Skiddle Report: Freshers Week 2026

Freshers Week wrapped up for another year last month, and with record numbers of UK students aged eighteen securing university or college places, there was a fresh wave of customers for event organisers to reach on Skiddle.

Tickets sold for Freshers Week events increased by almost 20% compared with 2025, while net customer revenue grew by over 10%, despite a slight fall in the number of events being listed.

So, what can you take away from this year’s results? We’ve pulled together the key findings to help shape your next student event, alongside a look at how our team helped get Freshers Week listings in front of potential buyers.

Digging into the data

We compared Freshers Week events listed on Skiddle from the beginning of September to mid-October in 2025 and 2026, identifying listings containing the keyword “freshers”.

A growing customer base powered this year’s success, with more buyers driving stronger ticket sales and revenue across a slightly smaller programme of events – an encouraging sign of demand for Freshers Week events on our platform.

The student appetite for a club night is clearly still there, as club events held their ground, accounting for the majority of tickets sold in both years. But lifestyle events also made their mark, with net customer revenue increasing by 112% year on year.

That gives organisers something to explore alongside events centred on the dancefloor. Creative workshops, food experiences and other more experiential offerings during the day could add variety to your programme and give students another reason to book.

Using our findings

Based on the data, we’ve extracted the following insights to help you plan better for your future student-focused events:

Reach students when they’re most active

Student activity was strongest from early to late evening (6 pm until 10 pm). Put that window to work when scheduling your campaigns, then track which times deliver bookings. 

Look at where demand is building

London, Southampton and Leeds showed momentum this year, making them worth a closer look when planning future student events. Before adding a date, check the local calendar, competing offers and venue capacity. A growing market is an opportunity, but your event still needs a clear reason for students to choose it.

Make more of your programme with wristbands

The results from Freshers events in Cardiff this year showed the potential of premium-priced wristbands. For organisers running several events, a compelling package could help customers commit to more of the programme upfront.

Make the offer easy to understand: what’s included, where the wristband gets them in and why it’s worth buying. Test the approach with your own audience and check how it performs before expanding it.

Give buyers a reason to come back

Tickets bought per customer remained relatively low this year, leaving room to encourage further purchases. Test out different ticketing strategies and wristbands to entice more sales, and offer discounts to customers who’ve attended past events.

You can also give previous customers and followers of your brand a nudge via automatic push alerts to the Skiddle app and email when new events are announced, by creating and tagging your events to your own event brand. More on Event Brands here.

How Skiddle helped

While you were busy trying to fill your venues, battling the competition for students’ attention, our marketing team was also fighting your corner, helping get your Freshers Week seen by potential buyers.

We launched our own Freshers Week campaign that ran across 10 UK cities, including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield and London, combining digital screens at university campuses and student accommodation sites with targeted Meta advertising, flyers and outdoor posters.

Our digital out-of-home campaign generated 1.9 million impressions in prime student locations. Targeted Meta ads delivered a further 3.8 million impressions, directing students to Skiddle’s Freshers Week guide and helping turn event discovery into bookings.

We also partnered with Exposure UK to sponsor a Student Welcome Guide distributed in Manchester, putting Skiddle in students’ hands as they settled into the city.

Search-optimised student content, including bar and venue guides, helped students explore their options, and our social team headed to Freshers Week events to capture and share the atmosphere at events as they happened, providing students with even more routes to discover events listed on Skiddle.

Plan your next student event

This year’s results show strong, continuing demand for student club nights, growth in experiential and lifestyle-focused event revenue and opportunities to get more from your programme through wristbands and peak booking times.

Use those findings to shape your next move, whether you’re planning for Refreshers in early January 2027, Freshers Week 2027 or keeping students coming back throughout the year.