Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 07/31/2016

Some Top Broadway Shows Gained, Some Lost - A Fairly Consistent Overall Week

In the week ending July 31, 2016, the Broadway industry as a whole saw a negligible difference in gross ticket sales. Of the 27 shows currently running, 15 saw an increase in ticket sales, and 12 saw a decrease. The biggest increase was seen by The Lion King, which went up by $243,543 to reach a weekly gross of $2,554,453, which represents 97.2% of its gross potential.

Especially in the summer, there seems to be a never-ending demand for this hit show, which strikes the right balance between kid-friendly and spectacle-filled fun for the whole family. The next biggest increase was seen by The Book of Mormon, which went up by $115,293 to reach a weekly gross of $1,462,531, which represents 96.6% of its gross potential.

Big Increase For Motown The Musical

Though significantly less kid-friendly, The Book of Mormon shares with The Lion King a brand presence established by a movie or television show that predated the stage show. The next biggest increase was seen by what is arguably the season’s largest flop: Motown the Musical went up by $103,215 in the final week of its run, which amounted to only three weeks.

Therefore, although this six-figure increase only brought the weekly gross to $587,549, or 50.7% of the show’s gross potential, it demonstrates that at least some people bought tickets due to the limited availability of the closing show. Meanwhile, the biggest decrease was seen by Cats, which went down by $98,280 to reach a weekly gross of $755,353, or 71.8% of its gross potential.

“Hamilton” Finally Demonstrates That It Just Can’t Keep Going Up In Sales Forever

Even in weeks when most shows go down in ticket sales, Hamilton is often on the up and up. However, this past week, when just over half of the shows saw an increase in ticket sales, Hamilton actually experienced a decrease. Of course, the decrease was negligible; it went down by $4,846 to reach a weekly gross of $2,041,865, or 105.1% of its gross potential.

Therefore, this is not an indication of any sort of slag in interest in this miraculous hit show, but rather just merely to illustrate that every show must demonstrate its mortality every once in a while. In this case, Hamilton appears to have set its course as a show bringing in over two million dollars every week, and yet there is still room for this growing interest to slow ever so slightly in a given week.

"The Lion King" Brings In Over 2 Million Dollars

The shows' revenue can also be misleading, with Hamilton tickets on the secondary market selling for up to five times face value, but those numbers not being taken into consideration in the weekly data. This past week, the top face-value ticket price was $475.00, and the average paid face-value admission was $189.95. In reality the number was more like $350.00.

This weeks audience was filled up to an average capacity of 101.8%. The only other show to bring in over two million dollars this past week was The Lion King. Even Wicked, which plays in a much bigger theatre than Hamilton and is often at the top of the list, or just behind The Lion King, brought in only $1,899,742, which represents 106.7% of its gross potential. This is an increase of $2,755 from the week before.