The Music Festival 2014 Pre-Season report received answers from 1,063 online respondents, with 514 attending at least one festival in the last five years.
It showed 35% of all survey respondents felt music festivals had become too expensive. Only 11% considered festivals as great value for money. One third of past festival goers are also not planning to attend one this year.
For many, the festival experience could be improved upon, with 29% of those who have attended a festival in the last five years said they had a very good experience at the last festival attended. However, 39% described their last experience as 'good', a quarter said it was 'satisfactory', 4% said it was 'poor', and 3% said it was 'very poor'.
Festival goers do have a number of grievances which could explain this, with 28% feeling festivals have become too corporate. Festival attendees also said there are too many festivals with the same acts doing the rounds (14%), and 11% revealed they are becoming bored with festivals.
In terms of logistics, over half said they love festivals but hate the toilets (53%), and more than one third (36%) believed festivals were becoming over-crowded with too much queuing. Almost one in five (19%) said there was too much laddish behaviour, while 13% explained they have had a problem with drug use by other people at festivals.
James McCoy, research director at YouGov, said: ‘"The report shows that while demand for music festivals has remained high, it will be interesting to see which events survive pressure on disposable income as the market becomes increasingly saturated.
"The challenge for festivals organisers is to act upon the grievances of festival goers, in order to provide an experience that is value for money, enjoyable and likely to result in return visits.''
Comment below to let us know what you think.
For more in-depth and print-only features, showcases and interviews with world-leading brands, don't miss the next issue of Event magazine by .