Behind The Ticket
For the fourth year running, Bolster has partnered up with Tixel to release our annual ticketing state of play report. But this year is extra special because I took the reins on the research side of things for the first time, and it was very rewarding to go back to my uni days by getting my research hat back on.
As each year’s report builds on past data, we spent literal weeks going through past data and where we wanted this year’s research to go, which led to some questions being removed, some being tweaked slightly, most being kept as is and a couple of additions. We ended up with 41 questions all up, ranging from multiple choice, likert scales and open ended questions.
We were then ready to get the survey out there, which we did in two ways:
Recruited ourselves via Tixel and Bolster’s networks (mostly email with some light pushes on Bolster’s social media channels)
A paid survey panel via a third party research company, however the survey was administered by Bolster.
We were careful to monitor the results as they were coming in, and used the paid survey panel to balance out the respondents to ensure we had gotten data from every state and territory in Australia, and not just the eastern seaboard, and ended up getting a whopping 2.7K completed survey results, all from Aussies who had bought a ticket to some sort of live event in the 12-months prior.
I’m so proud of this body of work. It came together through a massive team effort across Tixel and Bolster. From within the Bolster' side, huge thanks to Jono Mandel for the research support, Cat Burton and Darren Levin for the brilliant narrative telling and to Fern Aguilera for the standout design.
Some of my fave insights from the report are:
Changed buying patterns: 55% of people reported changing their ticket buying habits since last year with most buying later.
Supporting Aussies: 82% of people support initiatives that reward touring musicians who choose Australian artists as their support act - i.e. Michael’s Rule.
Fave artist FOMO: 72% of people will still buy a ticket for an artist they love even if it’s significantly more expensive than they expected it to be.
Flexibility in a post COVID world: 75% of people said that confidence in their ability to resell helped them make the decision to purchase a ticket earlier.
You can download the report in full here.
