Strong appetite for live, physical and digital, post-Covid-19

Concert fans are ready to start attending live shows again nearly as soon as lockdown restrictions are lifted – but they’ll also carry on streaming concerts online, even when it’s possible to attend the ‘real’ thing, new data shows.

While some economic indicators point to a rocky post-coronavirus recovery for the live sector, research suggests concerts will have little difficulty attracting attendees after the pandemic passes, with nearly 60% of Americans willing to attend a live event within two months, according to a survey of US consumers by MRC Data.

Additionally, 29% of respondents would attend a live event less than one month after the pandemic passes or a vaccine/treatment is available – with that number rising to 36% among Hispanic consumers specifically, and 53% among teenagers.

Human trials for a vaccine against Covid-19 are underway, with an estimated 115 vaccine candidates in development, though health experts warn there is no guarantee a cure for the disease can be developed.

53% of teens would attend a live event less than a month after the coronavirus threat passes

The MRC data comes as Bandsintown releases research of its own showing that nearly three quarters of fans (74%) say that will continue to watch live streams regularly even after live events return.

The event discovery platform, which has used livestreaming to raise funds for artists during the coronavirus outbreak, surveyed 7,000 of its users earlier this month, also discovering that nearly 40% had never watched a concert stream online before the current lockdown.

Other findings were that fans strongly prefer for artists to do live performances, with a 96% favourability over fan Q&As, interviews or fan-selected sets, reports Billboard, while 70% of respondents said they would be willing to pay for live streams in future.

Additionally, bolstering MRC’s findings in the US, more than 65% of Bandsintown users said the Covid-19 outbreak would not affect their willingness to attend public gatherings once it is over.

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