What’s the State of the Festival Scene in the UK?

Recently published, the Festival Market Report 2017 asked festival-goers what they thought of the music events they had recently attended in the UK. It makes for great reading but it also highlights there are still areas of concern that festival organisers and authorities need to take action on.

Background of the survey

In the summer months, there are over 200 music festivals nationwide with this report asking festival-goers between October and November 2016 what they thought of the festivals they had recently attended.

People of all ages enjoy music festivals with those aged 21 to 25 just out in the lead, although the 41-50 age group were only a little behind. The results also show that music festivals are now considered a family event, with nearly 34% of the 8,000 people questioned as part of the survey taking their children to a festival.

Of those that responded, 60% identified as male and 40% as female. Likewise, the majority of people were single, considerably outnumbering their married or in-a-relationship counterparts.

Verdict: music festivals are great entertainment for everyone, families included

Why attend music festivals?

Attended by people all across the UK, music festivals are considered a popular way of seeing their favourite artists as well as spending time with family and friends.

This means that the other activities on offer at music festivals take on a whole new importance, especially in terms of food and drink.

‘Fast’ food including pizza, burgers, wraps, Mexican and chips & dips are the most popular form of food with Time Out declaring that over 1,000 burgers are eaten every hour at the Isle of Wight festival. They also say that 97% of festival-goers drink alcohol and so no wonder that according to the report lager, cider, vodka, wine and cocktails were the top five drinks.

In terms of selection, the majority of festival-goers rates the selection of drinks are ‘OK’ although fewer people shared the same opinion about the selection of food.

Verdict: time to shake up the catering?

Value for money?

But what about the expense? Are music festivals in the UK value for money?

• Food & drink

The survey found that the majority of people – just over 50% in fact – felt that prices for food and drink were ‘a bit steep’. 40% said they thought the price of drinks were ‘just right’ but there was no denying that the price of food for what it was, is considered a rip off by festival-goers.

Verdict: must try harder!

• Tickets

60% of those who responded to the survey said they felt that the ticket prices were ‘about right’ with 21% complaining they were overpriced and 19% admitting they found it value for money.

Overall, this means that ticket prices are getting it right and with festivals becoming more popular, hopefully, prices will continue to reflect the value and quality of the event.

However, there was one major bugbear – the ticket touts and the event ticketing re-sale sites. 37% of people branded such sites a disgrace although more or less the same number of people admitted that if the demand was there, it is impossible to do anything about them. a small number of people (3%) said that they are the only way to get tickets to sold out events but overall, it seems that people would support a campaign to close these sites.

Verdict: pricing is ‘OK’ but ticketing re-sale sites need to be monitored or removed.

UK Festivals – In summary

The results from this survey and that of others show that the festival scene in the UK is growing and healthy. Great news for festival organisers!