Royal Opera House: Streaming success for London icon as it battles to ‘fortify’ finances

London’s Royal Opera House returned to the black after its box office takings jumped and its streaming platform surged in popularity.

The historic Covent Garden icon staged 412 performances across its main stage and Linbury Theatre in the year to August 27, 2023, up from 365, while the number of tickets sold rose from 543,953 to 624,96.

Newly-filed documents with Companies House also outlined that the Royal Opera House put on 22 new productions, a rise from 11, while it racked up 142,576 views of 279 pieces of content on the Royal Opera House Stream, up from more than 60,000.

Owned by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, the venue’s box office receipts grew from £39.6m to £52.6m while its commercial income went from £24.3m to £46m.

However, the amount the Royal Opera House received from fundraising and sponsorship fell from £42.8m to £37.6m but its investment income rose from £800,000 to £3.1m.

Overall, the Royal Opera House’s total income in the year increased from £128.9m to £170.6m while it made a net income of £15.9m after making a loss of £4.2m in the prior 12 months.

Cost of living crisis bites

Chair Sir Lloyd Dorfman said: “Whilst the catastrophic closure of the house in the face of the pandemic was put behind us in the 2022/23 season, the repercussions of that period were still being felt and were exacerbated by broader economic and other challenges.

“The costs of running our theatres have surged in the wake of the cost of living crisis that has impacted our entire industry as it has the whole economy.

“This has come alongside a significant real-term cut to our Arts Council England grant and the ever-more pressing need for capital investment in our ageing back-of-house infrastructure.

“It was a significant achievement to negotiate these challenges in the short term and the determination, resilience and creativity demonstrated by this institution will stand us in good stead as we work to secure longer-term stability.”

Royal Opera House ‘braced for a testing future’

Sir Lloyd added: “In looking to the future, we have embarked on a series of initiatives to ensure the financial security of the Royal Opera House in the longer term.

“We have focused on growing fundraising revenues, maximising box office income and cultivating new commercial partnerships.

“The goal is to fortify our financial foundation and guarantee the continuity of this extraordinary artistic enterprise in the face of the many challenges that lie ahead.

“The progress we have made so far in these areas has been encouraging, but we are well aware this is not a single season project and we are making sure we are braced for a testing future.”