League's Annual Demographic Report Shows Who's Sitting in Those Theater Seats

63 Percent of Audiences Were Tourists
The Broadway League’s 13th annual demographics report, The Demographics of the Broadway Audience 2009-2010, compares current theatergoing habits to previous seasons in predicting trends for the future.

Of note, the newest study reveals that tourists accounted for 63 percent of the 11.89 million Broadway admissions this year. (See my piece on doing my part to help these tourists while they are in New York at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/2010/07/doing-my-part-to-stimulate-economy-one.html )

Resources such as ILoveNYTheater.com and the Broadway Concierge & Ticket CenterTM located in the Times Square Information Center provide information in six different languages for tourists and New York residents alike. Overall, international tourists accounted for 17 percent of all admissions to Broadway shows in New York City. With 8.6 million visits* by foreign tourists, approximately one in four took in a Broadway show. (Tourists planning a visit to New York can see a list of what's playing on Broadway and which shows are headed to Broadway by scrolling down on the left side of this site. In addition, you can see which shows are playing in other cities by scrolling down to "Coming to a Theater Near You."

“Our annual demographic report reflects the consistency of the Broadway audience, yet slight nuances demonstrate how audiences and their behaviors do change from year-to-year,” commented Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League. “We did see a drop in the international tourists from a record high, most logically due to the changing economic conditions. New York City continues to show strong tourism numbers as such a significant number of our visitors do come from outside the NYC metro area.”

The analysis is based on extensive survey data gleaned from audience questionnaires distributed throughout the 2009-2010 Broadway season in New York City. It includes highlights on the demographics of the audience and their ticket purchasing habits. The report is part of an ongoing series that profiles Broadway theatergoers each season.

The report also shows that the use of the Internet for the purchase of tickets has decreased by 5percent since the 2008-2009 season (from 39 to 34 percent). However, online purchase continues to be the most popular method of ticket buying for a sixth year in row.

For show selection, critics’ reviews were the most influential factors for playgoers, followed closely by personal recommendation. However, 48 percent of theatergoers at musicals said that personal recommendation was the single strongest reported factor in deciding which show to see. (Our reviews here at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/ are the only source for a review with added Christian perspective. We also provide hundreds of personal recommendations via email. Contact us at reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com.)

Playgoers also tended to be more frequent theatregoers than musical attendees. The typical playgoer saw seven shows in the past year, compared with five for the musical attendee. Those who saw fifteen or more shows comprised 6 percent of the audience, but represented 31 percent of all admissions.

Reflecting a trend of the past few decades, 66.3 percent of the audiences were female, marking the highest percentage of female audiences. Furthermore, 69 percent of those making the purchasing decisions were female.

Three quarters of admissions were Caucasian theatergoers, but audiences have become slightly more diverse over the past decade. There were a higher percentage of Asian theatergoers this season, moving up from 3.9 to 6.1 percent.

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