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According to the recent Event Solutions Magazine Fact Book:
A Statistical Analysis of the Event Industry, there are roughly
20,000 entertainment companies serving the event industry
in the United States. Those 20,000 have an average gross revenue
of $45 billion. That represents about 12% of the total event
industry of $389 billion. Michael J. Wolf says in The Entertainment
Economy, that entertainment is a $480 billion industry with
a possible growth of 50% per year over the next five years!
(1999). These numbers are more than just events. They represent
the complete entertainment industry. With these two numbers
to compare, it would seem that events are a major part of
the entire entertainment industry.
The article "Forecast 2002: What's next for special
events?" indicates that 7% of revenue comes purely from
the entertainment event segment, while they predict that that
same entertainment segment will grow by 11% (Hurley, 2002).
If we were to take a look at opportunities for entertainment
at events in the United States, there are 4.68 million events
per year; or 12,840 events every day. Event Solutions 2002
Fact Book goes on to say that entertainment companies performing
in this arena have been in business for 14.8 years and have
21.4 employees. "Entertainment companies have the most
perceived competitors, due primarily to the national and regional
nature of many of these companies" (courtesy of the 2002
Event Solutions Fact Book, an Annual Statistical Analysis
of the Event Industry).
80.6% of entertainment companies have their own websites.
According to The Meeting Professional, 75,000 new web pages
are posted each day and 500 million people worldwide will
be online by 2003 (Chatfield-Taylor, March 2002). The 2002
Fact book reports that, of these entertainment companies,
only 22% have web sites from which customers can order their
products or services directly. You can expect that entertainment
companies today have computers, use the Internet and have
cell phones. Over 60% have CD ROMs, while fewer than 10% use
any type of management software. Going on the road? About
57% of entertainment companies use laptop computers while
20% use a hand-held palm device. As time and technology march
on, expect all these numbers to rise for entertainment companies
and all companies involved with the meeting and event industry.
Where can you find your favorite entertainment purveyor and
where do they operate? According to The 2002 Fact Book, only
16.4% are local, while 27.8% work regionally; 34.4% work across
the United States and 21.3% work internationally. Although
the meeting and event industries are predominately a female
industry, the entertainment world is 54% male and 46% female
with 43.5% in the 41-50 years age bracket.
What is the primary method for obtaining new customers? 58%
of entertainment companies reported that client referrals
are the ticket. A distant second, at 10.1%, say it is national
advertising. "The big spenders, in terms of percent of
gross sales, are entertainment companies, which spend a sizable
7.6% on marketing," (Event Solutions 2002 Fact Book).
Although 30.2% of entertainment companies have a total gross
income of less than $250,000, 31.8% have more than $1,000,000
in gross revenues and the average for all entertainment companies
is $2,800,000.
"In 1999, 33 million tickets were sold to symphony concerts
in the United States. In addition, countless numbers of school
children heard free concerts given by the local orchestra
in their school or local concert hall. The artistic goals
and playing standards of every orchestra have been driven
upward by the spectacular improvement of the players and the
greater discrimination of an audience exposed to the high
performance levels of electronic reproduction. Cities that
only a few years ago had a semi-professional orchestra that
gave a few poorly prepared concerts in an inappropriate venue
now have a fine professional orchestra playing a generous
schedule of fine concerts in a good sounding, well located
concert hall to a broad-based and enthusiastic audience."
-Commencement Address, Joseph Silverstein, May 19, 2001 Cleveland
Institute of Music
According to Blair Tindall, $1 million was spent online for
single-ticket sales for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the
three months from its launching in May through July 2001.
This was $2.5 million more in total online sales for the 2000-2001
season. 400,000 registered online for season renewals for
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's 2001-02 season, and 70% of
the Dallas Symphony Orchestra online ticket buyers are new
to the orchestra. The San Francisco Symphony's online single
ticket sales for the 2000-01 season were double those for
1999-2000. The Cincinnati Symphony's online sales increased
75% for the same time frame, while the Chicago Symphony's
online sales totaled $800,000 -up from $220,000 the previous
season (Tindall, November/December 2001). The statistics in
this section exemplify the broad scope of the event entertainment
and production industry, and the delicate balance that must
be found when planning entertainment for diverse audiences.
See Tips on How to
Successfully Compete, Being a Musician, by David Rubin.
See Micki Free, this
month's featured Artist.
 Mark
Sonder, CSEP is the Chief Entertainment Officer of Mark Sonder
Productions, a leading national entertainment agency providing
headline talent and production services for large venues,
corporations and associations. In addition, Sonder sits on
the faculty of The George Washington University, Stratford
University and Northern Virginia Community College. Event
Entertainment and Production is the book published by
Wiley authored by Sonder.
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