Music festivals in the UK have grown rapidly in number and popularity over the past decade and are now part of the cultural fabric of the British summer, alongside such iconic events as Wimbledon fortnight and Test cricket. However, as economic recovery continues to stall, continued growth in the festivals market looks far less certain.
This report takes a wide-ranging and detailed look at the habits, experiences, preferences and attitudes of British music festival goers, and examines the size of the market, key festivals and promoters and likely future prospects.
This report covers the 2012/2013 season, and includes consumer intentions to attend UK festivals, and festivals abroad in 2013.
57 questions were asked, covering the following topics:
- Which festivals people have attended
- How often people go to festivals
- Why some people stop going to festivals
- How and when festival goers book tickets
- How long people stay at festivals
- Who people go to festivals with
- How people travel to festivals
- What types of accommodation people use at festivals
- How people hear about festivals
- What factors are important when people choose which festivals to attend
- How much time people spend watching music acts at festivals
- To what extent festival goers stay on site or leave the site during the event
- How much people spend on festivals overall
- How much festival goers spend on food and drink on site
- What type of food festival goers buy on site
- How festivals goers rate festival food
- How much festival goers spend on merchandise
- What types of merchandise festival goers buy
- Experience of crime at festivals
- Impact of the recession on festival going and intentions for 2013
- Experience and interest in travelling abroad to music festivals
- Interest in package deals
- Attitudes towards music festivals.
Methdology
For this report, YouGov SixthSense commissioned a survey among YouGov’s online panel, drawing on a sample of 1,015 adults aged 16+ who have been to at least one music festival. Fieldwork was conducted in October 2012.
