Chicago Tribune: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which knocked me for six in London, is about to make profound and lasting changes to the commercial theater industry on this side of the Atlantic. Even months away from its opening on Broadway next April, this is already becoming clear.
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With the recent skyrocket in broadway ticket prices, I find it very innovative and creative to create these methods of coding when trying to properly identify their audiences before the show starts. As the article points out, this goes a long way in analyzing data to figure out the lifespan of a run, which I believe will help further Broadways advertisement tactics and helps companies really reach out and identify their audiences. While I love this idea purely for data reasons, the article asks us whether they think that making the access code individual to each person, and that person alone (similar to airline tickets) a good or a bad thing? I think its definitely not a good endgame, the beaty of theatre is that it can hit many audiences and there is always someone else there to fill your seat if you can't make it. With a show like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it will definitely bring a fanbase that will prove to be substantial in filling seats and I imagine that its life span will last a decent amount of time.
I think it is really interesting that a Broadway play has such potential for overwhelming ticket sales. It is understandable, since Harry Potter will also be able to bring in a lot of money. However, this was the same process that I went through to get tickets to a Harry Styles concert. I really never thought I would see the day that tickets to a Broadway play that will be performing in the same place eight times a week would garner the same amount of fanatic attention that a popular artist performing once or twice in each location would. While this is obviously not the first Broadway show to consistently sell out, or even the first Broadway show to run the risk of having people purchase tickets with the intention of reselling, but I do think its amazing that a theatrical performance has made this leap into popular culture. Regardless of all of this, I think this method is at least somewhat effective. The preregistration aspect I think ends up deflecting a lot of ticket scalping interest, since it requires a lot more effort.
I’m confused why you need to register first so that they know you are someone who actually wants to buy a ticket. I never knew it was such a problem for people to buy tickets who didn’t want to go or for bots to go on and buy them up. On another level, does this make the buying process faster and simpler since if it has your information it can process the order faster so multiple people can’t buy the same ticket or get bumped from the spot before they get to enter their information? It seems a little ridiculous that we have to sell tickets this way, but considering the incredible legacy of Harry Potter, I’m not that surprised. It’s literally spanned generations. But that is quite the leap of faith to get a spot on the in list and no know how much tickets will be or if you will be free. Because then there is so much pressure to buy immediately no matter the price because you only have the one chance. They are going to make so much money because why not charge a ton of money when you know people will buy the tickets. People aren’t going to be stopped by the price so just make it as much as you can. It’s ridiculous.
This actually took me a second read to understand this system: "designed to ensure that only actual people intending to see the show have access to the inventory, which goes on official sale Oct. 18. You are not guaranteed a ticket if you get a code — far from it — but this additional step means Ticketmaster and its computers get to figure out who you are before it sends you a ticket. Afterward, it’s too late." Interest in tickets is required to even be able to get tickets-a system which is a bit puzzling to me. I don't think that the Cursed Child is actually worried about sales--I mean the play is still no where near as popular as the books, but because it is Harry Potter, it will be sold out. I remember those lines before you could buy movie tickets in advance, Harry Potter is a industry that will never die in terms of fan support and loyalty. I get that this is to stop scalping perhaps, but this seems a bit absurd.
This article presents a lot of interesting information. First, the new way in which tickets are being sold. Somehow, you must receive an access code before you can even think of claiming a ticket. I can see why this could be used very successfully. Your ticket would say your name on it and it would be without a doubt yours, but also in the theater, this might not work as well with the culture we have already built of buying tickets. I am a little confused on how exactly you get an access code. If it is to wean out the true fans, how does it work? is it a code you just have to look up or do you have to take some sort of... test? IDK! I was surprised by how in depth the article went into analyzing the show itself. From the way in which this article was written, you can certainly tell the author is a fan.
There is a bit confusing part in the article when it says "you will be able to sell your...tickets to a pal...but the endgame of all of this is that tickets to live events will be for you, and you alone. Just like airline tickets." The person who purchases the ticket has to verify the identity but there is no way to verify the identity of the person who holds the ticket on the day of performance. In lieu of what happened last week in Las Vegas, checking the identity of the audience members doesn't sound too bad as another layer of safety measure. It could be faster in recognizing, tracking and following up affected people after emergency. However, knowing the identity of all patrons in the theater can also leave a certain scope for adverse situations as well. Especially knowing that hiding identity or creating another identity is not too difficult to achieve. Also, the new ticketing system may be more convenient in certain ways, but is the convenience really worth to trade in your personal information (and get spam mails forever)? Like the article says, "Good or bad? Complicated."
I feel like this needs to be a reality series on TV called Ticket Wars. Imagine the scene, a young single mom trying to get what is best for her family of 4 kids versus the superfan down the street who just wants to buy the tickets to get them signed and then sell them on Ebay. Just another article about fans versus bots in the ticket wars world. The issue that I have with this is that while I can be listed as a verified fan, I am still not guaranteed a seat. The opposite of an airline ticket. Oh and if I do get a seat, there is no guarantee that it will be within my budget. I love seeing broadway shows, but hey, I’m currently a college kid so my funds are tight. I wouldn’t be able to afford a 500$ ticket. What I would like to see is that yes, let’s allow people to become a verified fan, but let’s not force them into the premium seats. Give them the option of buying seats that they can afford. You are still selling the seats and allowing people to pay what they can. Obviously I wouldn’t expect a premium seat at a discount price, but at least allow me to choose. Based on the name and theme of the show, I doubt it will go a night where there are empty seats.
After reading the article last week about how bots are making ticket buying into a weird scam scenario, this new system seems to have a good idea about how to avoid bots. I’m sure programmers will eventually figure out a way to work around the new protocol, but for now, there at least won’t be scalpers scooping up all the tickets.
This new lottery to be allowed to buy tickets will probably make people more willing to spend tons of money on tickets because you will feel like you are winning. It seems a lot like the psychology behind keeping people gambling.
This semester we have come back time and again to the price of Broadway (and other tours) tickets. I can’t fathom spending $400 dollars on tickets even for essentially two shows. This may be because we work in the theatre and can usually get in for free because we worked on a show or have friends who did. I think it’s a great idea, however to create a mini Harry Potter land connected to the theatre. The author is right: people would go just to see the decoration and feel immersed in a fantasy world even without seeing the show.
I find it pretty exciting that ticket master is finally taking a stance on fighting bots, as it seemed previously that many of their high-profile events were often drowned in bots, raising prices to inconceivable heights. It always seemed like they cared about the bot issue, but never took any real action other than just placing further captcha requirements and time limits. This is the first real action I've seen by ticket master that could actually have a significant positive impact on the use of bots in ticket buying. My only concern with this is that they seem to be only using this tactic on shows that are incredibly high in demand, which seems somewhat counterintuitive as those shows are likely to have ticket prices skyrocket immediately following the initial sale, regardless of whether or not they were all bought by bots or not, as the show is so popular. I would like to see this "verified fan" tactic (but perhaps with a different name should the show not have enough popularity to justify using that title) used on shows that have a lower starting ticket price but are often overtaken by bots anyway, creating an extremely high virtual demand.
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