Musicals thrive on the UK theatre scene whilst Plays take a tumble

Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre have released data for ticket sales across their member venues in 2018. The figures reveal a combined audience of over 34m and ticket revenue of nearly £1.28bn, from a total of 62,945 performances over the course of the year in the West End and across the UK.

London’s West End theatres drew in audiences totaling over 15.5m last year, resulting in box office revenue of over £765m – both record figures, generating over £127m in VAT for the Treasury. The year saw an increase in the number of performances to 18,708, up 2.8% from 2017. Hit shows including Hamilton had an impact on overall ticket sales in a very strong year for musicals, while plays experienced a dip in attendances (-6.5%) and revenue.

Audiences for theatre across the rest of the country topped 18.8m, with a box office of over £509m. Theatres reported a slight increase in attendances, and also number of performances (44,237, up 0.2% from 2017), as well as a rise in income and average ticket price. This was largely due to increased yield at the biggest presenting houses, which bounced back after a small dip in 2017. Smaller producing theatres saw the largest dip in attendance and revenue, falling back in line with previous years after an unusually strong 2017.

2018 SOLT Highlights:
Attendances of 15,548,154 (up 3.0% compared to 2017)
Gross revenue of £765,800,051, (up 8.6% compared to 2017)
Average ticket price paid £49.25 (up 5.5% compared to 2017)
77.5% of available seats filled

2018 UK Theatre Highlights:
Attendances of 18,806,659 (up 0.3% compared to 2017)
Gross revenue of £509,567,967 (up 8.4% compared to 2017)
Average ticket price paid £27.10 (up 8.0% compared to 2017)
61% of available seats filled

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