Roger Tomlinson: Measuring An Audience? But What Are You Measuring?

“I have been a champion of audience data for a long time. I conducted my first year-long audience survey at the Vic in Stoke on Trent in 1969, supervised by Keele University. I have been commissioning research surveys for over 40 years and the Arts Council published my book ‘Boxing Clever’ on turning data into audiences in 1993… So, I ought to be welcoming the concept of quality metrics and what Culture Counts proposes to deliver for Arts Council England… But I am left with a lot of uneasy questions, mostly methodological.”