Society of London Theatre’s member venues have seen their nominal revenue increase since 2019, with developing the audience experience highlighted as a key opportunity for 2023.
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London’s major theatre venues have kept their ticket prices consistent with pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Society of London Theatre (SOLT).
The body, which represents all the commercial West End and London’s major subsidised theatres, has released its first full set of annual data since 2019, which also found box-office revenue has increased by 11.6% compared with 2019.
The average nominal ticket price has risen by just £2.21 since 2019, which represents a fall in real terms when adjusted with inflation, from £52.17 in 2019 to £48.11 in 2022.
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Co-CEOs of SOLT, Claire Walker and Hannah Essex, said the consistent average price of tickets shows that “theatres are still dedicated to bringing world-class live entertainment to as broad an audience as possible, in spite of the challenges they face”.
The number of performances across SOLT’s member venues was up 4.7% in 2022 compared to three years prior, totalling 19,224.
Attendance was up 7.2%, at over 16.4m visits, which represents just over 80% of the venues’ total capacity.
Nominal revenue up
SOLT’s reporting found nominal revenue across its member venues’ box offices increased by 11.6% to almost £893m in 2022.
However, when adjusted for inflation since 2019, the figure is set at £790m, representing a 1.1% decrease against 2019.
SOLT President Eleanor Lloyd commented that while there are “green shoots of recovery” for London’s theatre industry, “theatre makers are facing more challenges than ever before”.
“We are still grappling with the enduring impact of long periods of low or no income during Covid, enormous increases to energy bills, rising supplier costs and ongoing industrial action on the transport networks which impacts both our audiences and workforce,” she added.
“It has never been more costly or more difficult to put on a show.”
New opportunities
During a webinar hosted by the Association for Culture Enterprises in January, developing an audience member’s experience was highlighted as a key opportunity for London’s theatres in 2023.
Speaking at the webinar on the future of performing arts, SOLT and UK Theatre Head of Marketing Emma De Souza said that, at the start of 2023, the West End’s commercial theatre sector is seeing a trend of “audiences that are coming in really wanting to maximise their experience”.
“We have actually seen growth in people wanting to have the full champagne experience, the private dining experience – those are the things that some of the big commercial venues have been piloting,” she explained.
“So it’s a battle of two halves really – there are people who are coming in who are very, very price conscious, but other people are coming in and are thinking ‘If I’m going to come in, I’m going to make a really big night of it.’”
De Souza added that many West End venues are now able to get in contact with customers prior to the performance, due to a move away from third party ticket agents, which allows venues to give audiences the opportunity to book food and drinks in advance.
“There are various technologies that are making that as easy as possible, so I do think looking ahead we are going to see, particularly in the commercial sector, an exploitation of these opportunities.”
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