Last year’s SGAE yearbook confirms that health constraints were the key players in an exercise that saw activity grow by 40% and audience and collection by 50% compared to 2020
Juan José Solana, president of the SGAE Foundation, already says in the presentation of the ‘SGAE 2022 Yearbook of Performing, Musical and Audiovisual Arts’, focusing on the figures and consumption habits of 2021, that the report “continues to reflect the closing perimeters, limited capacity , last minute cancellations after the relevant tests or travel restrictions. That’s right. The 416-page study draws a clear conclusion that the sector has resumed operations after the pandemic, with an average of 41.5% more live shows and 45% more film sessions, 56% more audience and 52% more revenue than in 2020.
However, the indicators around the more than 111,000 live shows and nearly 2.38 million film sessions analyzed are still a long way from those of 2019, when the sector’s recovery appeared to be consolidating after the long crisis that began in 2008: the security policy to be adopted in 2021. regional governments – such as capacity restrictions and perimeter restrictions – have resulted in a 33% loss in the number of functions (which reaches almost 40% when we talk about cinema); 62% of the public and an average of 60.5% in terms of collection. Only the video games and recorded music sector, with increases of 21.4 and 15% respectively, maintains the positive trend of recent years.
The data was presented this morning at a press conference at the headquarters of the General Society of Authors and Publishers in Madrid. 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, also participated.
In the field of popular live music, penalized by capacity constraints, if we compare the indicators of 2021 with those of 2020, we find a 40% increase in the number of concerts – there were 64,682 concerts, 18,476 more than in 2020 – from 59 .4% attendees -11.77 million people visited 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 from 2019-. When the data is compared with that of 2019, there are still notable differences. Between the two years we find 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, there was also an increase in the three indicators: 38.8% in the number of concerts, 45.2% in the number of spectators and 38.8% in turnover. But this does not mean that recovery to pre-pandemic values has not yet been achieved. In reality, compared to the 2019 data, a decrease is visible in all cases, with a decrease of 36.1% in supply, 69.3% in attendance and 64.7% in collection. Interestingly, in 2019, the collection exceeded the 45.29 million euros of 2008, with 47.66 million euros. “Activity is recovering and the decline was not as dramatic compared to the previous year,” said Rubén Gutiérrez, director of the SGAE Foundation, stating that “there is still a long way to go” to 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 became 61.8% – collected almost 107 million euros from ticket sales, compared to the data for 2020. If we nevertheless compare the rates obtained with those of 2019, the year before the pandemic, we find a negative evolution, with decreases of 28% in the offer, 59.5% in viewership and 55.2% in revenue.
Likewise, the data confirms that theater will once again be the leading performing arts discipline for another year, with 94% of performances, 90% of the audience and 89% of the collection. Dance, on the other hand, only booked 4.2% of the performances, 7.2% of the attendance and 4.7% of the turnover. Finally, the lyrical genre (opera and zarzuela) is the discipline with the least offer and spectators, although it exceeds the dance in revenue, with 6.8 million euros raised from ticket sales, compared to 4.9 million euros raised by the dance is retrieved. Opera and zarzuela performances had a relative weight of 1.4% in 2021, spectators accounted for 3.1% and turnover was 6.4%.
In the field of live popular music, he is confronted with similar data. If we compare the indicators of 2021 with those of 2020, we see an increase in the number of concerts of 40%, from 59.4% in attendance and 49.5% in collection, increases in the figures containing data from macro festivals. When the data is compared with that of 2019, there are still notable differences. Between the two years we find losses of 29% in the number of concerts held, 58.3% in the number of attendees and 62.1% in revenue.
Recorded music in 2021 maintained the growing trend around the world. According to data from Promusicae, the digital market in Spain collects 82.6% of the total sales, bringing 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 in, a figure that is an increase of 15.4%. In absolute figures, streaming (including not only subscriptions but also income from advertising in this medium) generated a turnover of 297.45 million euros in Spain. With regard to the physical market, it is necessary to emphasize the growth in vinyl sales of EUR 5.46 million, although the CD remains the majority. The turnover reaches 63 million euros.
In the cinema, the data reflects a situation similar to that of the live arts. In 2021, compared to 2020 data, there will be a 44.9% increase in scheduled sessions, 55.4% in viewership and 56.6% in revenue. However, if the comparison compares the numbers to 2019, the results are quite different: declines of 38.3% are observed in the sessions offered, 60.7% in attendance and 59.5% in collection. The average cinema visit per inhabitant remains only once a year: only Madrid (at 1.28) and Catalonia (at 1.01) exceed the state average.
Television consumption continues the trend of recent years and deviates from the path taken in 2020, when consumption increased due to the health restrictions of the autonomous communities. Contrary to what happened last year, in 2021 there will be a sharp decline in average television consumption per person per day. It goes from 231 minutes per day to 205, which represents a drop in the last year of 26 minutes. Despite this, television advertising revenue increased by 8.3% from 2020, although it decreased by 11.6% from 2019 figures.
In 2021, the percentages of Spanish households with a subscription to video platforms will rise again. Netflix leads subscriptions at 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 bigger increase than in the previous case, 13.8 points more. Movistar+ remains in third place, reaching 20.7% of Spanish subscribed households and gaining three points compared to the 2020 value. For example, more than half of the Spanish population watched 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 fell again to 54.6%, 1 point less than a year earlier. Terrestrial advertising revenues are up 10.8% this year compared to the previous year, but as with television, they are falling short of 2019 numbers and are 14.6% lower than before the pandemic.
Finally, according to the AEVI analysis of 2021 in Spain, the video game sector has raised 1,795 million euros, 2.7% more than a year earlier. Of these, 913 were for online sales, which represents a decrease of 4.6%, and the remaining 882 million euros corresponds to the physical market, 11.7% more than a year earlier. The video game industry, unlike the rest of the disciplines analysed, is the only one to surpass the consumption data for 2019 with a sales increase of 21.4%.
The yearbook also briefly mentions the period of uncertainty started by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis. “These are turbulent times when culture and the arts are once again needed more than ever,” said Solana, who proposes that the report serve as a tool to “develop decisive policies to promote an industry that, in addition to its massive impact on the prosperity economy and its high capacity to generate qualified employment is essential for creating a cohesive, diverse, critical society with humanistic values”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
