The Challenge

The UK’s National Museums and Galleries are caught between shrinking statutory funding and ever more diverse commercial competition. They need to increase their own revenue while continuing to meet obligations to widen access and participation and demonstrate this to the DCMS and other funders. Audience insight is therefore crucial to their success.  A consortium of museums and galleries commissioned DJS Research to deliver cost-efficient, timely insight to evidence impact to funders and support their progress.

The Approach

Our overall approach to the contract has been to ensure consistency, enabling historic tracking while also increasing access to timely data through a new data portal.

We deliver over 15,000 systematically sampled, interviewer-led interviews on site at over a dozen venues each year. On site research is available in nine languages and partners in the consortium can also supplement this with an online survey to bookers (who pre-book their visit). Data are weighted using refusals and visit flow, to create accurate site-by-site data together with a dynamic weighted benchmark.

We provide weighted data monthly via a shared data portal giving partners full access and control. The portal’s inbuilt functionality allows them to generate bespoke analyses, drawing on any of their own or their peers’ questions, drilling down to specific subgroups, or comparing across months, quarters or years. We also provide quarterly benchmarking reports including trends analysis.

After financial year-end we undertake an in-depth exploration with advanced statistical exploration of the combined dataset designed to address specific questions that are directly relevant to the consortium. All partners receive a combined report and can attend a benchmarking and trends debrief which contextualises the consortium’s results with external market data and highlights the macro-trends influencing their audience.

Most clients choose to receive bespoke site-level reporting. These rich, nuanced reports provide detailed analysis of an individual site’s performance against their KPIs, combining internal marketing, digital and sales data with long-term trends and benchmarking comparisons. Our interpretation of the data helps them understand their performance and develop strategic and tactical interventions. 

Each year we deliver an additional Added Value project. We collaborate with the consortium to identify the target audience, set the objectives, and deliver bespoke insight that complements their visitor research, provides a comprehensive view of the market and informs their forward planning.

The Results

Having been appointed in 2019, DJS Research was recommissioned in 2023 to deliver another four years of research. The nature of tracking research means it's hard to talk about discrete outcomes (because the work is continuous). Nevertheless, we’re proud of how far we’ve come...

• We successfully managed transition so partners can still use historic data back to 2011/12 
• We have implemented a programme which provides insight from the micro venue-level to the macro sector-level, and includes broad trends analysis, rich "deep dives" and targeted added value studies.
• We have collaborated with the partners to move away from out-dated standardised questions to more inclusive measures of ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual identity.
• The first Added Value project (2024/25) generated fresh insights into the consortium’s non-visitor market. We uncovered specific gaps between perceptions of museums and galleries, their offerings, and the motivations of potential visitors – in particular the potential market is unconvinced that museums and galleries provide opportunities for fun and relaxation and don’t see this kind of activity as offering competitive value for money. We delivered actionable insights into barriers to visiting, along with tangible recommendations for attracting different groups of non-visitors.
• Under DJS’ stewardship, the consortium has formalised its ways of working and now convenes regular working groups to collaborate, set direction and discuss changes in their data as they happen.   

Testimonial

“We reappointed DJS because they understand the sector and work with us to deliver insight that’s genuinely useful – not just data collection, but interpretation, context, and practical recommendations. As public institutions, we have a responsibility to listen to our audiences and ensure our decisions are shaped by evidence. DJS helps us do that. Their insight supports both strategic planning and day-to-day decision-making, while the flexibility of the portal and the collaborative nature of the relationship mean we’re able to adapt as our needs evolve.” 

MAGIC Working Group