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Australia's live performance industry sold 16,273,730 tickets in 2012, generating $1.2 billion in revenue, according to the Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey 2012.

Published by Live Performance Australia (LPA), the peak body for Australia's live performance industry and presenter of the Helpmann Awards, the annual survey also showed that ticket prices were down in the industry.

The Survery found that Contemporary Music and Musical Theatre remain the two largest sectors, generating 40% and 16.9% of revenue respectively. While both experienced declines in revenue and attendance, combined they still account for 56.9% of gross revenue and 47.4% of total attendance.

Genres reporting strongest growth in 2012 were Festivals (both Single category and Multi category), Theatre and Classical Music.

This is the ninth annual Survey released by LPA and represents the most comprehensive survey available of ticket sales for Australian Live Entertainment events.

Explaining the findings, LPA Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson stated "this year's Survey shows the industry is stable with only a slight decline in revenue and attendance. The inclusion each year of new data sources continually improves our picture of the industry across established and emerging sectors."

Overall revenue for the Live Entertainment Industry declined when compared to 2011, from $1.3 billion, to $1.2 billion - a drop of 8%. This decline was largely mirrored by a 6.2% decrease in overall attendance, from 17.3 million tickets in 2011 to 16.2 million in 2012. This decline in revenue reflects a decline in attendance and a marginal fall in the average ticket price.

The LPA also highlights that:

Data from SeatAdvisor Box office (SABO/SeatAdvisor Pty Ltd), which has positively impacted the Comedy category, and Cirque du Soleil, whose data was previously provided by existing data partners.

It is working with the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Australian Performing Arts Centre Australia (APACA) to improve reporting around performances by the small to medium sector, and at regional venues in a new supplementary report to be released later in 2013

Richardson adds "the addition of new data partners is important to improving the reach of the Survey, and we encourage event owners not presently included in the Survey to become data partners."

One addition to this year's Survey is the inclusion of analysis of revenue and attendance on a per capita basis with the results showing that Victoria and New South Wales command a larger share of both revenue and attendances compared to their share of the population. However overall, state based breakdown shows declines in Victoria and New South Wales but revenue and attendance increases in Queensland.

Sector breakdown:

In the (Multi) Festival category, the increase in revenue is largely explained by the growth in average ticket price (24.4% increase in 2012) while (Single category) Festivals saw a slight 2% increase in revenue, a significant 18.7% increase in attendance, reflecting a strong year for music festivals, and a 7.4% decline in average ticket price.

Theatre reported a 25.9% growth in revenue and 16% growth in attendance, while the average ticket price increased by 6.6%. These increases were largely driven by Dame Edna Everidge's national Farewell Tour. However, productions presented by the Major Performing Arts companies generated the majority of ticket sales and revenue.

While the Classical Music category experienced modest revenue growth of 1.3%, it experienced a significant 19.7% increase in attendance. However, the average ticket price fell by 12.3% which explains why revenue growth did not match attendance growth. Growth in this sector was largely driven by the reopening of Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

LPA is the trading name of the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA).

The full survey can be viewed at www.liveperformance.com.au/site/_content/document/00000350-source.pdf

20th August 2012 - PERFORMING ARTS TICKETING REVENUE FALLS

10th March 2008 - ROBERTS TO HEAD SEATADVISOR AUSTRALIA

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