Broadway is a business. Like any other business, it can be measured.
As a means of getting to know more about the economic landscape of Broadway (and keeping up with the ever-changing Broadway landscape), I will begin exploring the weekly grosses reported for various Broadway productions.
What are the Broadway grosses?The grosses are statistical reports that catalog the sales, ticket prices, and attendance of various productions.
Where do the statistics come from?The numbers are gathered by box office treasurers and ticket-sales companies (most use Telecharge and Ticketmaster). These numbers are then sent to the likes of the general manager and producer, who compile all the reports on different sets of sales (single-ticket, group, discounts, vouchers, etc.). In most cases*, these sales numbers are then passed on to The Broadway League, the national trade association for Broadway**. The numbers are then passed around to various Broadway-themed websites, such as Playbill.com and BroadwayWorld.com, where they can be seen by anyone.*There are cases where a show will choose to not report its grosses. The Producers and Young Frankenstein are examples of this.**The Broadway League is also a GREAT place to intern! For information, feel free to comment or send me a message!
Is one grosses publication better than another?Personally, I choose to look at the grosses as offered by BroadwayWorld.com. You'll notice that not only are the grosses clearly laid out, with bold black and red text employed to illustrate gains and losses, but there is also a bar graph at the bottom page that illustrates how the shows are performing financially and relative to one another. The ability to look at this year's overall sales compared to past years is useful, as are all the different ways a person can break down the sales by show, month, and theater. An "Industry Insight" page also provides great summaries of various worthwhile measurements. NOTE: The graph at the bottom does not account for value per seat, but strictly the total gross sales (maybe this is something that could be created?).
Where else can I get information on Broadway sales?Another website I highly recommend is PlaybillVault.com. This is a comprehensive, new site that allows the user to get a great inside look at shows that have played Broadway, their casts, creatives, and really get a sense of what the production was like. Additionally, PlaybillVault.com compiles sales statistics (which to me puts it way above IBDB.com) and articles pertaining to the productions. For a great example, check out the IBDB's page for Memphis and PlaybillVault's page for the same production. Simply put, it's easier to read, more expansive, and provides a greater look into the production's history, finances, and record.
So when are you going to report on these?I'm planning on starting a weekly posting on Tuesdays, as the grosses are generally published for public access on Mondays. My plan is to do a quick recap of the week, pointing to some interesting trends or numbers that stand out, and then go into detail about one particular show. In doing this, I will break down each number, the show's recent history, and support my opinions with evidence from discounts, promotions and press, marketing strategies, and anything else that I find might impact the overall sales of the particular show.
What show are you going to start with?You'll find out next week...
If you have any questions or statistics that you'd like to see explored, let me know and I'll be happy to add it to my weekly post!
Until next time!
~The Young Mr. Producer
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