Who is the Haunted House Target Demographic?
If I had one dollar for every time a haunted house told us “our customers are older” or “our scares are too intense for teens”, I would not be writing this blog…I would be sitting on a beach counting my money!
Yes, I believe that some haunted houses do have an older demographic frequenting their attraction, but usually if the haunt is offering something in additional like alcohol, have an adult theme (think Haunted Hoochie) or a more “in-depth” storyline. If your haunted house is traditional and your customer base is a bunch of 30 & 40 somethings, chances are your attendance numbers are not great and your marketing needs some fine-tuning to tap into the most likely demo: TEENS!
Fact: ALL haunted houses attract multiple age ranges and people.
This is what I like to refer to as the “general market” (male/female 28-54). A haunted attraction is likely to be visited by their “general market” during late October weekends when the Halloween buzz is highest. However, the TEEN demo is proven to attend haunted houses on other, “non-peak” nights and they often go multiple times a season. That being said, Teenagers will buy tickets when we need to put “butts in seats”! This means during an opening weekend, or even on the last weekend of haunt season (which may fall after Halloween!) Teens and young adults LOVE haunted houses! In our experience, we believe the bullseye customers for a haunted attraction are females ages 13-19. The second-tier demo would be females ages 20-28. Yes, males in this age range like haunted houses also, but the females are more likely to coordinate with their immediate group of friends, make plans, and get an entire group to attend! To further add to this point…the males will ALWAYS go where the females are!
Let’s break it down a bit more: What is a haunted house? It’s an immersive horror themed experience. A haunt is like walking through your own, live-action horror movie! Teenagers LOVE horror movies! Still not convinced? Run through this list of horror movies:
- Friday the 13th
- Halloween
- Nightmare on Elm St.
- Cabin in the Woods
- Scream
- Carrie
- Unfriended
- The Ring
- Final Destination
- Prom Night
- I know what you did last summer
What do all of those movies have in common besides HORROR?
Every single one of those horror flicks features TEENAGERS!
Now review a list of the top 100 Teen/High School horror and slasher movies if you need more convincing:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls066972244/
How about going to your friendly neighborhood Google Search: “Who is the target audience for horror films”?
“The usual age for the target audience of a horror film is 15- 25. The most common reason for this is that young adults and teenagers enjoy thrills. These thrills are more likely to excite a younger audience rather than an older one.”
Another common thing I hear is “college kids are our demo.” Okay, so sort of, yes, college kids are in the young adult range and they are more likely to visit a haunted house than say a 30-something. However, last I checked, college students have a TON of other options like sporting events, parties, bars/clubs, not to mention a lot of them hold down part-time jobs when they are not doing schoolwork. Unless you serve Jell-O shots in-between scenes at your haunt, chances are that college-age folks are not in your main demographic. (Hmmm…actually I like this idea.)
Who doesn’t have a ton of activity options? TEENS! Who has disposable income from part-time jobs and parents? TEENS! Teenagers are always looking for something to do just to get out of the house. That is, when they don’t have their faces glued to their mobile devices. Teenagers also can’t legally drink, so we know they are not going to a bar or club, unless they have a “chick-ah, chick-ah Fake ID.” In conclusion, excluding the McLovins of the world, your best target demo for haunted attractions is…
Drum roll, please…
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TEENAGERS!
