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Since the beginning of this year, the performance market has recovered rapidly, and the situation of "selling out when tickets are issued" has been staged frequently. The box office revenue of commercial performances increased by nearly 10 times year-on-year, and drove the rapid growth of surrounding consumption. Experts said that the performance industry should seize the favorable opportunity to further improve the quality of content and service, innovate performing arts formats and marketing models, promote the high-quality development of the industry, and release more development momentum.

"Who grabbed the tickets?" Since the beginning of this year, the supply and demand of the performance market has risen strongly, and many singers have appeared in concerts in various places "sold out when ticketed". Even the National Stadium (Bird's Nest), which can accommodate 8,<> people, failed to "catch" the enthusiasm of the fans. Recently, tickets for the concert undertaken by the Bird's Nest went on sale, and many fans said that it is still difficult to find a ticket.

Such a hot scene is not unique to concerts. Recently, theater performances, large-scale music festivals, and immersive performances have shown a strong recovery.

The supply side is constantly "new", the enthusiasm of the consumption side is high, and the two-way rush makes the national performance market quickly recover and continue to heat up. According to the data monitoring of the ticketing system collection and service platform of the China Performance Industry Association, during the "May Day" holiday alone, there were more than 3,15 commercial performances nationwide, with box office revenue of 19.962 billion yuan, an increase of 2.865% over last year, and the number of audiences reached 49.<> million.

The performances are dense, and it is still difficult to find a ticket

"Various music festivals, classic plays and new repertoire are staged, new and old singers are also opening in groups, and there are performances in the south and north of the world, but I still can't buy tickets." Lin Duo, who works at an Internet company, told reporters that from the Spring Festival to the present, people have posted pictures of buying tickets and watching performances in the circle of friends every day. "It feels like everyone has become a fan of offline performances overnight, and many small theater performances are very popular."

In the face of consumers' enthusiasm, the supply side accelerated. Originally relatively niche theater performances and "national team" troupes have launched well-known plays with market appeal, attracting audiences to return to the theater. For example, Jiangsu Grand Theatre's original folk dance drama "Dream of Red Mansions" entered 11 cities and 12 theaters, welcoming nearly 10,<> audiences, setting new box office records for performance venues in many places, and "every ticket must shine in seconds" has become the norm. Jiangsu Grand Theatre said that the theater is almost fully operational, and the market demand for the play has exceeded the upper limit of the team's supply of performances.

Large-scale outdoor music festivals also showed a rapid recovery in the first quarter. Nanjing Midou Music Festival, tickets sold out on the day the official performance lineup was announced; The Strawberry Music Festival has successively announced performances in 11 cities, and the Xi'an station, which completed the performance in the first quarter, sold out. During the "May Day" schedule, there are 3 large-scale music festivals in Beijing alone, including strawberries, trends, and infinity, as well as the Aosen Life Urban Forest Music Season. In addition to some well-known music festivals held all over the country, there are also many music festivals with regional brands and new brands in the market.

Just go, the performance drives peripheral consumption

According to the survey on ticket sales trends of some large-scale concerts and music festivals, the China Performance Industry Association found that the proportion of consumers who purchased tickets across cities increased significantly compared with last year, and the average cross-city viewing rate exceeded 50% of the total number of ticket buyers.

"It's lucky to grab a ticket, and it's worth crossing the city." Lula, who works in Nanning, immediately booked a hotel near the concert after grabbing tickets for the Mayday Bird's Nest concert.

During the concert, accommodation bookings for 5 kilometers around the Bird's Nest increased by 2400%; During the Strawberry Music Festival, hotel bookings around Yanqing Shiyuan Park increased by 2019 times compared to 18; During the Infinity Music Festival, hotel reservations around Wenyu River Park, Beijing, increased by 2019 times compared to 16... The data shows that performance projects have a strong driving ability for accommodation, catering and other peripheral consumption.

"Like our parents, they feel like watching a movie is full of ritual. Our generation has upgraded to watch offline performances, and even for a performance can be said to go, breaking geographical restrictions, which is also an improvement. "Lula is in the 90s and she thinks going to the show is a way of life." Gathering so many people with a common love in the same venue, at the same time, is worth the money. ”

In addition to driving transportation, accommodation and catering, various performances show more novelty in the form of grafting the market, further expanding the extension of the performance economy. For example, the first barbecue music festival in Xichang organically integrates the camping barbecue festival with the outdoor music festival. At the same time, more and more FMCG brands have also entered the music festival market, launching music festival activities with the same name as the brand, such as the Yuanqi Forest Music Festival and the Michelle Ice City Music Festival, etc., and commercial brands have gradually crossed over from a single cooperation model such as sponsorship and naming to integrated development with live music performances.

Performance consumption requires continuous efforts

Last year's postponed projects and new additions are superimposed, and this year's performance projects are particularly intensive. Most theaters in regional central cities have completed their first half of the year, and some have even been scheduled for 2025. Since the second quarter, large-scale concerts and music festival projects have entered an intensive period, and there has been a "crash" in many places during large-scale performance schedules, and market competition has become increasingly fierce.

The explosive recovery is indeed a huge opportunity for the performance industry, but it also brings new challenges. What the industry needs to be soberly aware of is that in recent years, a large part of the consumption in the performance market comes from the concentrated release of stock.

"To maintain the activity of the performance market, performance institutions should continue to launch excellent works and enrich the supply of performance products; Innovate marketing models to enhance product influence; Promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism, expand performance formats, and expand market scale. It is necessary to let more audiences enter the theater and various performing arts spaces with stronger attraction, richer expression and fuller sense of experience. Pan Yan, vice president and secretary general of the China Performance Industry Association, said.

In terms of driving new consumption of performances, creating new scenes, and attracting young consumers, niche cultural consumption formats such as livehouse, immersive drama, and talk shows have made a lot of contributions, and have become new favorites of consumption. Data show that in February ~ March, the Damai platform sold more than 2,3 Livehouse performances, and the box office scale increased by 2800 times compared with the same period in 2019; At the same time, talk shows and immersive dramas stood out, and in February ~ March, the number of ticket buyers in the two categories reached 15,2. Aiming at this business opportunity, relevant institutions are participating in content production and distribution through investment, co-production and self-production to create market increments.

Pan Yan said that performance institutions should seize the favorable opportunity to further strengthen the awareness of performance safety and operation standards, improve content quality and service quality, innovate performing arts formats and marketing models, continuously meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people, promote the high-quality development of the industry, and release more development momentum.

Su Mo (Source: Workers' Daily)