Chapter 5 (Promotion and Marketing):
How important is the Hispanic audience to Broadway? According to Univision Communications, more and more every year. In a report provided to the Broadway League (producers and theatre owners association), Univision stated that nationwide, Hispanics (Spanish-dominant or bilingual) spent $59.6 billion on entertainment in 2017 plus $87 billion on food and alcoholic beverages away from home. And the IHS Global Insight Hispanic Market Monitor anticipates a 40% growth in this figures.
New York Hispanics spent $4.3 billion on entertainment last year and nearly 65% attended a Broadway show. 32% attended an Off-Broadway show. The "average" Hispanic attendee saw 5.1 events in the past year. Non Hispanics saw just 3/9 live events.
Hamilton and John Leguizamo aside, there's not much Hispanic representation on our stages. And still Hispanic audiences are going to see live entertainment in huge numbers. They are 36% more likely to learn about live events from commercials. And Hispanic Theatregoers tend to skew younger. 39% are between the ages of 18 and 34. This is a serious consideration when discussing building our audiences.
Chapter 10 (Producing & Investing):
Investors in producer Scott Rudin’scelebrated revival of Hello, Dolly! (starring Bette Midler) that ended its intended limited engagement at the end of Summer 2018, have earned a profit of 10 percent, according to two people familiar with the production. (A note said more was on the way.)
For angels seeking prestige, glamour and the satisfaction of helping to create a revival worthy of the iconic, 1964 original, Dolly!delivered and made them money. Others, however, expected more from a production that’s grossed $126 million.
The larger context is the background behind the complaints from investors. In order to get a piece of Dolly's pie, most investors were required to put money into riskier projects on the producer's slate, too. According to them, even a 15% profit on Dolly wouldn't cover half the losses taken on Tony- winner A Doll's House, Part 2orThe Glass Menagerie (starring Sally Field), both of which closed last year.
An important lesson about "limited runs with famous names leading the cast." The answer may rest with why investors invest at all. Is it a producer's charm, the producer's claims of success, an investor's gullibility, the inherent risk of a Broadway show, or does the investor really believe they are going to make a lot of money?
Chapter 10 (Producing & Investing):
Lindy’s Deli on 7th Avenue, in Manhattan, is where some Broadway actors discussed their common observation that the longer any single play ran on Broadway, the longer it would run in regional theatres and anywhere off Broadway. It’s believed that this effect is relevant for Bitcoins as well. An asset gains a sort of stamina as it continues to survive against the odds, thereby demonstrating strength and the ability to attain longevity. Broadway, for example, is a competitive environment. People have evolving tastes, there are always different shows vying for the best audiences, and as a show ages it gets more difficult to sustain.
The longer a show has run on Broadway, the more credibility and notoriety is has earned. Off Broadway/Regional stages are eager to reproduce it in their own towns, lending longevity to the play. Both Bitcoin and a Broadway play are "unperishable ideas." On Broadway, the best shows run for decades regardless of where they are or who plays the main roles. A few prominent blockchain ideas also “survive” in this manner and are able to persist despite increasing friction in the market—but the comparison isn’t perfect.
And so statistician, author, and former trader Nassim Taleb writes in his book "Antifragile." He calls this "The Lindy Effect" (comparing Broadway shows to Bitcoin evolutionary factors). Just another opinion...
# # #