Latest Broadway Demographic Report Shows Tourism Dollars Are Boosting Broadway | Playbill

Industry News Latest Broadway Demographic Report Shows Tourism Dollars Are Boosting Broadway

Last season saw the second-highest international ticket sales in the last three decades.

The Broadway League's latest Demographics Report, reflecting survey data from the 2023-2024 Broadway season, is out.

The data shows something already seen in grosses, that Broadway's box office is continuing its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, if it hasn't yet reached the highs of the 2018–2019 season. But there are some heartening trends that may indicate we could see that sooner rather than later. The season saw 45% of attendees coming from other areas of the U.S., and 21% from international theatregoers. The latter's 2.62 million tickets purchased is the second highest total in three decades, no doubt part of New York City's continued success in tourism recovery.

But other data shows that Broadway may need to be putting more effort into the bridge and tunnel crowd. NYC suburbs reflected 13% of admissions, the lowest number in three decades.

After the 2022–2023 season brought in one of the youngest and most diverse audiences in Broadway history, the 2023–2024 data saw that diversity stick around while also welcoming more over-50 theatregoers again. The latter brought the average theatregoer's age to 42. BIPOC audiences represented 28% of the theatregoers last season, down just one point from the previous season's data. The average household income of Broadway theatregoers came in at a healthy $276,375, with survey respondents reporting an average paid ticket price of $154.70.

The data also showed the outsized power of superfans. Just 6% of theatregoers saw 15 or more performances, but they accounted for 35% of all ticket sales. The select, the proud, the influential.

Industry leaders are also no doubt happy to see lead time on Broadway ticket purchases start to stretch out, one of the primary post-pandemic troubles. Survey respondents reported buying tickets an average of 37 days before the performance, up from 34 the previous season. The 2018–2019 season saw a reported 47-day lead time, so there's still work to be done, but it looks like we're trending in the right direction.

Unsurprisingly, personal recommendation remains the leading motivating factor when theatregoers are choosing shows to go see, with websites like Google and even our very own Playbill being reported as influential sources of information.

The League collects the data through extensive surveying in the form of audience questionnaires distributed throughout the season. The report is the 24th since the group began collecting the data, one of many reports about the industry published annually by the League.

Digital copies of the full report are available for purchase at BroadwayLeague.com.

 
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