What’s happening in the cultural, heritage and leisure market?

The landscape for cultural, heritage and leisure organisations is challenging.

Established “bricks and mortar” attractions compete not only with new experiential offerings, but also a plethora of digital alternatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on leisure behaviour with a sustained shift away from regular “out of home” activities.

Streaming services continue to grow in popularity – two thirds of the UK population have at least one SVoD (Streaming Video on Demand) subscription and 80% of all UK music sales are via streaming. These subscriptions are attractive to cash-strapped consumers who wish to manage expenditure and maximise value. They divert disposable income into a fixed cost and the weight of inertia means they’re easily retained when people re-assess their spending.

And audiences are considering their disposable income very carefully. Economic growth has been sluggish and sporadic leaving consumers uncertain about future prosperity and unwilling to take risks with their personal finances. 

Reaching audiences is also difficult, erosion of trust in traditional media outlets drives audiences to the increasingly fragmented arenas of social media platforms, where popular content is prioritised and it’s increasingly hard for less well-known brands to “cut through”.

And there’s also the challenge of an audience with increasingly diverse needs and expectations, as the ageing population grows, and exponential growth in technology means that there’s a perceived widening gulf between how different generations interact and experience the world.

What does this mean for you?

Whether your goals are to broaden audiences, build brand engagement, or grow revenue, you need to understand your audiences to reach them efficiently and engage with them effectively…

Leisure spend is discretionary behaviour, meaning it isn’t guided by legal requirements like car insurance, and it’s less likely to be habitual, like regular food or household goods purchases. It’s also highly dependent upon context. One visitor will behave differently with friends vs family, on an international 1-week holiday vs a local short break, when they’ve instigated a day out vs when they’re invited to join a trip planned by someone else.  

You need a research partner that… 

• …has a deep understanding of the drivers of leisure behaviour

• …has wide-ranging knowledge of the broader context – social, economic and technological trends shaping behaviour, the competitive set, political priorities and funding streams

• …has a proven track record of delivering robust, actionable insight which directly addresses your business problems

• …can respond flexibly when your needs change, operating as an extension of your team to help you navigate your complex and fast-changing environment.

Why work with DJS Research?

We know your sector: we regularly work with some of the UK’s most well-known and well-loved institutions as well as industry bodies and support organisations. Our clients include…

• Cultural and heritage attractions such as Tate, The British Museum and the British Library

• Heritage and nature preservation organisations including the National Trust, English Heritage, Canal & River Trust and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

• Festivals and event organisers such as the Greater London Authority and Royal Docks

• Industry bodies such as London & Partners, the Collections Trust and the Strategic Content Alliance

• Leading advisors to the sector including the Cultural Consulting Network and Flow Associates.

DJS Research are also members of the Museums Association and the Visitor Studies Group.

We’re passionate about helping you achieve your goals: your project will be delivered by sector specialists, with decades of experience and a genuine passion for the sector. We care about helping you achieve your goals. 

We can place your brief in the wider context: because DJS works with commercial, public sector and not for profit clients, we know more than just culture or heritage, we’re in touch with the full range of drivers shaping behaviour. We contextualise research data to generate deeper insights about your market and audiences.

We guarantee quality approaches for actionable insights: as a full-service agency we can control all aspects of your project. We don’t do “off the shelf” – every project is crafted to meet your needs. We take the time to get to know your specific context, so our recommendations are relevant and actionable; and we work closely with you and can flex our approach if circumstances change.

Ask us about… 

• Segmentation, market sizing and audience development: we can accurately size and profile your potential market and develop bespoke segmentation to fuel your growth. 

• Brand development and tracking: whether you need qualitative insight into how your brand is understood or quantitative measurement of performance in the market, we can support you to develop your brand and measure your success. 

• Membership and donations: we work with many cause-led organisations to help them understand what prompts people to join and what makes them stay. We can help you maximise member-acquisition and retention, as well as donations.

• Visitor profiling and satisfaction research: we run visitor profiling and experience tracking for some of the UK’s most popular attractions.

• Formative development and proposition testing: whether it’s a new exhibition, events programme or a whole new site, we can test your ideas with your current and potential market to help you make informed decisions about how to proceed.

• Summative evaluation: we can help you demonstrate impact to funders and learn from both successes and challenges to improve your practice. 

• Schools and families: with experts in education, children and young people we can help you develop or refine your schools and/or families proposition, programme or communications.

• Non-visitor research: our in-house panel and recruitment team mean we aren’t limited to your lists; we’ll connect with your potential audiences and help you better understand their needs. 

 

 

 

To discuss an upcoming research requirement, and find our how our sector experts could help your organisation, please contact Research Director Rebecca Green and Associate Director Vicky Mullis at culture@djsresearch.com. 

 

---