In 2021, culture lost 60% of the public and collection over 2019

by time news

Juan José Solana, president of the SGAE Foundation, already says in the introduction to the ‘SGAE 2022 Yearbook of Performing, Musical and Audiovisual Arts’, focused on the figures and consumption habits of 2021, that the report “continues to reflect the closures perimeters, restricted capacity, last-minute cancellations after the relevant tests or travel restrictions. That’s how it is. The study draws a clear conclusion throughout its 416 pages and that is that the sector has resumed activity after the pandemic, with an average of 41.5% more live shows and 45% more movie sessions , 56% more public and 52% more revenue than in 2020.

However, the indicators around the more than 111,000 live shows and almost 2.38 million film sessions analyzed are still very far from those achieved in 2019, when it seemed that the recovery of the sector was consolidating after the long crisis that began in 2008: the health security policies implemented by regional governments during 2021 -such as capacity limitations and perimeter restrictions- have caused losses of 33% in the number of functions (which reaches almost 40% in the case of cinema) ; 62% of public attendance and an average of 60.5% in terms of collection. Only the video game and recorded music sector, with increases of 21.4 and 15%, respectively, maintain the positive trend of recent years.

The data was presented this morning at a press conference held at the Madrid headquarters of the General Society of Authors and Publishers. In addition to Juan José Solana, the president of the SGAE, Antonio Onetti, and the general director of the SGAE Foundation, Rubén Gutiérrez del Castillo, who detailed the most important milestones of the report, participated in it. A report that, in his opinion, poses “a hopeful future” despite the current bad data. «We were afraid that this new crisis would spread over time and the same thing would happen as with the 2008 crisis. This is not the time to ring the bells, we have to see what happens in 2022 and 2023, but the feeling is that On this occasion, the activity has been frozen, without this entailing the loss of productive fabric, ”says Gutiérrez on data that in all points experience a notable improvement compared to 2020 but is far from 2019.

Thus, in the field of live popular music, punished by capacity restrictions, if the indicators of 2021 are compared with those of 2020, there is an increase in the number of concerts of 40% -there were 64,682 concerts, 18,476 more than in 2020 -, 59.4% in attendance -11.77 million people attended concerts or festivals, 4.39 million more than in 2020- and 49.5% in collection -154.57 million euros, 51 million more than in 2020, but far from the 407,750 million euros of 2019-. If the data is compared with that of 2019, there are still notable differences. Between the two years there were losses of 29% in the number of concerts held, 58.3% in the number of attendees and 62.1% in revenue.

In the field of classical music, an increase was also observed in the three indicators: 38.8% in the number of concerts, 45.2% in the number of spectators and 38.8% in revenue. But with respect to the 2019 data, a decrease has been reflected in all cases, with drops of 36.1% in the offer, 69.3% in attendance and 64.7% in collection. Interestingly, in terms of collection, 47.66 million were collected in 2019, almost two million more than in 2008. Which makes it clear that, in the words of Gutiérrez, “there is still a very long way to go until recovery.”

In the field of performing arts, the number of performances grew by 42.2% last year -36,609 performances were held-, attendance by 65.8% -5.7 million viewers attended one of these shows- and the collection 61.8% -almost 107 million euros were collected from ticket sales-, compared to the 2020 data. Despite this, when comparing the rates obtained with those of 2019, the year before the pandemic , the evolution is negative, with decreases of 28% in the offer, 59.5% in the number of viewers and 55.2% in revenue.

Likewise, the data confirm that for yet another year, the theater is once again the leading discipline in the field of performing arts, accumulating 94% of the performances, 90% of the public and 89% of the collection. Dance, on the other hand, barely recorded 4.2% of performances, 7.2% of attendance and 4.7% of revenue. Lastly, the lyrical genre (opera and zarzuela) is the discipline with the least supply and spectators, although it exceeds dance in revenue, with 6.8 million euros raised from ticket sales, compared to 4.9 million euros raised by the dance. Opera and zarzuela performances, during 2021, concentrated a relative weight of 1.4%, spectators accounted for 3.1% and revenue was 6.4%.

Gutiérrez avoided assessing which sector, within the performing arts, is the one that is encountering the most difficulties to recover. “There are no relevant differences. The dynamics are similar and the obstacles are more or less the same and they have tried to solve them in a similar way. Of course there are weaker sectors, one of the great pending issues in this country is dance, which from a creative point of view produces a lot of talent and is recognized internationally, but it is a very fragile sector, which was already more fragile before the crisis,” he explained.

Recorded music

Recorded music in 2021 kept the growing trend around the world. According to data from Promusicae, the digital market in Spain accumulates 82.6% of total sales, raising a total of 303.48 million euros, 16.3% more than in 2020. For its part, the physical market entered a total of 63.72 million euros, a figure that represents an increase of 15.4%. In absolute figures, streaming (which includes not only subscriptions but also revenue from advertising in this medium) produced revenue in Spain of 297.45 million euros. Regarding the physical market, it is necessary to highlight the growth of vinyl sales with 5.46 million euros, although the CD continues to be the majority. Sales reach 63 million euros.

In cinema, the data reflects a situation similar to that of the live arts. In 2021, compared to the 2020 data, increases of 44.9% in the number of scheduled sessions, 55.4% in the number of viewers and 56.6% in revenue are reflected. However, if the comparison compares the figures with those of 2019, the results are very different: decreases of 38.3% are observed in the sessions offered, 60.7% in attendance and 59.5% in collection . As for the average attendance at cinemas per inhabitant, it remains at only once a year: Only Madrid (with 1.28), and Catalonia (with 1.01) exceed the state average.

Gutiérrez’s analysis in this last case was more revealing. He called for prudence and to wait for the global figures because he “faces obstacles that the performing arts do not”. And he gave as an example that activities such as online theater or concerts broadcast on the Internet “have practically disappeared as soon as the public has been able to go to a festival to sweat and dance”, while in movie theaters the competition of the platforms is ” more real.” “That’s why there has to be work, support to value the experience in theaters.”

Radio and television consumption

Television consumption continues to maintain the trend of recent years and departs from the path taken in 2020, when its consumption increased due to the health restrictions of the autonomous communities. Contrary to what happened the previous year, in 2021 there is a significant drop in the average television consumption per person per day. From 231 minutes per day it goes to 205, which implies a decrease in the last year of 26 minutes. Despite this, revenue from advertising in the television sector rose by 8.3% compared to 2020, although it fell by 11.6% compared to the figures for 2019.

During 2021, the percentages of Spanish households subscribed to video platforms increase again. Netflix leads subscriptions with 47.6%, a figure that implies a growth of 12 points compared to the previous year. It is followed by Amazon Prime Video, with 30.5% of subscribed households and an even greater increase than in the previous case, 13.8 more points. Movistar+ remains in third position, reaching 20.7% of Spanish subscribed households and gaining three points compared to the value of 2020. Thus, more than half of the Spanish population viewed some audiovisual content in this way. This percentage has increased by 2.8 points compared to 2020.

According to EGM data, radio consumption has also fallen to 92 minutes per person per day, two minutes less than a year earlier. In addition, the audience has dropped again to 54.6%, 1 point less than a year earlier. Revenue from advertising on the airwaves increased by 10.8% this year compared to the previous one, but as is the case with television, they do not reach the figures for 2019 and are 14.6% less than before the pandemic.

Finally, according to the AEVI analysis of 2021, the video game sector collected 1,795 million euros in Spain, 2.7% more than a year earlier. Of these, 913 were for online sales, which implies a decrease of 4.6%, and the remaining 882 million euros correspond to the physical market, 11.7% more than a year before. The video game industry, unlike the rest of the disciplines analyzed, is the only one that exceeds the consumption data for 2019 with an increase in sales of 21.4%.

The yearbook also makes a brief mention of the period of uncertainty that has been opened by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the energy crisis. “These are turbulent times in which culture and art are once again more necessary than ever,” says Solana, who proposes that the report serve as an aid to establish “decisive policies to promote a sector that, in addition to its enormous impact on wealth economy and its great capacity to generate qualified employment, is essential to create a cohesive, diverse, critical society with humanist values”.

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