Australia’s cities don’t stop at sunset. The night time and 24-hour economy is one of the most economically significant and least well understood parts of our urban landscape. For 15 years, Ingenium Research has been building the evidence base that changes that.
The night time economy, broadly defined as economic activity between 6pm and 6am, is far larger and more complex than most people assume. It is not just bars and nightclubs.
It encompasses restaurants, live music venues, theatres, cinemas, late-night retail, hotels, accommodation, emergency services, transport networks, and the entire supply chain that keeps these sectors running. In most cities, the NTE accounts for a substantial share of total employment, business establishments and consumer spending, yet it has historically been one of the least measured parts of the economy.
That gap has consequences. Planning decisions, licensing frameworks, transport investment, cultural policy and policing strategy all directly affect the night time economy. Without good data, those decisions are made in the dark.
The night time economy isn’t just about nightlife. It’s about how cities function, and who they function for, after dark.
When governments commission rigorous NTE research, they gain:
Value of the Australian Night-Time Economy in 2023/24
Australian LGAs measured annually through the CCCLM national programme
Years developing and refining the analytical frameworks that underpin NTE measurement
In recent years, the policy conversation has begun to shift. ‘Night time economy‘, while still the dominant term in much of the research literature, is giving way to a broader concept: the 24-hour economy.
Cities don’t operate in neat 12-hour blocks. Economic activity flows continuously across all 24 hours. The 24-hour economy framing asks a bigger question: not just ‘what happens after 6pm?’ but ‘how does economic activity distribute across all 24 hours, and how can policy support a city that works well at every hour of the day?’
In Australia, this shift is already happening. The NSW Government’s Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner and its Data After Dark platform represent a significant investment in this space, and Ingenium Research has been a direct contributor to that work.
The question is no longer just what happens after dark. It’s how the full 24-hour cycle of city life can be better understood, better supported, and better governed.
At the foundation of Ingenium’s NTE research is the Night Mix Index (NMI) an analytical framework co-created by Terry Bevan in 2009 and subsequently refined and applied across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and other jurisdictions.
The NMI identifies the specific industry classifications that most accurately capture economic activity occurring during night time hours. Applied to official government datasets, it produces consistent, comparable measures of NTE scale, composition and change over time.
The result is a methodology that is reproducible, comparable across geographies and years, and defensible under scrutiny – in council chambers, in tender evaluations, and in academic peer review.
Economic scale & composition
Establishment counts, employment figures and sales revenue across the NTE core and its supply chain — at federal, state and LGA level, with year-on-year trend analysis.
Geospatial & trading hours analysis
Street-level mapping of business clusters, trading hours and activity patterns — using emerging datasets including Google Maps business data to reveal what traditional statistics miss.
Benchmarking & international comparison
Comparing your NTE against peer LGAs, states and international cities — so policymakers always know where they stand relative to comparable economies.
Safety, community & policy data
Crime patterns, ambulance call-outs and licensing data layered alongside economic analysis — giving a complete picture of the NTE, not just the commercially convenient parts.
No two NTE projects are identical – we shape our approach around your context
First measurement of your local NTE – establishing the baseline from which all future monitoring and benchmarking flows.
Ideal for: councils new to NTE research
Consistent year-on-year measurement tracking how your NTE is changing and how you compare to peer cities and regions nationally.
Ideal for: councils and states with established NTE strategies
Assessing the economic and social impact of specific interventions – from lockout laws to late-night transport investment – using rigorous before-and-after analysis.
Ideal for: councils, state and territory governments
Deep-dive geospatial analysis of specific NTE precincts, identifying clusters, mapping activity patterns, and providing granular insight below standard levels.
Ideal for: councils new to NTE research
Making sense of existing NTE data – including outputs from platforms like Data After Dark – and translating it into clear, actionable insight for your specific context.
Ideal for: councils with data infrastructure but limited analytical capacity
Full economic cost-benefit analysis of NTE activity, policy or investment. We conducted the world’s first NTE cost-benefit analysis for City of Sydney in 2011.
Ideal for: Major strategic planning, funding bids or regulatory reform
Here are two recent examples drawing on our NTE expertise – one commissioned by state government, one by the private sector.
Commissioned by NSW Treasury to provide economic evidence on the scale of NSW’s night time economy, benchmarked against the UK, US and Japan. Our analysis found NSW’s NTE could be worth an additional $3.7bn to $9.4bn if it could match Japanese or US NTE performance.
Working with Visa’s Chief Economist, we developed the first national benchmark of after-dark economic activity in Australia – ranking 88 metropolitan, regional and suburban areas across four dimensions of NTE vitality.
Ingenium Research was not assembled by adding ‘night time economy’ to a generalist service list. It was built by the economists, data specialists and researchers who created the methodology, ran the first studies, and have spent their careers in this space.
Terry Bevan co-created the Night Mix Index in 2009. Andrew License co-developed its Australian application. Anna Edwards holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne specifically on NTE governance. This depth is not available elsewhere.
We have no industry body to appease, no platform to promote, and no political position to protect. Our analysis reflects what the data shows, which is precisely why it holds up in Productivity Commission reports, peer-reviewed journals, and council chambers.
As data platforms proliferate, the scarce skill is interpretation – understanding what the numbers mean for your community, your policy context, and your specific decisions. That analytical and advisory capability is what Ingenium is built around.
Whether you’re commissioning your first NTE baseline, trying to make sense of data you already have, or building the evidence base for a strategy or funding bid, we’d like to help. Reach out for an informal conversation.
