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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
'Playbill' Does A Quick Online Pivot As Theaters Remain Closed Due To COVID-19
NPR: Playbill, the program magazine given out at theaters, has been around for 136 years. It's not just a program, it's a cherished souvenir. "It has become kind of the best memento of your night out at the theater," says Alex Birsh, the company's vice president.
5 comments:
Katie Pyzowski
said...
It’s no surprise that like everyone else, Playbill has also had to pivot to an online format. I guess I had not really realized that Playbill was its own company, and I definitely did not know that they produced and printed the programs for theatres across the country for over a century at no cost. Given the massive amount of loss given the shutdown, it is admirable that the team is suddenly doing things they’ve never done before and far out of their comfort zone. I guess I am also not that surprised that the people intersecting with their content is up by over 50% because now that everyone cannot attend theatre in person, we are turning to any online content that can replace them. I would be interested to see how those viewer statistics change as live theatre returns, and if this company continues to generate larger amounts of online content and online events when Playbill returns to printing programs.
I truly had never known that Playbill had delivered their playbills for free to Broadway theaters. In normal times that must’ve been such a relief to producers to know that such a large expense would always be taken off their shoulders. Playbill.com is one of my all-time favorite websites, and it makes total sense to me that people are logging on to it now more than ever. Some days it seems like no one is paying attention to the art and entertainment industry other than artists, but logging on to Playbill.com is a great way to get up to date news and articles about how our community is functioning and handling the great challenges among us. I have always seen Playbill.com as a glimpse into New York City and the Broadway Community, and I am so happy to know that this is still ringing true for so many of its readers in the midst of the pandemic. Playbill.com is an amazing source to read new stories that matter to us and our industry, and not even COVID could stand in the way of that.
A good portions of the articles have been examining the dramatic pivots that companies have been having to make to survive the pandemic but this one caught my interest because it’s a bit outside of the typical industry company I would name off the top of my head but is obviously a major component of the industry. First off it was interesting for me to hear more about Playbill as a company because even though I knew about them I had never thought much on their role in the industry, but now I have a better idea of how the run and function both during the pandemic and beforehand. With that being said I think the work they’re doing is really exciting. The blow is obviously devastating to their normal operations but their switch to an online focus and the initiatives their creating are in my opinion are well suited to their audience base. Their results also speak for themselves their website is getting significantly more traffic and viewers in a period of time where some might consider the business obsolete.
I love that Playbill, though so used to physically printing and distributing their content, has found a way to digitize it all and still keep up. The accessibility of theatre has always been kind of an issue, which is why the selling and trading of Playbill programs started in the first place. I, personally, have a collection of over a hundred of said Playbill programs from shows either I myself, or one of my friends, have seen. I think that expanding their horizons to all people across the internet is a smart business choice not just in the pandemic, but for afterward too. This not only allows for themselves to get more exposure, but also for the theatre community as a whole. I follow Playbill on Instagram and they are doing a great job of keeping their audience engaged with quizzes, stories, and other videos to interact with. I hope they continue what they are doing even after COVID-19 cools down.
Although I understand the pandemic had severe ramifications for every area of the entertainment industry, it is still shocking to hear that well known names like Playbill have lost “75 to 80%” of their revenue. I am glad that this company was able to stay afloat due to their online involvement with the theater industry, but it put in perspective just how much lesser known companies must be struggling or even closing. I also wondered if these internet videos are maybe only a temporary fix until Broadway returns to normal, or if Playbill will continue to capitalize on the profit and make it a significant portion of their brand. I think it is likely Playbill will have a lot more involvement on the internet from now on based on the amount of profit it brings in, which will be interesting to see. Although the pandemic took away so much, it also gave an opportunity to companies like these to explore new mediums, and I think a lot of evolution will come out of it.
5 comments:
It’s no surprise that like everyone else, Playbill has also had to pivot to an online format. I guess I had not really realized that Playbill was its own company, and I definitely did not know that they produced and printed the programs for theatres across the country for over a century at no cost. Given the massive amount of loss given the shutdown, it is admirable that the team is suddenly doing things they’ve never done before and far out of their comfort zone. I guess I am also not that surprised that the people intersecting with their content is up by over 50% because now that everyone cannot attend theatre in person, we are turning to any online content that can replace them. I would be interested to see how those viewer statistics change as live theatre returns, and if this company continues to generate larger amounts of online content and online events when Playbill returns to printing programs.
I truly had never known that Playbill had delivered their playbills for free to Broadway theaters. In normal times that must’ve been such a relief to producers to know that such a large expense would always be taken off their shoulders. Playbill.com is one of my all-time favorite websites, and it makes total sense to me that people are logging on to it now more than ever. Some days it seems like no one is paying attention to the art and entertainment industry other than artists, but logging on to Playbill.com is a great way to get up to date news and articles about how our community is functioning and handling the great challenges among us. I have always seen Playbill.com as a glimpse into New York City and the Broadway Community, and I am so happy to know that this is still ringing true for so many of its readers in the midst of the pandemic. Playbill.com is an amazing source to read new stories that matter to us and our industry, and not even COVID could stand in the way of that.
A good portions of the articles have been examining the dramatic pivots that companies have been having to make to survive the pandemic but this one caught my interest because it’s a bit outside of the typical industry company I would name off the top of my head but is obviously a major component of the industry. First off it was interesting for me to hear more about Playbill as a company because even though I knew about them I had never thought much on their role in the industry, but now I have a better idea of how the run and function both during the pandemic and beforehand. With that being said I think the work they’re doing is really exciting. The blow is obviously devastating to their normal operations but their switch to an online focus and the initiatives their creating are in my opinion are well suited to their audience base. Their results also speak for themselves their website is getting significantly more traffic and viewers in a period of time where some might consider the business obsolete.
I love that Playbill, though so used to physically printing and distributing their content, has found a way to digitize it all and still keep up. The accessibility of theatre has always been kind of an issue, which is why the selling and trading of Playbill programs started in the first place. I, personally, have a collection of over a hundred of said Playbill programs from shows either I myself, or one of my friends, have seen. I think that expanding their horizons to all people across the internet is a smart business choice not just in the pandemic, but for afterward too. This not only allows for themselves to get more exposure, but also for the theatre community as a whole. I follow Playbill on Instagram and they are doing a great job of keeping their audience engaged with quizzes, stories, and other videos to interact with. I hope they continue what they are doing even after COVID-19 cools down.
Although I understand the pandemic had severe ramifications for every area of the entertainment industry, it is still shocking to hear that well known names like Playbill have lost “75 to 80%” of their revenue. I am glad that this company was able to stay afloat due to their online involvement with the theater industry, but it put in perspective just how much lesser known companies must be struggling or even closing. I also wondered if these internet videos are maybe only a temporary fix until Broadway returns to normal, or if Playbill will continue to capitalize on the profit and make it a significant portion of their brand. I think it is likely Playbill will have a lot more involvement on the internet from now on based on the amount of profit it brings in, which will be interesting to see. Although the pandemic took away so much, it also gave an opportunity to companies like these to explore new mediums, and I think a lot of evolution will come out of it.
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