Analysis: Free and paid admissions are two different things

WHEN it comes to measuring audiences, there is no international standard or strict criteria as such.

However, it is pretty normal practice with major international events to make a clear distinction between paid admissions and audiences who are taking in free events.

When you are measuring the economic impact of an event, it is usually the ticket-buying audience that is counted.

If they are not buying a ticket then you cannot really say how much they are putting into that particular event. However it is also pretty normal to try to work out how many people are attending events but not buying a ticket, as has happened with a lot of events at Edinburgh's Hogmanay.

There is no way of actually knowing how many people are attending free events unless they are counted at each venue and it is also impossible to tell how much these people are generating.

You have to be very careful when you are comparing actual ticket sales with economic impact as they are not the same thing.

l Professor Joe Goldblatt is executive director of the International Centre for the Study of Planned Events and a professor at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.