For many cultural organisations such as museums, theatres and arts venues, COVID-19 has meant a pivot to an online presence. But as attractions move through a phased period of re-opening we have to ask – Are online experiences here to stay?
Over the last three months Vivid Interface has put a variety of research projects ‘in the field’ to track consumer sentiment, the mood of organisations and their online intentions. This has revealed an extraordinary growth in online consumption in terms of cultural experiences, media viewing and health and wellbeing. Add to that last week’s Ofcom report revealing that on average people have been spending 25% of their day online while in lockdown, and we know that this is an area we all need to pay attention to.
Vivid Interface in association with Panelbase, conducted an e-survey with over 1,000 visitors to attractions and cultural venues in early June. The report, which can be downloaded here, looks at what visitors have been watching and participating in online while venues and attractions have been closed. While taking a yoga class or watching a new release film are right up there, so are live music performances and stand-up comedy.
The report explores what they say they will continue to watch and also what they feel they may continue to watch online in preference to going out. It makes interesting reading:
64% of people say they will continue to watch or participate in online experiences even after the re-opening of attractions.
48% say that they will continue to watch or participate in at least one of the listed online activities in preference to going out after lockdowns are lifted. Download the report here to see the full list.
21% said they paid to watch or participate in online experiences during lockdown.
These are significant stats that can’t be ignored.
The report highlights significant variances in age, gender and life stage too which are important in understanding online engagement opportunities for programmers and marketers.
The cultural sector was already well set up to pivot to online experiences but the sheer explosion of content and audience reaction tells us that there’s plenty more to come. Just looking at this week’s news we see The Royal Opera House building on its success of live streaming from Covent Garden with a programme of paid for online experiences (at £4.99 a performance). And the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, managed by English Heritage, received over 3.6 million views for its first ever live stream of the event. Normally attracting around 10,000.
Are online experiences here to stay? Yes they are. But what sort of unique experiences the visitor attraction sectors can come up with next is an exciting space to watch.
Vivid Interface is a full-service market research agency serving the events, festivals and attractions industries. The survey was report undertaken in partnership with PanelBase. You can read the full report here.