TICKETS … TICKETS … TICKETS

Each year Australians spend more than One Billion dollars on Live Entertainment.
Live Performance Australia’s Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2006 and 2007, released late last year, showed a 38.8 per cent increase in revenue during 2006, and a further 6.1 per cent increase during 2007 when it reached $1.228 billion. The largest revenue-generating categories were contemporary music (40 per cent), musical theatre (19 per cent), theatre (10 per cent), and special events (10 per cent). With almost 21 million tickets sold it amounts to one ticket for every Australian.
"Spending by Australians on live performance has grown year on year, compared to declines in spending on recorded music,” said Everlyn Richardson, Chief Executive of the LSA.
“The growth in revenue and ticket sales in Australia is comparable to trends in other major territories around the world, highlighting the fact that Australia has a world-class live performance industry," she said.
The figures, though, only count professional theatre and concert entertainment.
There's been no recent study of just how many people attend community theatre - although it is a fair bet that the numbers are huge, given that amateur companies outnumber professional companies by a large margin.

Buying Tickets
The way Australians are buying their tickets is also changing. Ticket software, which allows audience members to purchase on-line, is rapidly becoming more popular with audiences and producers. The advantage for audience members is the ability to buy anytime and anywhere. For Producers on-line ticketing provides a gold mine of audience data.