QUEENSLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE ANNUAL REPORT ...

QUEENSLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE
Commercial Opportunities
Deliver integrated commercial services that meet the highest industry standards.
QPAC operates in a fl uctuating market and depends on a strong commercial musical theatre sector to ensure fi nancial
sustainability. Approximately one-fi fth of QPAC’s annual revenue is derived from government grants and uniquely among our
Cultural Centre neighbours, functions in a commercial environment, operating seven different revenue producing business
units. In seeking commercial opportunities, QPAC strives to deliver integrated services to audiences, hirers and partners in
order to exceed industry standards and achieve mutually benefi cial outcomes.
Entrepreneurial activity
In pursuing long term fi nancial sustainability QPAC balances innovation, experimentation and risk. 70% of QPAC’s business
streams are profi t generating, deriving income primarily from venue rental, investments, food and beverage services and
ticketing operations.
Full service model
In 2011-12 QPAC’s website continued to improve accessibility for patrons. Purchasing tickets through the QPAC website
continues to attract the most patrons with 78% of single ticket sales going through the website. QPACs new mobile site was
launched in September 2011 and a new sophisticated white label ticketing solution is available for events not held within the
QPAC venues.
A recent upgrade has enabled patrons to integrate ticket purchases with food and beverage packages and parking options via
the QPAC website.
The website upgrade also allowed for better integration between the QPAC website and social media. Patrons can post their
ticket purchases to their social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) to alert friends and followers to what they are attending.
From December 2011 patrons are also able to post reviews to QPAC’s website and Facebook pages. This allows for faster word
of mouth early in seasons which has a correlative effect on infl uencing other people to book tickets.
New dynamic content in booking confi rmation emails has allowed QPAC to tailor complimentary messages specifi c to
bookings, and to follow up with suggestions for other performances afterwards.
The print@home function on the QPAC website continues to be used and saves on cost of printed tickets. Patrons can now
also reprint tickets using the QPAC website’s ‘My Account’ function which also allows patrons to view upcoming and past
bookings, view booking details and share events on social media.
Enhanced real time reporting dashboards allow QPAC and promoters to view tickets sales live on their PC, tablet device or
smart phone.
Of people who attended performances at QPAC 75% made an additional purchase whilst at the Centre. This includes
merchandise for shows, drinks and dinner at QPAC outlets.
Ticketing
QPAC is recognised as owning and operating one of the most advanced ticketing systems in the Asia Pacifi c – qtix. This
high quality, data-rich ticketing service contributes to the overall success and international reputation of QPAC as a premier
performing arts centre.
qtix, with its strong focus on audience profi ling and segmentation provides superior ticketing services not only to QPAC but
also to the broader industry. It offers ticket sales through multiple channels – internet, phone, mail, outlets and box offi ce.
qtix continues to develop its service this year introducing its white label sales and website offering to external clients, barcode
scanning, mobile tickets and customer real time reporting portals.
qtix clients range from large commercial producers to small local organisations and host events both at QPAC and in venues
around Brisbane. In 2011-12 qtix provided services to organisations, including Queensland Art Gallery/GoMA, State Library of
Queensland, Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival, Brisbane Festival, Delectable Food Festival and the Brisbane Writers Festival.
In 2011-12 qtix issued 1,016,991 tickets to events that took place during the fi nancial year, an increase of 19% on the previous
year. Of these, 800,430 tickets were to performances at QPAC and an additional 102,476 to performances in other venues.
Actual ticket sales (including events which will take place during the next fi nancial year) were 1,157,165. External venue and
events paid ticket sales accounted for 17% of total sales in 2011-12.
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