Alternative Modes of Arts Participation Survey Highlights – Film and Media Arts

Hong Kong Arts Development Council commissioned a research consultancy to study the public perceptions of and behaviours on alternative modes of arts participation during COVID-19, in particular being the audience via alternative channels such as social media, paid video-on-demand platforms, and TV / radio broadcast. An online survey was conducted in January 2021 on a random sample of 1,500 Hong Kong citizens aged 16-64. Full report of the survey has been published here. The following is a summary of findings on the Film and Media Arts section.

1	Changes in Overall Participation Incidence
	1.1	For Film and Media Arts, the scope of the study only covered the respondents’ participation as audience in film festivals and other featured screening events, and their watching of documentaries, independent (short) films, and other works of media arts. Watching of commercial films was excluded.
	1.2	Participation in Film and Media Arts programmes dropped from 45% in 2018-2019 to 35% during COVID-19. (See the left of the chart below)
	1.3	Of the 1,500 respondents, 73% had at some point participated in Film and Media Arts programmes as audience. 24% of the respondents were Retaining Participants, who were not influenced by COVID-19 and had participated in all time periods. (See the right of the chart below)
	1.4	Despite 17% of the respondents having lapsed since the COVID-19 outbreak, 5% resumed participation in Film and Media Arts programmes during the epidemic. (See the right of the chart below)
	1.5	During COVID-19, respondents aged 25-34 (46% were Film and Media Arts audience) and married persons having children under the age of 18 (44% were Film and Media Arts audience) were more active in watching Film and Media Arts programmes or participating in other kinds of activities related to Film and Media Arts.
2	Physical-mode and Alternative-mode Participation and Future Potential
	2.1	The percentage of audience participation in Film and Media Arts programmes via alternative modes grew from 72% in 2018-2019 to 93% during COVID-19. The main channels were social media platforms, TV/radio broadcast and paid video-on-demand platforms. (See the right of the chart below)
	2.2	Compared to physical-mode participation before the epidemic, alternative-mode participation in Film and Media Arts programmes during COVID-19 was more frequent. (From the left of the chart below, in 2018-2019, 12% of physical-mode participants participated once every 2 weeks or more; whereas during COVID-19, 41% of alternative-mode participants participated once every 2 weeks or more.)
	2.3	During COVID-19, 30% of participants were willing to pay for alternative-mode Film and Media Arts programmes. (See the left of the chart below)
	2.4	Participation rate in local Film and Media Arts programmes during COVID-19 was slightly higher than that before the epidemic. (52%, see the left of the chart below)
	2.5	While the respective participation incidences in Film and Media Arts programmes during COVID-19 were similar for men and women, the latter were more frequent participants in alternative-mode programmes.
	2.6	Compared to the situation before the epidemic (i.e. in 2018-2019) where physical-mode participation by women was primarily in paid programmes (68%), women participated mostly in free programmes (71%) via alternative modes during COVID-19, making a more marked behavioural change than men did.
	2.7	Three quarters of the respondents expressed interest in watching Film and Media Arts programmes at post-COVID-19 period, higher than the actual participation incidence (52%) in Jan 2018 - Jan 2021. The potential participants expressed similar levels of interest towards physical- and alternative-mode participation. (See the chart below)
3	Potential Participants
	3.1	75% of all respondents expressed interest in Film and Media Arts programmes at post-COVID-19 period. From the chart below, it could be seen that the sample of potential participants (the right column) and that of Film and Media Arts programme audience from Jan 2018 to Jan 2021 (the middle column) were both skewed towards young adults aged 25-34 and married persons having children under the age of 18. They generally had higher educational attainment and household income. (See the chart below)
	3.2	Married persons having children under the age of 18 preferred physical-mode participation (51%) in Film and Media Arts programmes to alternative-mode participation (42%). Although married persons with children were relatively willing to pay for alternative-mode programmes, their acceptable price level was lower than that of working singles. (See the chart below)
	3.3	Among the potential participants of Film and Media Arts programmes at post-COVID-19 period, 22% had been stable participants of such programmes before 2018. Compared to other potential participants, these stable participants were more inclined to consider alternative-mode participation only when physical attendance was not possible. They were also relatively more willing to pay a higher price for alternative-mode programmes.
	3.4	Nearly 60% of potential participants at post-COVID-19 period did not watch any Film and Media Arts programmes at the moment (i.e. they were Lapsed Participants or Non-participants), primarily because they had not received information on the arts programmes (see the chart below). Therefore, to attract these potential participants, more effective communication channels, such as social media platforms, ads on mobile apps or websites, and emails, should be used to disseminate programme information.
Click here to download the full analysis on the Film and Media Arts section.