The for-profit sector is winning this game

It’s a myth that consumers are all sitting at home watching Netflix.

Four years after the pandemic, demand for pop concerts and sporting events has surged back. Even U.S. movie revenue has increased 300% since the height of the pandemic.

Consumers are spending an average of $122 on touring concerts, $158 on professional sporting events, and upwards of $20 for a movie date (not including 🍿, of course).

Plus, significant numbers of middle- to high-income earners from GenZ to Gen X say they plan to splurge in 2024.

In contrast, the latest data from IMPACTS Experience shows that many arts organizations are still facing significant challenges regaining their pre-pandemic audience base. Performing arts organizations in particular are projected to reach just 85.6% of their 2019 attendance this year.

To re-engage consumers, arts organizations need to get more relevant. And achieving that relevance is all about tapping into what consumers already care about.

In other words, deeply understanding the customer by regularly gathering customer insights has become a high-stakes game.

And it’s a game that the for-profit sector is currently winning:

In 2019, a Qualtrics XM Institute survey found that 80% of the companies surveyed have implemented a Voice of the Customer program. 40% report significant efforts that are ‘highly coordinated’. In fact, more than 30% have six or more employees on their VoC team.

How does the arts and culture sector compare?

I’m launching an industry-wide survey to understand how arts organizations are currently collecting and prioritizing customer insights.

Find out how your organization stacks up. Share how you handle customer research in this four-minute survey:

Thank you in advance for contributing your perspective to this important industry benchmarking resource!