In September 2023, Chichester Festival Theatre partnered with TRG Arts to strategically deepen audience relationships and drive loyalty. With a new Artistic Director, the theatre saw a unique opportunity to reshape its audience engagement strategies and implement significant changes to pricing and purchasing behaviours. The impact of this transformation was felt across the Spring to Autumn 2024 season.
Challenge: Strengthening Audience Relationships in a Transition Period
With a leadership transition underway, Chichester Festival Theatre sought to ensure continuity and growth in audience engagement. With a strong loyal audience already in place, the goal was to deepen engagement with this core of supporters by optimising pricing strategies and aligning ticket offers with desired audience behaviours.
Strategy:
Working with TRG Arts, Chichester implemented a multi-pronged approach to enhance revenue and deepen audience relationships:
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Demand Management: A new scale of house was introduced to make lower-priced seats more widely available while maximising value from high-demand seats. This strategic realignment ensured that more audiences could access affordable options, while also driving revenue from premium sections.
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Priority and Season Saver: A tiered discount structure encouraged deeper patron engagement. Multi-buying was encouraged throughout the season with a new 3+ multibuy offer, but the most significant discounts were available through the tiered Priority Savers. These offered up to 25% off for members who purchased multiple shows within the first weeks of ticket sales. This strategy was designed to increase audience frequency and drive early bookings.
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Behaviour-Based Discounts: Every discount was designed to reward early purchasing and multi-buying behaviours. Early offers translated to early revenue, reinforcing customer habits that benefit both audiences and the theatre.
Results: A New Era of Audience Growth and Financial Stability
Though the full impact will continue to unfold, early indicators show that Chichester Festival Theatre’s partnership with TRG Arts has:
- Expanded access to lower-priced seating while maximising revenue potential.
- Incentivised audience loyalty through a structured multi-buying and early purchasing strategy.
- Created a more sustainable and engaged audience base, aligning pricing models with patron demand and behaviour.
Together, these strategies contributed to an £850,000 increase in ticketing revenue within a single season. This extraordinary result was achieved through the combined impact of multibuy offers, demand management, and dynamic pricing strategies—demonstrating what’s possible when data, insight, and execution work in harmony.
Chichester’s approach exemplifies how data-driven audience engagement and dynamic pricing strategies can drive long-term success in the arts sector.
Conclusion: From Transition to Transformation
By leveraging a strategic mix of pricing, discounting, and behavioural insights, Chichester Festival Theatre has positioned itself for sustained audience growth and financial health. TRG Arts’ partnership has enabled the organisation to make meaningful changes, ensuring that each pricing and engagement decision strengthens patron relationships and deepens loyalty.
And with £850,000 in additional ticketing revenue in less than a year, Chichester’s story shows that with the right strategy, meaningful change—and measurable growth—can happen fast.
Want to create a smarter audience engagement strategy? Let’s talk: TRG Arts is here to help.