Arugam Days 2026

Updated July 25, 2026 · Arugam Days 2026 Sales Dashboard

Sales targets ¶

Break even

1,500

1,002 to go

Budgeted

1,750

1,252 to go

Stretch

2,000

1,502 to go

Gold tier

3,000

2,502 to go

Break even — 1,50033.2%

Budgeted — 1,75028.5%

Stretch — 2,00024.9%

Gold tier — 3,00016.6%

Year-over-year comparison ¶

2024 final

547 online

~2,000 total attendance · LKR 3.6M

2025 final

438 online

~1,500–1,700 total attendance · LKR 4.2M

2026 so far

498 online

5 weeks before event · LKR 2.9M

2024 actual (547) 2025 actual (438) 2026 actual (319) Break even Budgeted Stretch Gold tier

Week 1 = first week of sales each year. 2024 opened ~10 weeks before event, 2025 ~8 weeks, 2026 ~16 weeks out.

Weekly targets ¶ — from launch (May 11)

vs Plan = actual weekly sales minus the original ramp target for that week. Green = ahead of plan · Red = behind plan · W3 closed May 31 — 26 sold (exactly hit Gold target ✓) · W10 closed — 18 sold (BE: -75) · W11 live (Jul 20–26) — 23 sold, target Gold=236

Buyer demographics

Based on 244 NIC records from 273 transactions (498 tickets incl. 6-Pack ×6 + Day Shift)

27.7 avg age

median 27 · range 20–55

Overview ¶

Average age

27.9

median 27

Age range

20–55

core band 21–30

Male

186 75.6%

of 212 parsed

Female

58 24.7%

of 201 parsed

Gender split ¶

Age group by gender ¶

Ticket buyer countries ¶

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka

467 93.8%

🇮🇳 India

14 2.8%

🇬🇧 UK

12 2.4%

🇪🇸 Spain

2 0.4%

🇺🇸 USA/Canada

1 0.2%

Detected from phone country code + passport format. UK buyers include Sri Lankan diaspora. Tourists with local SIMs may be undercounted.

International tickets

31 tickets

6.2% of total · 5 countries

🇮🇳 India confirmed

14 tickets

2 transactions via +91 numbers — influencer referral from India confirmed

🇬🇧 UK cluster

12 tickets

Mix of Sri Lankan diaspora and international attendees

⚠️ Tourist SIM gap

Undercounted

Italian, Spanish and Maldivian tourists using +94 local SIMs detected by name/passport but not fully captured in totals

Instagram vs Ticket Sales

How each post drove purchases · May 2–Jul 20, 2026

36 posts

498 tickets sold · 400,750 total views · 201 IG sessions from bio link

Best post

May 2 teaser

42,357 views · 919 shares

Sales from best post

253

tickets in 2 days

Day 2 lineup (Jul 8)

798

engagement · 22,557 views

Recent posts (May 25–30)

tickets — W3 in progress

Post-by-post breakdown ¶

Key insights ¶

📣 May 2 teaser is the most powerful post of the campaign. 42K views + 915 shares generated 253 tickets in the first 2 days of sales. Recreate this format: carousel, short punchy caption, no link in bio needed.

🎤 Headliner reveals convert. The Stefano Noferini reveal (May 20) produced the best post-launch sales day (15 on May 21). Every future artist announcement needs a direct ticket link at 12:45pm IST on a Tuesday.

⚠️ Nostalgia content doesn't sell tickets. The May 25–27 throwback reels get engagement but near-zero conversions. Viewers enjoy the content but aren't being given a reason to buy right now.

🚨 No post on launch day was a missed opportunity. 195 tickets sold on May 12 with no Instagram push. A launch-day story + feed post at 12:45pm IST could have pushed that number significantly higher.

📉 Reach is declining. May 2: 17,872 reach. May 24: 1,430 reach. The algorithm is deprioritising posts as engagement rate drops. A new big content moment (another artist reveal, a giveaway, or a major announcement) is needed urgently.

🎤 Day 1 lineup reveal (Jun 1) drove 7 tickets in one day — best single day since the headliner reveal. Artist announcements convert. Keep them coming every 10 days.

💳 KOKO post was tactically smart. Published during a sales drought, it lowers the payment barrier. KOKO buyers spend ~LKR 1,000 more per transaction — worth continuing to promote for the Gold tier push.

Audience demographics ¶ · @arugamdays followers · Jun 22, 2026

Follower demographics from Meta. Follower vs non-follower view split and bio link taps are not available via API — native Instagram Insights app only.

Age of followers

18–24980 23.2%

25–34 ★2,391 56.6%

35–44714 16.9%

45–5487 2.1%

55+32 0.8%

Core audience: 25–34 (57%). Closely matches ticket buyer avg age of 27.7.

Gender × Age (followers)

Age	Male	Female	Other
13–17	17	1	3
18–24	757	133	90
25–34 ★	1,815	423	153
35–44	503	156	55
45–54	58	19	10
55+	23	8	1

M 25–34 is the dominant segment (1,815 — 43% of all followers). F 25–34 is the largest female cohort at 423 (10%).

🎯 Audience matches buyer perfectly. IG followers are 75% male, 25–34 dominant, 84% Sri Lanka — almost identical to the ticket buyer demographic. You're reaching the right people. The gap is in conversion, not targeting.

⚠️ Profile link taps: not available. The Meta API returns zero for profile_links_taps — this field is deprecated and no longer populated via third-party connectors. Confirmed zero across all 43 days pulled. View bio link tap data per post in the native Instagram Insights app → "Content you've shared" → post → "See insights".

Purchasing patterns ¶ (IST corrected)

Peak hour

1pm IST

215 people — lunchtime

Peak window

12–3pm

53.6% of all purchases

Top day

Tuesday

220 people · 44.2%

Weekday buyers

96.3%

only 12 on weekends

Hour of day (IST)

Day of week

All time (incl. launch days)

Excluding launch days (May 11–12)

Without the launch spike, Saturday is the real peak (19%) — Thursday (18%) and Wednesday (17%) close behind. Tuesday drops from 47% → 12%.

💡 Recommendation

Post and push at 12:30–1pm IST. 73% of purchases happen at lunchtime — buyers act immediately when they see a notification on their break.

💡 Recommendation

Schedule campaigns for Monday night seeding, Tuesday 12:45pm push. Don't waste budget on weekend posts — only 3.7% of purchases happen Sat–Sun.

Purchase behaviour ¶

Avg tickets / transaction

1.82

45% buy 2+ tickets

Solo buyers

149

54.6% of transactions

Avg transaction value

LKR 16,479

median LKR 9,200

Repeat buyers (superfans)

3 bought 3+ times

Tickets per transaction

Transaction value (LKR)

Two clear clusters: solo buyers (8k–10k) and group buyers (15k–20k)

Payment methods ¶ & origins

PayHere

212 76.9%

LKR 3,505,230 · avg 16,534

KOKOPAY

60 23.1%

LKR 985,850 · avg 16,431

Top network

Dialog

66.3% of all buyers

International buyers

16 tickets

6.2% international · Full breakdown in Demographics ↗

Payment method

KOKO avg LKR 1,076 higher per transaction — good for Gold tier

Mobile network

Dialog dominates — explore SMS/Dialog partner campaigns

KOKO vs PayHere — buyer comparison

KOKOPAY — 41 transactions · 72 people

Avg age
27.4

Male/Female
87% / 13%

Avg spend
LKR 15,461

Core age
26–30 (45%)

30k+ orders
16.0%

Peak timing
Tue 1pm IST

PAYHERE — 147 transactions · 265 people

Avg age
27.7

Male/Female
75% / 25%

Avg spend
LKR 15,018

Core age
21–25 (39%)

30k+ orders
7.5%

Peak timing
Tue 1pm IST

Age distribution

Spend bands

Group size (tickets/txn)

⚠️ KOKO has a female problem

Only 5 women (13%) have used KOKO vs 35 (25%) on PayHere. Female buyers strongly prefer paying in full. A targeted Story framing KOKO as "split the cost with your friend" rather than a personal finance tool could shift this.

✅ KOKO unlocks large group purchases

14.6% of KOKO transactions are LKR 30,000+ (4+ tickets) vs 7.5% on PayHere. The instalment plan removes the upfront barrier for groups — LKR ~13,300 three times beats LKR 40,000 at once. Specifically promote KOKO for Gold tier group buys.

🎯 KOKO targets the 26–30 professional

44.7% of KOKO buyers are 26–30 vs 34.3% for PayHere. Mid-career professionals with income but monthly commitments. The pay-later message resonates here — they're not budget buyers, they're cash-flow-aware buyers.

⏰ KOKO buyers are hyper-concentrated at 1pm Tuesday

44% of all KOKO transactions happen at exactly 1pm IST on a Tuesday — 18 out of 41 transactions in a single hour. Tuesday 12:45pm campaigns don't just reach KOKO buyers, they directly trigger them.

Traffic by channel — May 11–28

Direct / Untagged

432

73.3% — WhatsApp ticket links, Instagram DMs, copied URLs, word-of-mouth shares

Google Organic

12.7% — searches like "Arugam Days 2026", "Arugam Bay festival August", "Stefano Noferini Sri Lanka"

Instagram

10.9% — bio link in profile, Story swipe-ups, l.instagram.com referral clicks from feed posts

Facebook

2.4% — facebook.com and m.facebook.com shares, Messenger links, shared posts

Direct / Untagged73.3%

Google Organic11.9%

Instagram (all sources)10.6%

Facebook2.4%

Website sessions vs ticket sales ¶ — daily

Blue bars = website sessions on arugamdays.com (GA4). Red bars = tickets sold that day. The headliner reveal (May 20) drove a 79-session traffic spike — the largest traffic day — followed by the best post-launch sales day (May 21: 15 tickets).

UTM-tagged campaigns detected — May 11–28

✅ New follower DM automation

new_follower_discount · welcome_message

1 session · May 28 · instagram / automation

Automation is live and getting clicks. Track weekly to measure conversion.

📸 Dirk Andrew post UTM

ad2026 / dirkandrew

2 sessions · May 27 · ig / social

First UTM-tagged creator post. Add UTM to every collaborator link.

Date	Campaign	Source	Medium	Content	Sessions	Status
May 27	ad2026	ig	social	dirkandrew	2	Active
May 28	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	2	Live ✓
May 29	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	5	Live ✓
May 30	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	4	Live ✓
May 31	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	7	Live ✓
Jun 1	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	8	Live ✓
Jun 2	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	6	Live ✓
Jun 3	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	1	Live ✓
Jun 6	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	1	Live ✓
Jun 8	new_follower_discount	instagram / automation	welcome_message	—	2	Live ✓
Jun 13	120248236392050363	ig / paid	—	—	4	Meta paid ⚡ running
Jun 16	return2026	email / loyalty	—	—	2	Email ✉️ live
Jun 17	return2026	email / loyalty	—	—	1	Email ✉️ live
Jun 17–22	back2026	email / loyalty	—	—	10	Email ✉️ live — 2024 winback
Jun 21	120248236392050363	ig / paid	—	—	2	Meta paid
Jul 12–15	120250020333390363	ig+fb / paid	—	—	11	🆕 New campaign ⚡
Jul 6, 13	(organic)	chatgpt.com / ai-assistant	—	—	4	ChatGPT referral 🤖
Jul 16–18	120248230163470363	fb / paid	—	—	5	🆕 3rd campaign ⚡

25 of 1,324 sessions (1.9%) had UTM tracking, mostly the IG DM new-follower automation — 25 sessions total since May 28, its most productive stretch yet. A new paid Meta/Instagram campaign (120248236392050363) sent its first 2 sessions on Jun 13 — the first paid traffic recorded all campaign.

Run-rate scenarios ¶

Last 2 weeks (W4+W5)

~24/wk

→ ~649 final · 43% BE

Last 3 weeks (W3–W5)

~24/wk

→ ~658 final · 44% BE

Last 4 weeks (W2–W5)

~30/wk

→ ~715 final · 48% BE

W5 current pace

~25/wk

→ ~667 final · 44% BE

Cumulative trajectory ¶ vs targets

Actual (386) Projected (current pace) Break even — 1,500 Budgeted — 1,750 Stretch — 2,000 Gold tier — 3,000

Projection assumes ~24 tickets/week (avg of last 3 weeks), extended weekly from W5 through W16 (event week).

Buyer demographics

Instagram vs Ticket Sales

Buyer Intelligence

Traffic & UTM Attribution

Projections