2017) Change in Revenue from 2017 Tickets Share of Industry (2018) Share of Industry (2016) Change in Attendance from 2017
New South Wales $753,667,850 34.9% 32.7% 22.4% 8,230,950 31.3% 29.9% 19.4%
Victoria $698,857,788 32.3% 34.0% 9.2% 7,999,434 30.5% 32.0% 8.6%
Queensland $317,179,536 14.7 14.0% 20.2% 3,840,497 14.6% 13.9% 20.1%
Western Australia $211,421,549 9.8% 10.4% 7.5% 2,772,963 10.6% 11.3% 6.5%
South Australia $131,560,865 6.1% 6.6% 6.5% 2,212,725 8.4% 9.1% 5.4%
Australian Capital Territory $27,848,747 1.3% 1.3% 12.3% 405,899 1.5% 1.6% 12.6%
Tasmania $18,965,730 0.9% 0.9% 17.0% 738,444 2.8% 1.9% 67.1%
Northern Territory $2,923,333 0.1% 0.2% -12.8% 67,876 0.3% 0.3% 1.9%
Total $1,884,141,882 100.0% 100.0% 31.7% 23,027,550 100.0% 100.0% 22.6%

Percentage Movement by State

Close Table

Photo: MTC’s production of Twelfth Night, Jeff Busby

Population and Per Capita Results Click for more info

Share of population is shown by bubble size

NSW represented the highest market share of revenue and attendance amongst all the states and territories in Australia, accounting for 34.9% and 31.3% of the national market share of revenue and attendance respectively in 2018. Victoria recorded the second highest share of revenue and attendance, representing 32.3% and 30.5% respectively. Combined, Victoria and NSW generated approximately 67.2% of Australia’s live performance revenue and 61.8% of attendance in 2018.

Victoria and NSW held the top positions in spend per capita in 2018, with $107.08 and $93.67 respectively. This was much higher than the national spend ($85.89 per capita).

NSW and Victoria accounted for the largest market share of revenue and attendance in most of the categories in 2018. Notable exceptions included:

  • Festivals (Multi-Category): SA and WA generated the majority of revenue and attendance in this category, with a combined 56.6% market share of revenue and 54.0% of attendance. Major annual festivals held in SA and WA included Adelaide Fringe, WOMADelaide and Fringe World Festival.
  • In Festivals (Contemporary Music) and Special Events: NSW and QLD combined accounted for the largest market share of revenue and attendance in these categories. In Circus and Physical Theatre, NSW and QLD accounted for the largest market share of revenue, while NSW and VIC accounted for the largest market share of attendance.
Close Table

Population and Per Capita Results (2018)

State/Territory Population (2018) (m) Share of Population Share of Industry Revenue Share of Industry Attendance Spend per Capita
New South Wales 8.05 32.0% 34.9% 31.3% $93.67
Victoria 6.53 25.9% 32.3% 30.5% $107.08
Queensland 5.05 20.1% 14.7% 14.6% $62.77
Western Australia 2.61 10.4% 9.8% 10.6% $81.12
South Australia 1.74 6.9% 6.1% 8.4% $75.49
Australian Capital Territory 0.42 1.7% 1.3% 1.5% $65.71
Tasmania 0.53 2.1% 0.9% 2.8% $35.68
Northern Territory 0.25 1.0% 0.1% 0.3% $11.89
Total 25.18 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% $85.89

*Source: ABS - Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2018

Photo: Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories, Barking Gecko Theatre, Anna Kucera

Individual State Results

New South Wales

NSW infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Photo: ab [intra], Sydney Dance Company, Pedro Greig

Victoria

VIC infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Photo: Sidney Myer Free Concert Series, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Aulsebrook

Queensland

QLD infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Photo: Don Giovanni, Opera Queensland, Stephanie Do Rozario

Western Australia

WA infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Photo: Beyond Time, Perth Festival 2018, Toni Wilkinson

South Australia

SA infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Photo: Terrestrial, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Kate Pardey

Australian Capital Territory

ACT infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Category Share ACT/TAS/NT (combined for confidentiality purposes)

Photo: Jeff Hobson in The Illusionists Direct From Broadway, Canberra Theatre Centre, Mark Turner

Tasmania

TAS infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Category Share ACT/TAS/NT (combined for confidentiality purposes)

Photo: Société Anonyme Costume Ball Hadley's Orient Hotel, Dark MOFO 2018, Jesse Hunniford

Northern Territory

NT infographic (PDF)

State Trends

Category Share

Category Share ACT/TAS/NT (combined for confidentiality purposes)

Photo: A Smoke Social, Browns Mart, Fiona Morrison