Photo: Narvikk

We have received a demographics report from the Broadway League covering the most recent Broadway season (2014-2015). The League has kindly allowed us to share the report’s executive summary with our readers. Note that recent admissions have broken records.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Demographics of Broadway Audiences, 2014-2015

• In the 2014-2015 season, there were a record breaking 13.1 million admissions to Broadway shows. Approximately two-thirds of those were made by tourists: 49 percent from the United States (but outside New York City and its suburbs) and 18 percent from other countries.
• Sixty-eight percent of the audiences were female.
• The average age of the Broadway theatregoer was 44 years.
• Almost 80 percent of all tickets were purchased by Caucasian theatregoers.
• Of theatregoers over 25 years old, 78 percent had completed college and 39 percent had earned a graduate degree.
• The average Broadway theatregoer reported attending 5 shows in the previous 12 months. The group of devoted fans who attended 15 or more performances comprised only 5.6 percent of the audience, but accounted for 37 percent of all tickets (4.8 million admissions).
• Playgoers tended to be more frequent theatregoers than musical attendees. The typical straight-play attendee saw eight shows in the past year; the musical attendee, four.
• Over one-half of the respondents said they purchased their tickets online.
• The average reported date of ticket purchase for a Broadway show was 36 days before the performance.
• For musical attendees, personal recommendation was the most influential factor in show selection. Playgoers cited a specific performer as the greatest lure.
• The most popular sources for theatre information were Broadway.com, ticketmaster.com, and the New York Times.