Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Demographically, Who is the Typical Theatergoer??

I stumbled on this interesting bit of information on the Services section of the TheaterMania.com website:

TheaterMania audience members are educated, affluent and active consumers of all ages.
- Median household income of $97,000
-70% female
-60% under 50 years of age
-Over 50% have a 4-year college or advanced degree
-70% attend two or more live events a year and 40% attend six or more

After reading this, I began to wonder: Who is the typical theatergoer in NYC?

Not quite sure what percentage of ticket sales flow through TheaterMania, I turned to another source - The Broadway League. According to a December 8, 2010
Press Release issued by the League on Broadway demographics, for the 2009-2010 season:
-66.3% were Female. 75% were Caucasian (with Asian admissions increasing)
-Tourists were 63% of admissions (with international tourists representing 17%)
-Typical play-goer saw 7 plays in the past year; typical musical-goer saw 5 musicals
-Those who saw 15 or more represented 31% of admissions

Even with this information, I can't say for certain who the typical theatergoer is since I could not find much on Off Broadway attendance. However, based on these two pieces of data and my personal observation (that is, looking around the audience during intermission), I suspect that the typical Broadway audience member (or decision maker) is most likely a white female with a decent income.

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