OrlandoContraAlum Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) Quick drive-by thought regarding attendance: Many have said that the crowds have been strong recently (I'm looking at you MikeD ) What I would be interested to know (and I doubt that DCI has a mechanism to track this) is what is the retainage rate is. When I worked in web design, the big two big stats were "unique visitors" (how many "new" people came to your site) and "return visitors" (how many people came BACK to your site) While bringing new fans to the activity is certainly good and important, it is the returning fan that is MORE important. There are many, many avenues for bringing in the new fan. Band directors can bring their bands to a show, guaranteeing new fan exposure every year (incoming freshman). New corps parents / friends can attend shows. This is all good, and I am sure this is what the BOD has in mind when they talk about expanding the fan base. However, the true target is to get at least a portion of those new fans to come back every year. And if these new proposals do so, well, then kudos to the BOD. I would be interested to see how the ratio of "new" retained fans will keep up with the loss of some of the more established (read: multiple year returning) fans. I am not one of the folks that thinks that the "legacy" fans will leave in droves over this new rule, but I do think that a LOT of them will take a wait-and-see approach. I know that I will. I will go to at least one show in '09. I will not make judgement until after the 09 season (which may still be too early, as I don't know how many corps will make electronics integral to their shows in the first year). However, and you can see this on this very board (which is admittedly a very small representation of the overall fan base, but I think more indicative of the "retained" fan base) that there are those who have already "left". At the end of the day, if the product is no longer something that I, personally, enjoy then I will simply fade off into the distance, willingly giving up my seat at a show to one of the "new" fans. And hopefully, they can get addicted, as I did upon hearing my first show 24 years ago. Edited January 28, 2008 by OrlandoContraAlum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsFan27 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 i don't have hard numbers in front of me, but my understanding is that attendance figures peaked in the mid-90's, and have declined since. if someone has a good source to either validate or disprove that, please let me know. i'm not trying to stomp on anyone here, just repeating something i've heard but can't codify. i believe that though, because dci has cancelled this years espn broadcast for financial concerns. while member corps aren't shutting their doors in panic, and are actually willing to spend more money on travelling electronics suites, i think that the state of this activity has to be questioned, seriously, by any and all who are concerned with its future prospects for baseline survival in any form.this has certainly gotten peoples attention here tonight, at least, i just read through 13 pages of posts, and every time i clicked next page another page had opened, thought i'd never get caught up! Numbers actually peaked in the mid '80s and nose dived into the mid '90s. There has been some rebound since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsFan27 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Being part of the whole pushing toward a common goal created the bond, not the 'hardware'. Mike, usually I respect what you have to say, but you don't get to tell me or the people I was with what bonded us. Being part of something unique, that broke stereotypes bonded us. That's a fact. I was there, you weren't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsFan27 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Except that is just what you want...to have it your way, the heck with anyone else. Any different from you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Any different from you? If I "got" what I wanted there would be WW already in drum corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAMystreaux Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Any different from you? You are the one who brought that thought to the argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 i wish i could see that chart, particularly to see how far back it goes. i remember an interview in dci today within the last year where one of the members of the board of directors was quoted as saying they felt that they had turned the corner on attendance, and were moving back towards the peaks from the mid 90's. i wish i could remember the specific article and link it here, but it seems that even if attendance has grown incrementally in recent years it isn't at an all time high. also, and i hate to repeat myself, but this is a really big deal, dci cancelled this years broadcast for financial reasons. that is not the action of a healthy activity experiencing audience growth. i'd also be interested to see some of the financials. does anyone know where dci publishes their books? i have always assumed they were registered as a nonprofit, and as such would be required to carry open books, but honestly i don't know. i wonder just how sound the footing of the organization is, and what choices they made in terms of what to keep while cancelling those broadcasts. i'm sure they are expensive, but still, to remove your best annual opportunity to put your product in front of a million member audience should be the last step before locking the doors and calling it quits. for an entertainment entity to stop its biggest source of marketing, well, thats a major step in a down at best. i know a lot of people in these posts, by way of supporting the corps, are saying that the activity is fine and we should trust the directors to make changes that are in everyones best interest, but i think that the "everythings fine" attitude is very questionable, in light of the tangible financial results we're starting to see. and no one outside of the board of the directors has any idea how deep the problems lie, or has any way of forecasting even as an educated guess where this is all going. all we know for sure is that we have some mixed messages on attendance, something that is definitely worth a second look, and that the financial situation of the umbrella organization is much worse than was publicly assumed as little as a few weeks ago. I'm sure they would have preferred to keep the broadcast, but if the 500K production cost someone mentioned is true...that is a lot of money to try and get back through commercials. Esp in an economy as iffy as this. Bear in mind they do the 1/4-final theater broadcast and semis on the web. Those I would think get a decent bang for the invested buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 DCI released their national attendance numbers a couple of years ago, and there was also a chart showing champs attendance. So you don't have the numbers? Quantify your position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburstall Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I dont see anything wrong with that. Grand Nationals for the past 3 years have been some of the most amazing performances I've seen out of any marching unit period Of those who go to GN, how many are mom and dad vs. fans? I've been to one MSBA championship, I would say that 90% of the audiance changed with each flight change. But then I haven't been to an GN to know what the breakdown of the audience is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 So you don't have the numbers? Quantify your position. No. I told you what was released by DCI. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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