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Average rate of attendance

What does this mean?

The mean number of times a typical user visits or attends an arts facility over a particular period (for instance, a month or 12 months). Hence this is a basic measure of the typical frequency of attendance (e.g. twice a year).

This is calculated by working out:

Total number of attendances made over the period in question / Total number of people making those attendances

That is, the total number of visits made by all attenders during the period being looked at, and then dividing this total by the number of people whose attendances have been included in the total.

Since this is a rate of attendance it would be expressed in the form ‘X times a year’ or ‘X visits per year’. See below.

How did we get this definition?

This is a commonly used measure of the typical frequency with which members of an organisation’s audience tend to attend. It is found by working out:

Total number of attendances made over the period in question / Total number of people making these attendances

Related and similar definitions

Although it may not be possible to distinguish between bookers and associates here, by dealing with totals the above formula allows the average rate of attendance to be worked out on a ‘top down’, ‘aggregated’ and ‘overall’ basis.

If a ticketing system is available the relevant data and its analysis should be available as a matter of course. However facilities without such resources could get the required data from their manual records. In both cases, the rate found through calculation can be checked by using a survey that asked people ‘how often on average they came’ to the facility in question.

When to use

Use when a summary measure of the frequency of attendance – and thus of attender activity and loyalty – is required.

Formulae & Worked Examples

Total number of attendances made over the period in question / Total number of people making these attendances

For example, say: the period in question is a calendar year (i.e. 12 months) the total number of attendances made in that year is 2,600 that during this year the total of number of attenders is 1,000

Then the average (mean) rate of attendance of these people during the given period is: 2,600 / 1,000 = 2.6 times per year.