January 14, 2005

Musical-loving tourists are Broadway's big spenders

The average Broadway theatergoer is a white, 42-year-old woman who lives outside of New York with an annual household income of $97,300. That info, and many other juicy statistics can be found in a study of the 2003-04 season released by the League of American Theaters and Producers.

New Yorkers accounted for less than 17 percent of the Broadway audience last year, with tourists (who just love musicals,) accounting for the bulk of the income, according to report, covered in New York Times.

Almost 23 percent of the audience came from suburban areas in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. About 10 percent were foreign travelers while the remainder came from elsewhere in America. The Times story goes on to say that the out-of-towners may have an influence on what types of shows make it to Broadway:

Musicals, which make up a vast majority of shows on Broadway and account for $9 of every $10 spent by ticket buyers, are even more popular with out-of-town tourists, who make up 63 percent of their audiences, according to the study. Moreover, 69 percent of the audiences of long-running shows - defined as having been open for a year or more - are from outside the city or its suburbs.

Jed Bernstein, the president of the league, suggested that the makeup of the audience could conceivably affect decisions about what gets produced.

"Particularly for musicals, for the financial picture to work, shows have to run longer and longer, so they have to have as a broad an appeal as possible," Mr. Bernstein said. "It's oversimplistic to say that shows are being specifically produced for foreign visitors, but it's certainly part of the entire financial mosaic."

January 14, 2005 09:53 AM in Broadway

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