Orchestral habits

 Analysis of six years of box office data from 12 London-based orchestras and concert halls has revealed that audiences for orchestral music are more loyal, are likely to attend more frequently and tend to book earlier than audiences for other performing artforms. The research, covering the period 2003–9, was conducted by Audiences London and covered more than 2,000 events attended by ticket bookers from nearly 350,000 households. The report, ‘Benchmarking audiences for orchestral music in London’, identifies income from orchestral events totalling £35m over the period, of which almost three-quarters was from people who had attended more than once during this time. However, the majority of audience members for orchestral work attend infrequently, and the 12 research participants are planning to pilot a collaborative marketing campaign in 2011, aimed at re-engaging these ‘infrequent’ audiences and helping them to develop a concert-going habit.