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Reaching Audiences You're Currently Losing
Your work is good enough. People want to experience it. So why aren't they there?
Not every empty seat is a marketing problem. Some of your audience can't get to you — not because they don't care, but because live theatre at 7:30pm on a Tuesday simply doesn't fit their life. Rural communities too far to justify the journey. Disabled audiences navigating public transport that wasn't built for them. Shift workers. Carers. Young people who consume culture on their commute and have never thought of regional theatre as something that exists for them.
In this episode, Barry Robertson gets specific about who those audiences are, why audio theatre reaches them when nothing else does, and why serving them is both the right thing to do and smart business.
Drawing on pilot project data from the Gaiety in Ayr and years of sector experience, Barry unpacks:
- The five audience groups regional theatres are currently failing to reach — and why
- Why only 3 in 10 UK theatres list access services online, and what that signals
- Why audio removes physical, scheduling, and economic barriers in ways video never can
- How digital access acts as a stepping stone to live attendance — not a replacement for it
- Why venues already recording their shows are sitting on untapped revenue
- The business case: new income streams, risk diversification, and stronger funding applications
- Why choosing local audio theatre over a streaming platform is the cultural equivalent of shopping independent — and why audiences already understand that instinct
This episode is for artistic directors, CEOs, and producers who believe access is a value — and want to understand how to act on it without giving their work away for free.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction02:00 – The Audiences You're Missing06:00 – Why Audio Is Uniquely Accessible10:00 – A Stepping Stone, Not a Substitute12:00 – If You're Already Recording16:00 – The Business Case19:00 – Where the Money Goes23:00 – What This Enables for Venues25:00 – On the next episode
Podcast links:
- The Grey Hill Website
- Barry Robertson LinkedIn
Music by https://www.bensound.com | License code: 0YZPRSAEYDVUNFSE | Artist: Benjamin Tissot
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By The Grey HillYour work is good enough. People want to experience it. So why aren't they there?
Not every empty seat is a marketing problem. Some of your audience can't get to you — not because they don't care, but because live theatre at 7:30pm on a Tuesday simply doesn't fit their life. Rural communities too far to justify the journey. Disabled audiences navigating public transport that wasn't built for them. Shift workers. Carers. Young people who consume culture on their commute and have never thought of regional theatre as something that exists for them.
In this episode, Barry Robertson gets specific about who those audiences are, why audio theatre reaches them when nothing else does, and why serving them is both the right thing to do and smart business.
Drawing on pilot project data from the Gaiety in Ayr and years of sector experience, Barry unpacks:
- The five audience groups regional theatres are currently failing to reach — and why
- Why only 3 in 10 UK theatres list access services online, and what that signals
- Why audio removes physical, scheduling, and economic barriers in ways video never can
- How digital access acts as a stepping stone to live attendance — not a replacement for it
- Why venues already recording their shows are sitting on untapped revenue
- The business case: new income streams, risk diversification, and stronger funding applications
- Why choosing local audio theatre over a streaming platform is the cultural equivalent of shopping independent — and why audiences already understand that instinct
This episode is for artistic directors, CEOs, and producers who believe access is a value — and want to understand how to act on it without giving their work away for free.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction02:00 – The Audiences You're Missing06:00 – Why Audio Is Uniquely Accessible10:00 – A Stepping Stone, Not a Substitute12:00 – If You're Already Recording16:00 – The Business Case19:00 – Where the Money Goes23:00 – What This Enables for Venues25:00 – On the next episode
Podcast links:
- The Grey Hill Website
- Barry Robertson LinkedIn
Music by https://www.bensound.com | License code: 0YZPRSAEYDVUNFSE | Artist: Benjamin Tissot