Broadway Continued Gradual Rebound Last Season, League Report Says
Broadway continued its hard-fought post-Covid rebound last season, according to The Broadway League’s just-released annual 2023-2024 season report.
The report indicates that in the second full season after the financially disastrous shutdown caused by the Covid pandemic, total admissions of 12.3 million rose a slight 0.4% over the 2022-23 season, even as more significant inroads were made in enticing older ticket-buyers back to the theater, and international theatergoers made up the largest proportion of admission since the 2012-2013 season.
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Still, the 12.3 million admissions remains considerably lower – 16.8% lower – than the record-breaking pre-Covid season of 2018–2019. The figures are comparable to the Broadway of a decade ago, decent but a long way off from the hugely successful seasons just prior to Covid.
Other findings from the report:
Approximately 21% of attendances were by people from New York City.
Thirteen percent of admissions were from the surrounding suburbs, the lowest percentage in thirty years.
Forty-five percent of attendances were by theatregoers from other areas of the United States.
The final 21% of admissions were by international visitors. This translated into 2.62 million tickets, the second highest in three decades.
Sixty-five percent of the audiences identified as women.
The average age of the Broadway theatregoer was 42 years old. (That’s up from 40 years old the previous season).
Twenty-eight percent of attendees identified themselves as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color).
The average annual household income of the Broadway theatregoer was $276,375.
Respondents reported having paid an average of $154.70 per ticket.
The average reported date of ticket purchase for a Broadway show was 37 days before the performance, compared to 34 days in the prior year and 47 days in the 2018–2019 season.
Personal recommendation was the strongest motivating factor in show selection.
The numbers indicate that admissions for most age groups were down slightly, but increases in the 50+ demo were strong enough to offset the dips.
Some other findings in the 68-page report (which is available here):
Tourists were more likely to attend musicals than plays.
Locals (theatregoers from New York City and the suburbs) comprised 48.1% of attendees at plays, but 30.7% at musicals.
Winter saw more NYC suburbanites than other times of the year while New Yorkers were most prevalent in the summer.
As far as performance time preference, suburbanites preferred weekend matinees.
International tourists were more likely to attend evening shows over matinees.
In the 2023–2024 season, 64.8% of the audience self-identified as women. Thirty-two percent identified as men and 3.2% reported that they were non-binary, gender fluid, other identification, or preferred not to say.
The breakdown of the different gender identities was similar for musicals and plays.
Twenty-eight percent of admissions were by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) theatregoers.
Asian audience members totaled 9.4% of tickets, the highest percentage to date for this group.
In terms of real numbers, 3.4 million attendances were by BIPOC theatregoers, a decrease from 3.6 million in the previous season.
The average annual household income of the Broadway theatregoer was approximately $276,375, an inflation-adjusted decrease of about $4,000 from the 2022–2023 season.
In real dollars, the annual household income in 2023-2024 was approximately $40,000 less than it was in the 2018–2019 season.
Playgoers were reportedly more affluent than musical attendees, reporting an average annual household income of $290,232 versus $274,229, respectively.
The typical decision-maker when it comes to purchasing Broadway tickets was a 44-year-old woman, well-educated and a regular theatregoer.
Playgoers were more apt to respond to particular actors and musical-goers were more likely to give weight to the Tony Awards.
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