What moved (Aug '25 – Jul '26)
| Metric | Aug 2025 → Jul 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | 66% → 71% | +5pp |
| Consideration | 48% → 55% | +7pp |
| Preference | 23% → 26% | +3pp |
What's behind the growth
The National Theatre has been building its brand across digital reach, star casting and national access all at once. In early 2025, it released a fundraising film for its 'Stories Start Here' capital campaign, narrated by Olivia Colman — part of a push to raise £125 million for building upgrades and highlight its charitable impact worldwide.
Around the same time, National Theatre Live backed its first brand campaign in recent years, 'The Best Seat in the House', starring Benedict Cumberbatch, with paid and organic social, out-of-home, VOD cutdowns and print, aimed at growing audiences for its cinema screenings.
It's kept building since: streaming The Importance of Being Earnest free worldwide on YouTube in March 2026, the latest in its Take Your Seats initiative (over 345,000 viewers since 2023); Rosamund Pike's Inter Alia transferring to Broadway from November 2026 after more than 450,000 NT Live views; and National Theatre Nationwide, a touring partnership with 12 regional theatres, alongside a winter streaming slate on NT at Home led by David Tennant.
