By Ant Rawlins, CEO
First, I’ll begin with a story. My six-year-old daughter recently started a new school. At parents’ evening, her teacher praised her for her extensive vocabulary. Naturally, my wife and I took the win. But then we asked for an example. The teacher said they were discussing the colours of the night sky. Other kids said blue, purple, black. My daughter? She raised her hand and said, “It’s the colour of obsidian.”
Impressive, right? A poetic soul. A future astronomer, perhaps.
Except… she only knows that word because it’s a mineral she collects in Minecraft. This is the world we live in. She’s six. She loves the outdoors. But digital is shaping the way she sees, understands, and interacts with the real world. And if you don’t get what that means for cultural organisations, you’re likely already behind.
The Landscape Has Changed. And It’s Not Going Back.
Costs are rising. Revenue is falling. And visitors? They’re more selective than ever. Across tourism, education, and conservation, funding is shrinking. Organisations are being pushed to become financially sustainable. But visitor numbers are down by around 10%, and I suspect they’ll drop another 2-5% this year. Why? Because consumer spending hasn’t disappeared, it’s migrated. People are still spending money. But they’re spending it on things they’ve invested in emotionally. Experiences, content, brands that mean something to them. Yet, at the same time according to latest ONS data, the average UK household is spending just 90p a week visiting cultural institutions.
90p. You read that right.
Museums, theatres, gardens, aquariums, historic sites, everything we offer, everything we preserve, everything we create. And we’re losing out to Netflix subscriptions. This isn’t an affordability problem. It’s a value problem. People are choosing experiences they feel connected to. So therefore we need to make sure that’s us.
The Digital World Won, Now It’s Looking To What We Have
Let’s be clear: Digital businesses are not the future, they won the future a decade ago. The companies thriving today are the ones that built their entire existence around digital. Netflix, Amazon, Uber, and Deliveroo, they changed consumer behaviour (yes, the pandemic might have sped things up, but it would have happened eventually). They built a culture of on-demand, one-click, frictionless experiences. And now, those same digital businesses are looking to move into the physical space too.
The announcement of Netflix House, a physical place where fans can go and experience their favourite shows in real life, is a great example of what I’m talking about. Why? Because even Netflix knows that real-world experiences build deeper connections than pixels ever could. These businesses started as disruptors. Now they want what we’ve always had: depth, authenticity, belonging via physical spaces. The question is are we evolving fast enough to compete?
What Cultural Organisations Must Do Next
Right now, too many organisations are looking at 2019 as a benchmark. But 2019 was six years ago. You may as well be comparing yourself to 1993. Society and times have changed just as much.
To thrive in this landscape, we must stop thinking like visitor organisations and start thinking like digital businesses. That doesn’t mean abandoning what makes us unique. It means amplifying it, scaling it, and making it accessible to more people than ever before.
Here’s where to start:
1. Think Like a Digital First Business
If you could only generate revenue online, what would you do? Would you create premium digital content? Build paid subscriptions via your education work? Sell virtual behind-the-scenes experiences?
One cultural attraction we know generates over £250,000 per year from YouTube ads alone. That’s the kind of thinking we need. They shouldn’t be the outlier or the exception, we need to follow their lead. Build your digital platforms.
2. Go Beyond Memberships, Build Digital Communities
Traditional memberships are in decline. The National Trust reported they lost 150,000 members last year. With other large membership organisations seeing decline in their memberships too.
But digital communities? They’re growing exponentially. People want to feel connected to brands they believe in. They want behind-the-scenes insights. They want meaningful engagement with your team and ethos. Every visitor who walks through your doors should be part of your digital community. Not a member, an advocate, a part of your digital community. Ensure you convert as many as possible to this.
3. Monetise Engagement, Not Just Tickets
Too many organisations rely on footfall alone. Of course, the first step we help our clients with is to build visitor numbers, and fast. But what about the people who can’t visit you in person? They still care. They still want to support you.
Chester Zoo raised over £1,000,000 in 24 hours from its online community when lockdown struck. Imagine if every cultural organisation had that level of connection with its audience that would show up for you when you needed it. The audiences you build through your digital culture will likely look to support you when times are tough. When you launch a fundraising campaign, or a new range in your online shop. Build engagement, then revenue.
Where does this leave us?
The future belongs to those who adapt. The world has changed, and it’s not going back. Digital businesses like Netflix are evolving into experience businesses because they have to. Our response must be the opposite, we must evolve into digital brands. We have something they don’t, real stories, real places, real experiences. But we need to meet audiences where they are. We need to think digitally, act strategically, and embrace the culture of digital just as much as we embrace the digitalisation of culture.
When the next shift of culture arrives, will you be watching from the sidelines? Or will you be leading the way? The choice is yours.
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