Thursday, February 25, 2016
New player TodayTix targets younger Broadway theatergoers
Theater Cues: There’s a new way to get tickets to Broadway shows and theater owners are not being very welcoming. Designed to make ticket buying easier and targeting Millennials, TodayTix has $16 million in venture capital and has expanded to four other American cities and to London.
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4 comments:
I just recently took a trip to New York City, and happened to use TodayTix to purchase tickets for the two Broadway shows I say while I was there, HAND TO GOD, and A GENTLEMENS GUIDE. I have been recommended several new online ticketing venues, such as TodayTix as well as Tix4Students, which uses your student status to offer you rush-style tickets and promotes itself as being incredibly cost effective. I'm kind of intrigued at the idea that TodayTix could be selling 4% of all Broadway show tickets, as I find that incredibly impressive. As I know most venues aren't necessarily happy with the 3rd party model of reselling tickets, it'll be very interesting to see if the venues come up with a way to make tickets only available directly through the venue by selling them electronically and unable to resell.
This model of selling tickets is such a good idea. I think that people are finally starting to realize that they need to address the issue of aging theatre audiences, and this is a great way to start. Ease of accessibility and speed are essential when marketing to a younger audience, so an app to sell tickets directly to them is a great tool. It's always disappointing when some of the bigger theatre names won't accept a new platform like this, but I'm happy that some houses are more accepting of this model. Not only does it benefit the consumer with easy and cheap tickets, but it could also potentially help shows to fill up any remaining seats at the last minute. As someone who likes to go to New York without a whole lot of plans, this app seems like a great option to spontaneously go see shows. TodayTix sounds like a great service, and I'll definitely give it a try the next time I go to the city.
The concept of TodayTix seems great in theory, but it doesn’t seem to break any boundaries. There are a lot of ways to get tickets to Broadway shows online. I think that the reason a lot of the tickets are sold in the week prior to the event is because of the cost; people wait to purchase tickets to try to get a better price, if they can. I think that if tickets were offered in packages, like buying two or three tickets for the same or different shows yielded some type of discount, it would be more effective. Another idea would be to incorporate lodging into the deal. With the cost of hotels, shows, and transportation in New York, I would guess that the average cost for a two-night stay, show and cab/subway fare is around $500 (though I have no basis for that). If TodayTix partnered with AirBNB, that might make them a real game changer in the Broadway ticket industry.
When I lived in New York City this past summer, I was a master at finding cheap Broadway tickets. It was like a fun game to play, "How many shows can I see for the price of one?" TodayTix is a good example of one of those 3rd party resources that just might be the one to keep you in your budget. Like Daniel says, they don't really break many boundaries with their business model, they just happen to be one of several similar services that might just be the one with the cheapest tickets that day. Often times, they really don't have amazing prices, so it's only good for actually getting your hands on some tickets if the show is sold out. For someone in town just for the day, that's great, but if you're living there for three months or so, you're probably going to opt for Tix 4 Students or entering the lottery every day.
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