Film festivals can be measured through admissions, unique attendees, screenings, online views, visitors, economic effects and media reach. The figures below focus on official Sundance Institute disclosures from 2018, 2021 and 2025, so they describe one major festival rather than an average across the film-festival sector.
Key Film Festival Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In January 23-February 2, 2025, the Sundance Film Festival attracted 85,472 unique in-person attendees in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
- During the 2025 Utah festival, 130,710 in-person screening tickets were redeemed.
- In 2025, about 27,997 people, or approximately 33% of in-person attendees, came from out of state.
- The 2025 festival represented all 50 U.S. states, two territories and more than 20 countries.
- In 2018, Sundance attracted at least 124,900 attendees in Utah, an estimated all-time high minimum based on expanded tracking.
- The 2025 online program offered 325 screenings across the United States.
- In 2021, Sundance programmed 73 feature films and 50 short films in its online and satellite program.
- In 2025, online attendees generated more than 214,000 views, although views were not defined as unique viewers.
- In 2021, the online platform recorded 251,331 views of feature films, short films and Indie Series.
- Sundance estimated more than 500,000 household-adjusted film-program views in 2021, using two people per household view.
- In 2021, 48% of participants were ages 18-34.
- The 2025 Sundance festival generated an estimated $196.1 million in total economic impact in Utah.
- In 2025, out-of-state visitors spent an estimated $162.4 million in Utah.
- The 2025 event generated an estimated 2,697 jobs for Utah residents.
- The 2018 festival generated more than $19 million in state and local tax revenue in Utah.
- The 2018 festival generated more than 62,000 print, online and television stories.
- More than 1,050 press members from 28 countries were accredited for the 2018 festival.
- The 2021 festival accredited 1,800 industry members and 1,272 press participants.
Contents
- Key Film Festival Statistics
- Film Festival Attendance and Audience Reach
- Film Festival Programming and Screening Data
- Hybrid and Online Film Festival Participation
- Film Festival Demographics and Access
- Film Festival Tourism, Jobs and Economic Impact
- Film Festival Publicity, Press and Industry Participation
Film Festival Attendance and Audience Reach
The 2025 Sundance attendance recap separates unique people from admissions. That distinction matters because one attendee can redeem multiple tickets, while geographic representation does not show how many people came from each location.
| Measure | Result | Period and geography |
|---|---|---|
| Unique in-person attendees | 85,472 | January 23-February 2, 2025; Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah |
| In-person screening tickets redeemed | 130,710 | 2025 festival; Utah venues |
| Out-of-state attendees | About 27,997, approximately 33% | 2025 festival; Utah |
| Geographic representation | All 50 states, two territories and more than 20 countries | 2025 festival; international and U.S. audience |
Source: 2025 Sundance Film Festival Attendance Recap and Economic Impact Report. The report says 2025 in-person attendance was 17% higher than in 2024; that comparison is reported by the festival and is not independently reconstructed here.
The longer historical view is also festival-specific. Sundance reported at least 124,900 attendees in 2018, including an estimated 45,000 out-of-state visitors and more than 1,000 international visitors from at least 26 countries.
Those 2018 attendance figures were estimates using anonymous mobile-device tracking, and the report described the total as an all-time-high minimum based on expanded tracking. They should not be treated as directly comparable to the 2025 unique-attendee count without matching definitions.
Source: Sundance Institute Brings $191 Million in Economic Impact to Utah with 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Film Festival Programming and Screening Data
Program scale includes titles, screenings, events, exhibitions and venues. These are different units, so a larger title count does not automatically mean more admissions or more viewers.
In 2021, Sundance’s online and satellite program included 73 feature films, 50 short films, four Indie Series, 23 talks and events, and 14 New Frontier exhibition projects. More than 70% of the feature-film program played on 40 satellite screens operated through 20 partner cinemas and organizations.
Source: 2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Audience Attendance. The program counts are titles and activities, not total screenings or admissions; the satellite figure is reported as “more than 70%.”
The 2025 online program offered 325 screenings across the United States. This is a separate online-program count and does not include the in-person program.
A venue can change capacity without representing the entire festival. In 2018, the Ray Theatre added 17,349 filled seats during the festival, a venue-level result rather than total festival attendance.
Hybrid and Online Film Festival Participation
Online and hybrid metrics broaden geographic reach, but views, visits and attendees are not interchangeable. In particular, Sundance’s combined 2025 figure mixes unique in-person people with online views.
| Digital or hybrid measure | Result | Definition or caveat |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 online views | More than 214,000 | Views across 325 online screenings; not unique viewers |
| 2025 combined reach | More than 344,710 | In-person attendees plus online views; mixed units |
| 2021 platform views | 251,331 | Feature films, short films and Indie Series |
| 2021 household-adjusted film-program views | More than 500,000 | Estimated using two people per household view |
| 2021 New Frontier visits | 39,869 | Visits, not necessarily unique visitors |
| 2021 satellite screening attendance | 20,000 | Early attendance estimate |
Source: 2025 Sundance Film Festival Attendance Recap and Economic Impact Report and 2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Audience Attendance.
For 2021, Sundance estimated approximately 66,000 audience members for free talks and events from 33,267 views using the same two-person household multiplier. Its New Frontier exhibition recorded 39,869 visits, while live editions of that exhibition had averaged about 12,000 visitors per festival.
The 2021 festival reported more than 600,000 total audience views across online, exhibition and satellite activity. Sundance said this combined measure was 2.7 times, or 168%, greater than in 2020; it is not a unique-person comparison.
Film Festival Demographics and Access
Audience demographics are clearest when the population is named. The 2021 age figure refers to participants, while the premiere-window figure refers to online viewers and the Utah travel figures refer to out-of-state attendees.
- 48% of 2021 participants were ages 18-34, according to Sundance’s reported participant measure.
- 2021 Sundance audiences participated from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- 2021 participants came from more than 120 countries and territories.
- 64% of 2021 online viewers chose to watch films in their three-hour premiere window.
- In 2021, 85% of ticket products sold were $15 single tickets, with the remainder sold as passes.
Source: 2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Audience Attendance. The announcement does not provide the survey sample or response rate for the survey figures, and ticket-product data does not provide the total number sold or pass price.
Access initiatives provide additional measures. Sundance distributed 1,000 discounted passes to young adults ages 18-25 through the 2021 Ignite Program and set a goal to discount at least 20% of anticipated festival-goer access; the latter was a stated goal, not a final uptake rate.
In 2018, at least 20% of out-of-state attendees said it was their first visit to Utah, and 89% said they would likely visit Utah again within the next year. The second figure is future intent, not verified repeat travel.
Source: Sundance Institute Brings $191 Million in Economic Impact to Utah with 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Film Festival Tourism, Jobs and Economic Impact
Economic-impact studies estimate effects on a host economy; they are not the same as festival box-office revenue. The 2025 report identifies Y² Analytics as the preparer and says the total is not adjusted for inflation.
| Outcome | 2025 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Total economic impact | $196.1 million | $191.6 million |
| Visitor spending | $162.4 million by out-of-state visitors | $3,518 average per out-of-town visitor |
| Jobs | 2,697 Utah-resident jobs | 3,323 jobs |
| State and local tax revenue | More than $21.1 million | More than $19 million |
Sources: 2025 Sundance Film Festival Attendance Recap and Economic Impact Report and Sundance Institute Brings $191 Million in Economic Impact to Utah with 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The year columns use different report methods and should not be read as inflation-adjusted or otherwise standardized comparisons.
The 2025 festival contributed an estimated $103.3 million in Utah wages. The reported 2,697 jobs are not further defined in the summary as full-time, part-time or job-years.
For 2018, estimated out-of-state visitor spending included $62.6 million on lodging, $49.9 million on recreation and entertainment, and $20.1 million on transportation. The median out-of-town visitor stay was five days.
Sundance also reported cumulative modeled results for 2014-2018: $585.4 million in Utah economic impact, more than $55 million in state and local tax revenue, and more than 10,300 jobs. These are five-year cumulative figures, not another single-festival result.
Film Festival Publicity, Press and Industry Participation
Publicity statistics measure exposure rather than revenue or unique people. In 2018, Sundance reported more than 62,000 print, online and television stories, 15% more than the previous year, and an estimated $93.2 million in publicity value.
More than 1,050 press members from 28 countries were accredited for the 2018 festival. Accreditation indicates access or eligibility, not attendance at every screening or event.
Sundance also reported more than 2.3 million fans and followers across its social platforms and more than 42 million impressions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat during the 2018 festival. Followers can overlap across platforms, while impressions are exposures rather than unique users or completed views.
Source: Sundance Institute Brings $191 Million in Economic Impact to Utah with 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Website analytics add a separate digital-reach layer. From November 29, 2017 to March 9, 2018, Sundance.org recorded approximately 6 million page views and 1.1 million unique visitors from 187 countries; web-analytics unique visitors are device- or cookie-based estimates and do not equal unique people with certainty.
In 2021, the festival accredited 1,800 industry members and 1,272 press participants. Press accreditation increased 5% from 2020, while industry representation expanded from 26 countries to 41 and press representation from 33 countries to 41.
Sundance’s Press Inclusion Initiative grew from 51 members in 2020 to 80 in 2021. Those members received grants, so the initiative count is not a measure of the entire press corps.
Source: 2021 Sundance Film Festival Announces Audience Attendance.