We recently conducted a survey of approximately 4,600 visitors to Broadway show websites and their preferences in accessing information online. I took the data and split it by age group to see if we could see significant differences in preferences between the 18-35 audience (2,074 respondents) and the 35+ audience (2,594 respondents). I’m a data hound, so I love looking at this kind of information. Here are a few tidbits that you may find useful. - When asked which incentives they would appreciate when purchasing Broadway tickets, 43% of those ages 35 and under answered “backstage tour”. That was their top answer with ‘free merchandise’ as the second most popular answer at 17.1%. Restaurant/parking discounts and post-show talk backs were all under 10%. For those over the age of 35, 21% said “backstage tour”. Surprisingly, their #1 answer was ‘none of the above – I just want to purchase tickets” which was selected 26% of the time. Restaurant/parking discounts were slightly higher compared to younger audiences coming in at about 11%.- Not surprising, 84% under the age of 35 said they use text messaging. What might surprise some - 53% over the age of 35 said they use text messaging. - For those over 35, when asked which features were most important to them when visiting a show’s website their answers in order of popularity were ‘interactive seating chart’ (62.9%), ‘seeing video footage of the show’ (59.5%) and ‘listening to music from the show’ (59.1%). For those under 35, their top answers were ‘listening to music from the show’ (75.8%), seeing video footage of the show (71.6%) and the ability to ‘read about cast members’ (66.3%). ‘Interactive seating chart’ was select 56% of the time. There are clearly differences by age group but the main conclusion I draw from these data points is that people of all ages want ‘value’ for their dollar. To some, “where’s my seat?” is most important while to others “who’s in it?” is what counts. Consumers will continue to both expect and demand access to all of this information before purchasing particularly as we continue to raise ticket prices.
Here's an interesting story for Broadway marketers - particularly those targeting the younger slice of the traditional theatergoing market. According to a new research report, the more affluent you are, the more connected you are to both accessing the Internet via computer and via mobile device. The report states, "while 40 percent of affluent households use hand-held devices to access the Internet, the percentage rises to 57 percent among those in the $250,000-plus bracket from 34 percent for those at the $100,000-149,999 level." That’s a large percentage of people – almost too high to believe.Let’s assume the research report is true… as theatre marketers, this spells out a big opportunity for mobile advertising to be explored considering we market to wealthy playgoers every week, particularly those willing to drop $125 per ticket for a play multiple times a year. I’m not exactly gung-ho on this just yet but the data and initial results we have seen warrants exploration.Here’s why I like advertising on mobile devices (assuming display advertising)… first, the real estate given to ad units. Because the viewing window on a mobile device is so small, there is typically only one ad on the screen so your creative definitely pops more than usual because it's not competing for attention from other ads. In addition, advertising on mobile devices also allows for some exciting interactivity including ‘click-to-call’ functionality and GPS based tools that make the advertising more actionable than traditional advertising.With that said, I see a bunch of downsides… first, the tracking capabilities are pretty limited from what we’ve seen. The ‘click-thru’ rate is the primary measure as the ‘post-click’ activities are hard to track on the phone (consider many people will call to order rather than go through the cumbersome process of trying to actually book their tickets via a mobile website). Aside from the tracking, I also think the cost is often a bit high for a medium that really has a small population of users.We have run a few tests including the New York Times mobile edition where we bought the arts section for a month surrounding the Tony Awards this past year. Across four shows, we saw click thru rates upwards of 1-2% which is way higher than online advertising interaction rates. So, from an interaction standpoint, there is clearly promise here (even though I think there were probably a ton of accidental clicks).I think the NY Times is actually ahead of the curve in developing out their mobile presence. We were quite impressed with our initial test and they are continuing to try and be progressive in the mobile advertising space.Whether you dip your toe in the water now or not, it’s something to keep a very close eye on. The testing we are doing is showing very strong promise – but, like all advertising, the more consumers get used to it the more they will try and tune it out!Read more data here about online and mobile usage of affluent audiences.
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Want to sound like a smarty pants at your next cocktail party – download Chrome, the new web browser recently released by Google, and talk about how progressive you are in making the leap away from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer {doesn’t everyone love to hate Microsoft? you sound even edgier if you say you ditched Firefox!} I’ve been using Chrome as my web browser and so far, I’ve been pretty happy. It doesn’t really feel much different or that much quicker than the other browsers but I’m sure I will see differences for better or worse over time. I mention this article simply because I personally think anything Google releases at this size and scope is ultimately a potential ‘game changer’ and I would suggest you keep a very close eye on this. So, let’s see – they can now track the places you visit online, the things you search, the videos you watch, the ads you click and can even zoom in to the roof of your house from satellites in space – who would have guessed five years ago. Wow.
Google is the central point of discussion in many marketing meetings I sit in and there is one particular topic that continues to bug me. Yes, there is no doubt that we all know Google is the primary portal into the web for most consumers. Yes, we know that we can spend $1,000 and see $30,000+ in return. But what is often not spoken about is the segmentation of those sales you are seeing from search marketing and what they really mean.Follow me for a minute... there are two primary categories that you need to know about - 'branded search' and 'non-branded search'. 'Branded search' means you buy keywords relating to your brand typically including any string of keywords that includes your show's name. Essentially, you are buying keywords targeting people who have expressed interest in your show.'Non-branded' search means you are buying keywords that target consumers looking for something relating to your show which may include 'broadway tickets', 'new york city entertainment' or an actor from your show. Here, you are buying keywords aiming to convert a new prospect you think would be interested in your show based on what they are searching for.As you can see, these are two totally different audiences. 'Branded search' implies the consumer is saying "I'm interested in your show!" while 'non-branded search’ implies the consumer is saying "I'm interested in something relating to you!" Huge difference – yet, the sales and expense from both of these categories is often discussed as one ROI analysis.We handle the search marketing for clients across the globe and without question when you split these keywords out into their appropriate categories you begin to see a more accurate indication of how your ad dollars are performing. From our experience, shows using 'non-branded' search terms for popular keyword categories (like the keywords relating to ‘Broadway tickets’) have often done so to only see poor sales performance. When you consider the average cost-per-click for the keyword 'broadway tickets' is upwards of $7 per click, you would need a pretty high conversion rate to be successful from a sales perspective which we typically only see with shows that have real national brand recognition.It drives me absolutely nuts when these categories are not broken out because as a lump sum, it doesn't tell us anything. These categories need to be analyzed and held to very specific sales goals relating to the audience you are talking to. If 90% of your budget is spent in branded search and 10% towards non-branded, you could potentially expect a return on investment of over 20X. If it was flipped, with 90% being non-branded terms, you could be looking at a return of 3X- 5X your money. Unless you break the keywords out into these categories (at a minimum), the lump sum is meaningless.It can be a very confusing topic and one that we have been studying quite closely as of late, so feel free to contact me if you want to discuss the topic in detail.Here’s a quick read on related topics surrounding branded and non-branded search. It’s an interesting and important topic I highly suggest you keep a close eye on.
This topic has been discussed plenty of times in ad meetings over the years – during high tourist seasons, is running TV advertising an effective way of reaching tourists while they are in NYC, particularly in their hotel room? Is advertising on the Today Show during the month of December an effective way of putting your brand in front of those tourists who may purchase tickets to your show? {Personally, I think this is crazy talk – but that’s not the point of this story.} To help shed light on the viability of reaching consumers outside the home, The Nielsen Company recently debuted its first rating results for TV viewership outside the home. According to Wendy Marquardt, president of Zenith Media who partnered on the project, “In a mobile society, viewership isn't just about people sitting in the living room gathered around the set. Nielsen's Out-of-Home service is part of our commitment to the full understanding of video, in the home, out of the home, on the net and on personal media devices.” Here’s how they do it – using a combined panel of 3,000 participants across six local markets plus an additional 1,700 national panelists for an effective sample size of 2,500 panelists, they track exposure to media outside the home through panelists carrying a mobile phone that tracks the audio signatures of media and matches those signatures to IMMI's database. The technology seems pretty kick-ass to me. This seems pretty interesting to me and I would be very interested to see how some of the popular programs like The Today Show rate through this kind of tracking.
Quick reminder - if you are a show selling your tickets through Telecharge, make sure you are participating in the College Tix program. As of right now, NYU, Columbia and Baruch students are participating in the program - there is no cost to participate, you simply need to offer a price point somewhere around $25 - $35 per ticket which are sold like a regular discount code. There are numerous safe guards in place to help prevent the code from being used by anyone other than students and, to date, the program has already sold over 2,000 tickets for Broadway. So, if you're not on it - now is the time as there will be a lot of on-campus advertising that the early bird participators will benefit from most.
All Broadway and off-Broadway shows that sell their tickets through Telecharge have a big opportunity this fall – to sell tickets to students (for free!). As many of you know, over the past year we have been working very closely with the Shuberts and Columbia University (particularly Gregory Mosher and Caralyn Spector) on creating a turn-key program that effectively speaks to college students in the NYC area. While the initial beta test over the Spring/Summer drove over 2,000 tickets to Columbia University students, we are expecting a large rise in ticket sales this coming September. The main reason for that projected surge is due to the fact that we have added NYU and Baruch College to the program with many more schools in the process of signing up for the program. That brings our current reach to students between Columbia, NYU and Baruch to over 150,000+ students in the NYC area with the potential to be much higher as new schools join.The program is simple and, most importantly, secure. There are built in safe guards to make sure the tickets are ending up in the hands of students – not their parents! If you have any questions, we can help assist you get involved in the program or you can simply reach out to your Telecharge.com representative.I’m both amazed and thankful for the cooperation and goodwill that has been offered by all parties involved in putting this program together. Nobody’s getting rich off of selling student tickets and it’s a time consuming process to make it effective. Columbia University brought a vision, a commitment and a student body to launch the program… Telecharge.com brought the technology and helped make the fees affordable for students… and Broadway shows have really stepped up to offer tickets for this program that is ultimately going to build future audiences for theatre. And, not to be forgotten, Jenn Elston in our office continues to do an amazing job keeping the shows aware of advancements in the program through what probably feels like ‘herding cats’ (John L classic line).We all feel really confident that we can see significant rise in ticket sales this September. Fingers crossed AND don't forget to set up the appropriate price key ASAP to make sure you are in the program.
Situation will be embarking on another move this coming fall. With that said, our current office on 41st street between 7th and 8th will become available for sublet. It's approximately 4,400 square feet and has a ton of light (2 walls of windows with a kick-ass view of the Times building). The space next to us is vacant so you may be able to get up to 7,000 square feet which is the whole floor. Anyway, if interested, please let me know.
Mobile marketing, while clearly an emerging channel that we will all want to explore, has serious legal issues that you must be aware of before marketing to consumers. We have spent a lot of time, money and resources with our law firm, mobile vendor and client's working through the various legal issues and it has really paid off as we have clearly begun to see numerous case studies of successful campaigns for live entertainment. Here is a good, quick read that gives the top line review of key issues that you need to be aware of. At the end of the day, when you are talking to people on their mobile device your message needs to be expected, welcomed and relevant more so than probably any other medium.
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Sure, we all know by now that Google houses just about every dirty secret for Broadway (you might as well throw in Las Vegas shows as well). All of our discounts, stinky reviews, customer complaints and Reidel rants are a few key strokes away. I challenge you to Google your show with the words ‘reviews’, ‘discounts’ or the word ‘sucks’. It’s an interesting read. When I say this, the response I often get is, "Who really searches for that info? Just because it's there doesn't mean people are looking for it." If you believe for a second that people aren’t looking for this kind of information, you are completely out of your mind. I have more than enough data to support consumers researching before buying tickets. Call me and I can break that data down for you. With all of that said, here is what I see as the bombshell. Google is now making the voice of the consumer even more prominent. On select shows, when you Google their show name, we are now seeing a five star rating system next to their listing on Google. In short, Google has partnered with key entertainment and travel related websites to give an overall index of what consumers thought of that production. Why the bombshell? Because like an Amazon book, when someone is looking for you, a big fat consumer rating may be right next to your show name. Don’t think for one second that if you have one star out of five next to your show name this won’t have an effect on sales. We have some clients that have over 150,000 searches for their brand monthly on Google! This could be very big news for the live entertainment industry. It's been happening in the travel industry for quite some time – Google a hotel and you’ll see what I mean.Now, we have only seen one sighting so far for a particular production, so I wouldn’t be too worried just yet. But, as more and more sites are beginning to expand consumer-generated reviews, it wouldn’t surprise me if this becomes a much bigger issue. What this says to me is that if consumers love you – this is a great thing! If they don’t, then you potentially have big problems and you need to keep an open ear to the criticism. No matter what though – this further illustrates that you have to be proactive in making the consumer experience as enjoyable as possible both before and after what happens on stage. I won’t dive too far into the topic as we are still figuring out the details on how this is rolling out but we will keep you posted as we learn more.
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