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Cinema audiences: Attendance patterns

Percentage of people who had been to the cinema in the last 12 months, and average number of visits, 1974–2007

The proportion of Australians attending the cinema at least once a year has averaged 70 per cent since 2000, with an average of about eight visits per year. After last reaching a high of 72 per cent in 2004, the attendance rate has fallen each year to 67 per cent in 2007. The frequency of attendance also fell slightly during this time, from 7.8 visits per year in 2004 to 7.2 in 2007.

The drop in both attendance rates and frequency in the mid-1980s is usually attributed to the upsurge in video hire in Australia from 1982. Attendance levels were at their lowest overall in 1986 – the lowest year for the over-50s; other age groups bottomed out in 1984. Frequency of attendance fell sharply in 1984 (in 1982 among the under-25s and in 1984 for all other age groups) but had recovered by 1988. Attendance rates are now on par with, or higher than, rates before the mid-80s slump; however, the frequency of visits is not.

See Cinema audiences: Attendance patterns by age.

Attendance
(% been to the cinema in the last 12 months)

Frequency
(average no. visits per year)

Graph: Percentage of people who had been to the cinema in the last 12 months, 1974-2007. The table following provides the data.

Graph: People who had been to the cinema in the last 12 months, average number of visits, 1974-2007. The table following provides the data.

Next update April 2009

	1974	1976	1978	1980	1982	1984	1986
Attendance (% been to the cinema in the last 12 months)	64%	63%	66%	67%	67%	58%	53%
Frequency (average no. times)	10.5	8.9	10.2	9.5	9.1	5.2	7.4

	1988	1990	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000
Attendance (% been to the cinema in the last 12 months)	57%	59%	63%	67%	72%	72%	70%
Frequency (average no. times)	10.8	10.8	10.6	10.7	11.3	8.3	8.4

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Attendance (% been to the cinema in the last 12 months)	70%	72%	71%	72%	69%	68%	67%
Frequency (average no. times)	8.5	8.3	8.2	7.8	7.6	7.5	7.2

Source: Val Morgan & Co (Aust) Pty Ltd/Roy Morgan Research Centre, © Val Morgan & Co (Aust) Pty Ltd. Data may only be reproduced with permission.

Notes:
Average annual frequency figures are estimates, based on data for frequency of attendance over a three-month period. The method for calculating annual estimates was adjusted between 1996 and 1998.