February 8th, 2023, Kineree Shah
Most Britons engage in some kind of gift-buying activity during the holiday season. In a recent YouGov survey, we asked what types of presents people bought and discovered a significant proportion purchased tickets (10%), while food/drink (44%) topped the list, closely followed by clothes/shoes (42%).
Data from YouGov Profiles indicates that year-on-year there has been an increase in the proportion of people who have bought tickets for experiences or events as Christmas presents – 4% in 2020, 9% in 2021 and 10% in 2022. For marketers and brands looking to pitch their products or services to this group, we look at the habits and behaviours of these consumers.
Looking at the demographics of this subset, our data reveals that the largest group by age is those aged 55+, who make up a third of ticket-givers (34%) but the idea of ticket giving seems to be relatively popular across all age groups. Purchasers are split 60%/40% female to male.
Our latest data shows that the majority of ticket buyers (31%) come from the AB social grade, which is comprised of the highest income earners in the market. This is closely followed by the C1 social grade (32%) who also make up a significant portion of ticket buyers.
Next, let’s look at the social media consumption among consumers who purchased tickets as Christmas gifts in December 2022. This target group is more likely than the general population to use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat.
Facebook was the most popular social network among ticket buyers, with three quarters (76%) having used it in the previous month. Instagram was used by half of these consumers (50%) while two in five used YouTube (41%). Twitter was used by more than a third of consumers from the target group (35%). Pinterest and Reddit had the least usage among these social networks (13% and 9% respectively).
What type of social media content appeals to this subset? Images were the most attention-grabbing format, with nearly a quarter of consumers finding them engaging (24%). Short form video, gifs and memes, and quizzes and polls were similarly attention-grabbing to about a fifth of consumers (17-18%). Interactive content (17%), how-to guides (17%), apps (15%), podcasts (15%), and articles (13%) had similar levels of engagement (17%).
Consumers who bought tickets as presents for Christmas are more likely than the general public to recommend theatre shows to friends/ family (53% vs. 37%) and stay up to date with theatre news (46% vs. 32%). They are also more likely to consider themselves financially secure (62% vs. 56%) and less likely to use ad blockers when surfing the internet (28% vs. 34%) as compared to all British adults.
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Methodology
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for the UK is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.