For arts managers and producers, understanding the math and data behind the emotional attachment to

There s only one way to end the current practice of resellers getting obscene prices or discounters taking biloxi mississippi hotels casinos all but a fraction of the income for your tickets. Stop making it so easy for them. Broadway offers a good example of what not to do.
Every Monday afternoon, The Broadway League releases biloxi mississippi hotels casinos the weekly sales data for every show performing on the Great White Way. Currently, about 60% of all Broadway biloxi mississippi hotels casinos tickets are sold below the face value of the ticket.
When the results of never-discounted shows ( The Book of Mormon , The Lion King and Wicked ) are deducted, the proportion of discounted ticket sales jumps to nearly 70%. Last week, for instance, total Broadway sales revenues (about $33 million) were about two-thirds of their aggregate gross potential. In non-peak weeks, this ratio floats closer to 50%.
While the market is flooded with overpriced biloxi mississippi hotels casinos inventory that can only be sold at deep discounts, the best seats in the house are offered at premium prices in the primary market, at theatre s own sales outlets and prices of $200-$300.
For the most popular shows, the secondary market pushes the prices for these prime seat locations into the stratosphere. And, the revenue? It s out of producer s hands at that point. Resellers biloxi mississippi hotels casinos are filling the consumer demand void and taking the profits.
Broadway biloxi mississippi hotels casinos isn t alone. In TRG s observation of the nonprofit world, we see a similar breach in pricing strategies. The best seats are almost always undervalued while everything else in the house is overpriced.
Hope. Ego. Ambition and envy. Whatever the driving emotion, biloxi mississippi hotels casinos there s a self-defeating notion at work that says: the higher the top price, the greater actual income biloxi mississippi hotels casinos will be when the ticket is sold at 50% off!
My previous post makes the case that traditional supply and demand theories generally don t apply to tickets. Buyer Preference, an economic term that translates in our world to programming, plays a central role. When Buyer Preference is high, demand for tickets will drive up the acceptable price for any ticket.
Buyer Preference also shows up in the emotion that surrounds seat location. Make no mistake. The more loyal and knowledgeable patrons are, the greater the likelihood that emotion will drive their seat preference.
Who buys most of the tickets we sell? While politically incorrect, the answer is: Highly Educated Wealthy Older White People (HEWOWP). HEWOWPs care about seat location. They care about it a lot. They care so much that unless biloxi mississippi hotels casinos they can secure a good enough seat location, they may just pass on the performance altogether.
On Broadway, Premium Seats are the answer to good enough . Mel Brooks is generally credited with originating the concept when he opened the smash hit, The Producers . His brilliantly simple idea was to price best seats at about $150 (in today s dollars). The best of the best seats, however, biloxi mississippi hotels casinos were priced even higher $250 or $300. It worked great when premium seats at premium price found an audience. If not, they were sold at the regular top price.
Enter the unemotional biloxi mississippi hotels casinos broker. Because resellers have no emotional biloxi mississippi hotels casinos attachment to the product or artistic merit, the retention of patronage, the risk of production or anything, except the deal itself they have an easier time of finding the buyer s sweet spot. Does Mr. or Ms. HEWOWP want to pay $180? How about $225? For resellers, it s only about the deal. Period.
For arts managers and producers, understanding the math and data behind the emotional attachment to seats is a huge advantage. It s the fuel that drives profitable, sustaining pricing and inventory management plans. The solution?
Control your own inventory. Close up the gaps of your price table. We are talking about micro-segments of the audience that can deliver macro-results. It s doable with a bit of creativity and sound transactional data available in any competent ticketing system.
Yeah, it requires a bit of extra work on the front end to really understand the numbers that drive the emotion of a ticket purchase. But why make it so easy for third parties to take what you should be earning?
TRG received this comment from Brian Mahoney, Vice President of Ticket Sales at The Shubert Organization. We reprint it here with his permission: Interesting reading. Is there a lot of discounting on Broadway, yes. Rick, however, underestimates the percentage of tickets biloxi mississippi hotels casinos sold at regular price he uses the term face value but most discount tickets sold through the primary channels are sold at the price on the face of the ticket. In fact many shows sell only 30% or less of their tickets at regular price with the balance sold at various discounts, TKTS, TDF, rush, groups, etc. As for premium tickets, more and more shows have priced their premium tickets under $200 so the price has a rational relationship to the regular box office price of orchestra seats -as opposed to 200% of the regular orchestra price - and only raise the price when the public tells them through sales the ticket is under priced. Rick does make a very good point about setting regular ticket prices biloxi mississippi hotels casinos for the discount market, especially biloxi mississippi hotels casinos TKTS, rather than for what people biloxi mississippi hotels casinos are willing to pay for specific parts of the theatre. Reply Delete Add comment Load more...
Rick Lester leads TRG's counsel biloxi mississippi hotels casinos on patron behavior trends and their impact on patronage and revenue generation for organizations and communities. His pioneering work in demand management and pricing have become industry biloxi mississippi hotels casinos best practices. Rick's presentations on pricing, arts consumer behavior, and thriving in a tough economy are regularly featured in conferences nationwide. Early career success leading the marketing programs for the Cincinnati biloxi mississippi hotels casinos Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra led Rick to senior leadership positions in the orchestra field. In each organization, Rick helped achieve records for both earned and contributed revenues. Before he founded Lester Associates, Rick also was a freelance consultant to orchestras as well as state and national nonprofit organizations. biloxi mississippi hotels casinos He served biloxi mississippi hotels casinos as a member of the National Endowment biloxi mississippi hotels casinos for the Arts' Panel for Policy Review, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Cleveland Foundation. He holds an MBA from Queens University and a BA in political science from Drury University. He currently serves on Drury's board of trustees. He also serves as an adjunct professor biloxi mississippi hotels casinos of arts management biloxi mississippi hotels casinos at SMU in Dallas. Jill Robinson leads TRG's day-to-day operations and service biloxi mississippi hotels casinos to arts and cultural organizations and to the industry. Under Jill's leadership, TRG has expanded its scope of service to all arts genres throughout the United States and into Canada. The firm's relentless consulting focus on measurable revenue results is a hallmark of Jill's leadership that has generated hundreds of millions in revenue earned and contributed for clients. Jill developed TRG's counsel on integrated patron loyalty programs, bringing together colleagues across biloxi mississippi hotels casinos organization departments to build stronger, longer paid patronage. As a TRG lead consultant, Jill has recommended solutions for growth to scores of individual clients biloxi mississippi hotels casinos including orchestras, opera, dance, and theater companies, arts centers, festivals, and museums. Joanne Steller is TRG s Vice President, biloxi mississippi hotels casinos Strategic Communications, leading the firm s client and corporate editorial work as well as TRG s presence and presentations at conferences. Since joining TRG in 2000, Joanne has served as lead consultant for scores of clients and helped articulate and develop the firm s strategic counsel over the years. She spent the first two decades of her arts marketing career in management positions at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Amelia Northrup biloxi mississippi hotels casinos is the Strategic Communications Specialist at TRG Arts and a member of the artsmarketing.org Advisory Committee. She serves as a writer and editor for TRG s consulting projects biloxi mississippi hotels casinos and a contributor to its Knowledge biloxi mississippi hotels casinos Center. Formerly of the Technology in the Arts blog, she holds a Master of Arts Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University.