Bringing new and diverse audiences to the opera to increase ticket sales

Summary

Trying to convince people who don’t go to the opera can be a challenge, however the ENO wanted to show that the opera is open for everyone. Tasked with attracting more diverse audience groups, particularly the BAME community, we used rich media telling formats including Takeovers, Fireplaces and Lightboxes to lift the experience and dispel myths around the opera. Our approach saw tickets sales increase by 10%in customers from ethnic backgrounds, whilst ensuring that overall ticket sales targets were met with e-commerce transactions growing by 15% YOY.

Challenge

A founding principle of the English National Opera is to open the opera up for everyone to experience.

We were tasked with helping to fulfil this by attracting more diverse audience groups, particularly from the BAME community. However one of the key hurdles we had to overcome is the sense of displacement that can be felt at the opera, where people tend to feel out of place and are unable to socially connect with the opera.

Whist addressing this perception challenge to make opera accessible to this particular audience, we  also needed to ensure we were hitting increased commercial targets as the Arts Council funding was declining.

Solution

Our solution was all around making opera relatable.

We lifted the experience using rich media telling formats, as well as creating social norms by showing diversity in the cast and audience and amplifying positive BAME stories in social media. Furthermore we dispelled myths around the opera through a sequence of messages to those indicating initial interest and nudging people through to buying tickets.

Results

We were successful in in driving audience diversity where we saw an increase of 10% in new customers from ethnic backgrounds. Alongside this we ensured the delivery of ticket sales whereby YOY e-commerce transactions grew by 15% and revenue was up by 31%. We also saw YOY site visits increase by 9%.