Ticket pricing for the arts, a survey

[Lynette H]

A survey of those involved in the arts with an input to ticket pricing, their views on dynamic pricing, discounting and so on. 

 

https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/pulse/survey-report/pulse-report-art-pricing

 

NB I think this is possibly the same agency that produced the article re ROH pricing a while back. 

[Lizbie1]

It is the same agency. It’s well worth a read for the insights it gives into the consultants’ thinking (more so than the people they’ve surveyed IMO) - thank you, Lynette.

[penelopesimpson]

Yes, it is the same agency.  To be fair, the survey highlights many of the problems and difficulties that Ballet Forum members have identified in setting pricing strategy.  But, I am not convinced that they sufficiently understand the ROH (especially ballet) where, most of the time, productions sell out.  There are little gems like:

 

'Many Baker Richards clients have been able to significantly increase income by using dynamic pricing to unlock the value of tickets which were difficult to price accurately when they went on sale. This flexible approach to pricing recognises that the right price is what someone will pay for it.'

 

I would expect marketing professionals at ROH to have a very good handle on pricing different productions, based on long experience.  They do go on to say that some organisations have to consider subscribers and the social implications of public subsidy but I don't get the impression they understand that each organisation is different.  What they do is make wonderful use of jargon which may have been attractive to Lucy Sinclair.  Certainly it seems that ROH is now saddled with their legacy which they openly define:

 

'Versions of the ‘pay what you can’ approach appear to be popular, where people are trusted to make this judgement for themselves. But in our experience, except when carefully targeted, such as through outreach programmes, these schemes usually just lead to very low revenues and typically are disproportionately used by frequent attenders who would otherwise pay full price.'

 

Quite how they are so sure that these frequent attendees are all able and willing to fork out ever increasing amounts of dosh is not defined.

Edited September 26, 2019 by penelopesimpson

[Lizbie1]

I thought this bit particularly relevant:

 

”Some comments reflect what may be an important related trend: audiences will pay high prices for a ‘special event’ or (occasional) ‘big night out’ but are more price sensitive for ‘run of the mill’ performances. Research by numerous agencies has shown consistently over the years that most people attend the arts very infrequently (once a year or less), so it appears that price is mainly a problem for the regular visitors who typically make up a higher proportion of the audience for those ‘run of the mill’ performances.”

 

I wonder whether the relatively slow ticket sales over the last year signify that the ROH has miscalculated on this front?

[Lizbie1]

Another thought about my last post: wouldn't the logical conclusion of such research be that price rises for those ticket bands most popular with the regulars (which, judging by my experience and a lot of the talk on here, tend to be at the cheaper end of the spectrum) should be minimised as far as possible, whereas the more expensive "one-off" bands can bear bigger increases?

 

If so, this is in direct contrast to the increases we have seen recently, which have been demonstrated in these forums to fall disproportionately - at least in percentage terms - on the low-to-middle bands.

 

As these increases were claimed to have been backed up by research from the same agency, what is going on here? Is the ROH considered a special case?

[Sophoife]

4 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Quite how they are so sure that these frequent attendees are all able and willing to fork out ever increasing amounts of dosh is not defined.

 

Hmm yes. The Australian Ballet uses a subscriber model for the majority of its seats. We have to buy our next year's package in September/October immediately after the season announcement, with zero casting information.

 

For 2018 my brother and I paid 17% more than for 2017, for 2019 30% more than for 2018, and for 2020 we will pay 11% more than for this year.

 

High up far away seats that five years ago cost under $40 each now cost from $78 to $100 depending on the programme.

 

The prices are even higher in their second home of Sydney because the venue capacity is smaller (2,079 in Melbourne v 1,507 in Sydney).

 

Unless a person is rich (or doesn't ever have to pay for doctors, dentists, medicines, car insurance, clothes, food, and useful things like that) and doesn't have to travel, seeing more than one or possibly two shows of a run (usually 10-12 shows over 2 weeks in Melbourne) is financially impossible. I live 3½ hours' travel (train or car) from the nearest Australian Ballet venue, and the last train home leaves at 8pm - half an hour after curtain up. So I stay in a hotel. More money I'd rather spend on a performance.

 

AD and CEO are aware there are quite a lot of subscribers in similar positions but don't seem to care that we stalwarts are being priced out of regular attendance. Currently TAB receives approx 12% of its income from various governments (state and federal), so that's lots to raise from box office and what they call "other revenue streams" - philanthropy, corporate sponsors, tacky marketing ventures...there is nothing special about a pair of signed pointe shoes you've paid for. Or a children's clothing collection at one of the major cheap department stores. Part of the problem is that the company has no ownership in any of its performance venues. Oh it's nearly five in the morning, anyone wants more detail, PM me 😉 😴