Do shows see each other as competitors?

I often see cast and creatives pitch other shows and encourage people to see other shows on IG and twitter. I mean aren't they competition. If they see another show and not theirs that's a seat that is not sold.



I mean in my line of work, I would never encourage people to do business with my competition. I'm not saying that they should not be cordial or friendly about it. Just the open endorsement confuses me.

Updated On: 10/11/18 at 10:12 AM

I think most Broadway performers (rightly) consider themselves artists and they therefore enjoy experiencing and talking about the art created by their peers, particularly if they think it's good. There aren't many Trumps on Broadway.

Fiyero13 said: "I mean in my line of work, I would never encourage people to do business with my competition."

But it isn't a commodity business. They are selling different things. And people want to see different things at different times for different reasons. So, encouraging people to explore theater as an ongoing pursuit helps everyone in the long run.

There is no guarantee that if I didn't see one show tonight, I would otherwise have ended up at another.

This is another one of those threads in which the header suggests one question and then the body asks another. "Shows" definitely see each other as competition, both in commercial and non-profit areas. But artists generally don't, at least until they are in a head to head award context.

And following up on the commodity comment, a commercial show, except for Disney, is a singular enterprise. It has only one thing to sell. So except for a few crazies, repeat customers are not anticipated, and that is especially true for tourist oriented shows. The competition is heavy for that business.

adam.peterson44, there is some truth in that. If people can't get into Hamilton, they might choose Head Over Heels. And it's been said that it's easier to "convert" ticketbuyers after they seen one show, so if someone has fun at Show A, they might be inclined to also see Show B. I still think that one of the reasons for Band's Visit's early success is that people couldn't get tickets to the 3 big hits from the past 2 years (Hamilton, Evan Hansen, Come From Away) and it was the only "serious" new musical on Broadway.

At the same time, if people are paying $700 a ticket for a family of 4, plus hotel/parking/sightseeing/dining, they might not go back to Broadway for a few years because they just spent so much on Harry Potter or Hamilton.

adam.peterson44 said: "Yes, if people do get in to see the big hit and it costs tons of money, there is a risk that they could think all Broadway shows cost that much, and then treat it as a rare special occasion outing rather than a regular/frequent one.

Then there is another category - the "theatre tourist" who comes to Broadway to see a bunch of shows *because* they can come to one location and see more musicals in a 5-day long weekend trip (wed-sun) than they can see in their hometown over a year or two, even if their hometown has lots of theatre.

For example, in Toronto you could see a play or 2 every week, but only about 6-12 musicals per year within public transit distance, with rarely more than 2 or 3 showing at the same time. And only about half of those are professional-level, with another half being community/amateur theatre. But during a 5-day trip to NYC, it is possible to cram in 14 or 15 musicals (using sat. 5pm slots, thurs matinees, late shows, etc., plus some 54Below concerts afterward).

Several friends and i do this about 2 or 3 times/year, and probably buy more tickets in NYC than in our hometown as a result of all the "competition". But we don't travel to other places with less competition because their musical offerings are just as spread out as the ones at home. Plus the local subscription house here also organizes 3-day trips to NYC (with huge mark-ups on hotels and travel, so i don't go on those trips). But presumably there are groups of people who do those shorter theatre-focused trips to NYC as well.

So the competition itself results in tourists and ticket sales that would not happen if the variety and large number of simultaneous shows to choose from weren't there. And each of those tourists, although maybe only spending 10-15 days in NYC/year, ends up buying 30-45 tickets during that time (all of which is still a lot cheaper than living in NYC would be!).

So you're saying healthy offerings of theater actually help individual shows out.

Interesting, someone should do a research project on this, and all they would need is the broadway weekly gross reports
"

MyLife said: "In many cases, buying a Broadway ticket is not like buying a car. You can go to more than one...."

True, however buying a broadway ticket is like going to the movies, which is greatly affected by competition, just ask anyone who competes against a marvel movie

Fiyero13 said: "So you're saying healthy offerings of theater actually help individual shows out."

I didn't pose the thought originally, but ABSOLUTELY! It's what makes Broadway a brand. There's room for lots of different types of shows. If you broke down the individuals who bought tickets during the same week to Hamilton, My Fair Lady, The Ferryman, and Mean Girls, there would be some overlap but not a ton.

Re: the movies: Counterprogramming is actually a thing! Making sure there's something for everyone, since not everyone is going to be interested in seeing the latest superhero movie or the SuperBowl or whatever. Last weekend was a perfect example: Venom vs A Star is Born. If it was Venom vs Deadpool or A Star is Born vs Mamma Mia, then both titles might have suffered a bit. Similar to how Carousel's grosses MIGHT have been a little better if it hadn't opened in the same month as My Fair Lady.

this discussion is threatening to come off the rails at a few points. First, while it is of course true that good and high profile shows enhance the brand, that doesn't even remotely address the question presented regarding competitiveness. Hamilton enhances the brand without any effort from the folks at Head Over Heels. Shows compete. Period. The paid touts at TKTS are not there to say nice things about someone else's show. Everyone is trying to sell their own tickets and convince each buyer to make that choice. That's competition. And the comparison to movies is inapt. Theatre is ephemeral; movies are not. A theatre producer who goes to bed with the tickets from empty seats does not wake up with something to sell. Even if going to the movies is too expensive and folks stay home, that is just the beginning of the process of selling a movie.

Most of the time when I see compliments about other shows, there is a backstage picture, or I can make an easy Six Degrees of Separation assumption that the complimenter knows cast or creatives in the show she/he is talking about.

Plus, there's a finite number of tickets available during a given time. It's not like they're complimenting eggs or hamburgers or dish soap where people have countless choices and buying one product over another could definitely hurt sales for a brand.

Only on the softball field