Granny Smith Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I posted on another thread the phrase "Fan Favorite". After I typed it I got to thinking about what I had just written and what I meant by "Fan". The other night in Rockford I looked around (and this has been the case at most shows I go to in the midwest) and the majority of fans were probably about 45 and older. In my immediate vicinity there were only two people who looked like they were in their 20s. The rest were in that older demographic. In fact, every year I see so many people trying to climb the steps who look like this is the last thing to do on their bucket list before they kick it. So, when corps write shows to appeal to "the fans", what does that mean? This only intrigues me a little because most of us on here are NOT average fans. We look and listen for intricacies and nuances that most average fans do not. We know names like Gibbs, Hopkins, et al. Amuse me for a moment and take us super-dcp-sophisticates and the judges out of the equation. Imagine that the only measure of success was how much a show appealed to a stadium of average fans. What would that show look like? What music would there be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark1 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Band students, band parents, corps parents, friends, FMM's, band boosters, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCImonkey Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Granny at the shows I attend, the avg age is somewhere around 35 with TONS of band students, band teacher colleagues that I know, older types as you mentioned but mostly parents or grandparents or members. Not as many kids as I would like, but then again....maybe that's a good thing because young kids can sort of ruin the experience sometimes. Now I marched in DCM back in 98 and I agree the crowds up there are CONSIDERABLY different than around the country. I think that is because the Midwest and Northeast are just hotbeds of drumcorps and is more widely accepted outside of the "niche" group we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 DCI keeps data on this, though they don't really publish any of it anymore. Last time I saw it online was probably 10 years ago, and it showed the average age of fans at the time was right around 40. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HLDmello28 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I think there are a lot to say about where they are sitting. I think the better seats are usually full of the older crowd, but if you go to the group/discount seats, I bet it's a lot more of a younger crowd. In all, I would say it seems to be a pretty big mix, without one overwhelming majority. But, I would point out that every time I ever attend one of the broadcast in the theaters, the number of high school aged to non high school aged is atleast 3:1. I'm assuming that's because it's easier to ask the parents to drive them to the local movie theater than to drive a couple of hours to a show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 (edited) This is hardly a scientific survey, but our show Facebook page has demographic statistics of reach (as do all FB pages). Here are the data for the 90 days ending today: Female: 53%, Male: 45.5% (not sure what the other 1.5% are :-) Age bracket: 13 - 17: 2% 18 - 24: 27.1% 25 - 34: 13.9% 35 - 44: 26.4% 45 -54: 19.9% 55 - 64: 6.8% 65+: 2.4% (Interestingly, that totals only 98.5% so the other 1.5% must be below 13) There's also geographic demo data of our reach. I wonder if that fan in Pakistan bought his ticket to our show? 391 United States of America 6 Canada 4 United Kingdom 2 Brazil 2 Japan 1 Mexico 1 Pakistan 1 Ukraine 1 Russia 1 Germany 1 Turkey Edited July 18, 2012 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbandguy Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 This is hardly a scientific survey, but our show Facebook page has demographic statistics of reach (as do all FB pages). Here are the data for the 90 days ending today: Female: 53%, Male: 45.5% (not sure what the other 1.5% are :-) Age bracket: 13 - 17: 2% 18 - 24: 27.1% 25 - 34: 13.9% 35 - 44: 26.4% 45 -54: 19.9% 55 - 64: 6.8% 65+: 2.4% (Interestingly, that totals only 98.5% so the other 1.5% must be below 13) There's also geographic demo data of our reach. I wonder if that fan in Pakistan bought his ticket to our show? 391 United States of America 6 Canada 4 United Kingdom 2 Brazil 2 Japan 1 Mexico 1 Pakistan 1 Ukraine 1 Russia 1 Germany 1 Turkey I'm surprised the teen demo is so small considering they are much more into social media than those of us 50+. I've attended 5 shows so far this year. As someone pointed out, the demo changes with the price of the seat. The older folks are often the ones willing to pay the higher price for a good seat...in fact, I would have no interest in attending a show where I had to sit outside the 35s. Many band kids could really care less and are often there as part of a group rate, thus seats closer to the 20s. As for the "average" fan...I'd say it's pretty well divided between the die hards (DCP gang) and those who are there because of involvement with high school marching bands. I'd bet that finals is a pretty even split of the die hards and the families of current members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.