NEW YORK CITY: The Broadway League has released its annual Demographics of the Broadway Audience report, an analysis of theatregoers who attended Broadway productions in New York City during the past season. The report revealed numerous record highs: The 2018-19 season reached 14.8 million attendees, with 2.8 million among these attendees being tourists from outside the United States. Additionally, the report states that admissions by non-white theatregoers hit 3.8 million or 26 percent, another record high, and admissions for those under 25 reached 3.4 million or 23 percent.
“This is a thrilling time for Broadway and our audiences,” said Thomas Schumacher, president of the Broadway League. “This season you could see every kind of Broadway show. The breadth of this programming diversity is exactly what we on Broadway are supposed to do: serve the widest possible audience by doing work that appeals to them. Unmistakably, we have further to go, but how gratifying that we continue to see younger and more diverse audiences year in and out.”
More highlights from the report:
- 68 percent of audiences were female.
- The average age of a Broadway attendee was 42.3 years old.
- Those who attended 15 or more Broadway performances in the past year made up only five percent of the audience, but accounted for 28 percent of all tickets.
- Respondents reported having paid an average of $145.60 per ticket.
- The average reported date of ticket purchase for a Broadway production was 47 days before the performance, four days earlier than the previous season.
Data for the report came from questionnaires distributed to Broadway audiences throughout the 2018-19 season. Questionnaires were administered to 49 different productions at multiple performances per production to account for variances in the weekday, weekend, evening, and matinee audiences.
Founded in 1930, the Broadway League is the national trade association for the Broadway industry.
