| Popis: |
The sustainability of live theatre has become a great concern for the future of the arts due to a decline in live theatre ticket sales, ageing markets, and the now more recent closures and/or limitations on theatre activities during the global COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the future sustainability of live theatre, live theatre producers and marketers are obligated to explore new/underutilised market segments and identify the aspects that contribute to the purchasing of live theatre tickets of each identified market segment. The student market is one market segment, currently in a phase of their lives where they are open to new experiences and have more freedom of choice on what they spend their money on compared to high school learners. However, the student market segment is not prioritising live theatre as one of their preferred social activities and also, very few live theatre productions are presented specifically with this market segment in mind. This article therefore aims to identify aspects contributing to live theatre ticket purchases of South African students between the ages of 18 and 24. Using a convenient sampling technique, 601 questionnaires were collected from students enrolled at two tertiary education institutions in South Africa. The results revealed eight (8) factors: Family/Socialising, Marketing, Genre and Style, Production Compilation, Explicit Content, Personal Comfort, Monetary facets, Leisure Experience. From these results, Monetary facets was rated as the most contributing aspect to live theatre ticket purchases. From previous studies, this aspect has also been identified but not as the most contributing aspect. The findings of this study contribute to the gap in student purchase behaviour literature and more specifically, to literature pertaining to South African students as a live theatre market segment. The results of this study will enable live theatre producers and marketers to create theatre productions that attract and encourage live theatre attendance of this particular market. |
