By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on January 02, 2013 8:06 PM
Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis For Week Ending 12/30/2012 Reflects An Impressive Holiday Season With Ticket Sales Topping $37 Million
Broadway Ticket Sales Top 37 Million
It was a very merry Christmas on Broadway, as ticket sales on the Great White Way went through the roof during Christmas week. Coming in at a total of $37,441,497, Christmas week actually exceeded the (already quite impressive) Thanksgiving week sales by more than $10 million.
The combination of tourist dollars, families in search of something to do with their relatives in town, special matinee performances geared towards the holiday crowd, and the willingness of many people to pay premium ticket prices as a Christmas treat all meant big bucks at the box office for Broadway.
Five Broadway Shows Exceed Two Million
A total of five Broadway musicals managed to make it over the two million mark, which is no easy feat. Annie, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, and Wicked were the chosen few to rake in that much cash, with Wicked coming extremely close to hitting a whopping $3 million ($2,947,172).
Though Wicked grabbed the week's top spot in total revenue, The Book of Mormon had the highest average paid admission, which was an incredible $219.24 per ticket.
"Spider-Man" Rises To The Second-Highest Grossing Show For The First Time
Spider-man Turn Off the Dark did extremely well this past week almost doubling their gross ticket sales (in dollars) from last week’s $1,471,237 to $2,716,990. The extreme increase in ticket sales could be due to the Holidays. Kids (who seem to be the target market) are out of school for the Holiday break.
As a result, the Broadway show increased the total attendance from 12,386 to 16,946. Another factor that resulted in this large increase in gross ticket sales would be the increase in ticket price. The Holidays allow shows to sell Broadway tickets at a higher price because there are more buyers than tickets allowing a show to continue to raise their ticket price until the market cannot tolerate the price point.
Random Seat Discounted Pricing Strategy
On Broadway, tickets further from the stage are traditionally lower in price the further back you go. Spider-Man’s ticket pricing, however, at the Foxwoods theatre in New York City bucks this trend with seats in random locations around the theatre, priced considerably higher than their adjacent seats because Spiderman will land in the area close to them.
For example, half the seats in the flying circle (the quaint British name for the mezzanine) are being priced at $300 face value, compared to an adjacent seat at $159 at the same show. Also some random seats in the Orchestra are priced at $349, with adjacent seats being $299. Patrons of the show who sit in these seats are provided with an incomparable and unique experience that they cannot find with any other Broadway show.
"Bring It On" And "A Christmas Story" Conclude With Good Sales
The two Broadway shows that finished their runs at the end of this past week, Bring It On: The Musical and A Christmas Story, both enjoyed great ticket sales their final week. Both shows filled their theaters to more than 97% capacity, with A Christmas Story getting an excellent $131.67 average paid admission (helped no doubt by its being a holiday-themed family show) and Bring It On earning a solid average of $96.39 per admission.
The following are the Broadway ticket sales numbers from the week ending December 30, 2012:
| Show Name | GrossGross | TotalAttn | %Cap | AvgPaidAdm |
| A CHRISTMAS STORY | $1,558,922 | 11,840 | 97.69% | $131.67 |
| ANNIE | $2,054,848 | 14,862 | 96.68% | $138.26 |
| BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL | $1,002,121 | 10,396 | 97.41% | $96.39 |
| CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF | $966,948 | 9,040 | 81.65% | $106.96 |
| CHAPLIN | $558,368 | 6,885 | 82.36% | $81.10 |
| CHICAGO | $1,174,672 | 9,866 | 101.50% | $119.06 |
| DEAD ACCOUNTS | $327,803 | 3,832 | 48.04% | $85.54 |
| ELF | $1,267,397 | 10,815 | 84.39% | $117.19 |
| EVITA | $1,548,991 | 11,249 | 87.23% | $137.70 |
| GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS | $1,228,867 | 7,539 | 100.65% | $163.00 |
| GOLDEN BOY | $396,424 | 5,442 | 69.98% | $72.85 |
| GRACE | $445,047 | 5,648 | 58.49% | $78.80 |
| JERSEY BOYS | $1,367,678 | 9,771 | 99.46% | $139.97 |
| MAMMA MIA! | $1,439,211 | 12,572 | 93.25% | $114.48 |
| MARY POPPINS | $1,487,252 | 14,062 | 97.82% | $105.76 |
| NEWSIES | $1,396,734 | 10,845 | 100.84% | $128.79 |
| NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT | $1,265,146 | 11,231 | 86.72% | $112.65 |
| ONCE | $1,446,088 | 9,696 | 101.83% | $149.14 |
| PETER AND THE STARCATCHER | $768,302 | 7,793 | 93.85% | $98.59 |
| PICNIC | $154,501 | 3,687 | 62.28% | $41.90 |
| ROCK OF AGES | $744,667 | 5,155 | 98.25% | $144.46 |
| SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK | $2,716,990 | 16,946 | 114.83% | $136.22 |
| THE BOOK OF MORMON | $2,158,595 | 9,846 | 102.63% | $219.24 |
| THE HEIRESS | $496,204 | 5,205 | 60.81% | $95.33 |
| THE LION KING | $2,666,616 | 15,097 | 100.03% | $176.63 |
| THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD | $560,100 | 6,983 | 86.94% | $80.21 |
| THE OTHER PLACE | $158,737 | 3,203 | 71.05% | $49.56 |
| THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA | $1,751,458 | 14,646 | 101.39% | $119.59 |
| WAR HORSE | $1,041,448 | 8,326 | 97.36% | $125.08 |
| WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? | $344,190 | 3,673 | 58.86% | $93.71 |
| WICKED | $2,947,172 | 16,281 | 100.00% | $181.02 |
| Total: | $37,441,497 | 292,432 | 88.20% | $117.45 |
Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2012 nytix.com
