I know I’m a little late to the party, but I just saw the Fringe programme for the first time today. (Had to send off for it, having not seen one in my brief visit to Edinburgh on Friday, and there being none to be found in Glasgow).
And one thing immediately struck me: where are the ads for comedy shows? Was it my imagination or are there way fewer than there used to be?
This year, 2024, comedy takes up 127 pages of the programme, of which 55 quarter-page spaces are ads for comedy shows.
In 2022 comedy took up 111 pages, of which 73 quarter-pages were ads. And 2019 (the last time I bought an ad myself) comedy took up 145 pages, of which 82 quarter-pages were ads.
I go back to the 2016 prog and it has 131 pages of comedy, almost the same as this year, but there’s a whopping 123 quarter-pages of ads. Two and a half times as many adverts as this year. That’s a lot of ad revenue to lose in 8 years.
So it’s a slow dwindling, but it seems pretty inexorable. Is it that the printed programme doesn’t matter so much? Is it that the size of act and agent that used to splash out on ads comes up in smaller numbers? Any ideas?
Elise replies: The bottom has fallen out of print advertising in general without taking into account cost versus benefit of Edinburgh marketing budgeting.
Fats: Probably stating the obvious, but many acts/agents may see print as superfluous and dispensable, given they can target potential customers more directly and economically online. Younger generations ('digital natives') may perceive print as quaint or, being unaccustomed to the medium, simply not contemplate or even think of it as a vehicle.
Matt: That would be my thought. As a basic cost/benefit analysis, does it bring in more in sales than it costs? And does it let the industry people know of your existence better than a well-placed billboard or a viral Reel?
If the answer to both is no, then what's the point?
Dave Gorman: If you didn’t see a programme when you were in Edinburgh and there were none to be found in Glasgow either, doesn’t that sort of answer the question?
My Books and where to get them:
Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones
Findlay Macbeth - Amazon - Etsy
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team - Amazon - Etsy
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team - Amazon - Etsy
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback
Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble
Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon
Captain Clevedon - Amazon
Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon
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