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Reading and Leeds festival organiser Melvin Benn has rubbished a claim that young people are no longer able to afford festivals.
A recent study by MSN claimed that the average age of festival-goers is now 35+ - specifically saying that the average age of a Reading & Leeds attendee is 35 years 8 months - and went on to say that young people are being priced out of the events.
The research was based on a sample of 2,000 people in the UK, but now Benn has used Reading & Leeds' own data to show that the claims are not true.
"Some things just have to be looked at twice and by God this did," Benn told Music Week. "We do surveys every year at Reading and Leeds and reinforce them by checking the Facebook and Twitter stats of our sites that carry age profiles.
"For the last two years the age profiles have been 16/17 years 28%, 18/19 32% and 20/24 20%. A massive 80% aged 24 or under all coming along to the best 200 quids' worth of British culture on offer."
The young people haven't left festivals just yet, says Melvin Benn
He added, "The plus 35s at Reading & Leeds register just 9%. They say stats can come up with anything that can be believed: unless MSN get their hands on them I guess!"
Melvin Benn is the Festival Republic MD, and promotes some major festivals in the UK - such as Latitude and Big Chill, as well as the Reading & Leeds festivals.
The Festival Republic events usually draw a crowd of half a million people each year.
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