That aisle seat will cost you
Just like airlines, many performing arts venues are beginning to charge more to allow ticket holders to stretch out their legs.
The idea of charging a premium for desirable seats, as Northwest Airlines and US Airways do for aisle and exit-row seats, is catching on with symphonies, ballets, operas and theater companies.
And consumers lining up to buy tickets to “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol” and holiday concerts this month may as well get used to it.
“Demand pricing” is taking hold, said Alice Kornhauser, marketing director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. “If people are willing to pay more for an aisle seat, then it’s pretty irresponsible from a business standpoint not to charge.”
Pricing strategies are especially important this time of the year: Holiday productions typically account for up to 50% of annual ticket sales for symphonies, ballets, operas and theater companies, said Joanne Steller from Target Resource Group.
Colorado-based TRG, which advises nonprofit arts organizations, is working with the Portland orchestra and about 50 other organizations using the principles of demand pricing.
The results can be dramatic.
The Boston Ballet, for example, saw a $160,000 increase in revenues for its “Nutcracker” last year, largely from demand-based price adjustments; in New York, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater used pricing adjustments that helped boost revenues by $1.9 million over the past two years, TRG says.
“It should not be a surprise that arts organizations use sound business principles to have a more substantial financial foundation,” Steller said. After all, other businesses, including airlines and ho- tels, have based their pric- ing on demand for years, she said.
Arts organizations, for their part, also have practiced some form of demand pricing, typically by charging more for the most popular performances.
Thus, certain performances may be discounted, while others are not. The obvious example is the matinee performance, which is traditionally discounted.
These days, the principles of demand pricing increasingly apply to rate structures for seating.
In the arts community, it’s known as “scaling the house.”
In New York, Jujamcyn Theatres, owner of five theaters on Broadway, began charging up to $25 extra per ticket for some pairs of aisle seats over the summer. Jujamcyn could not be reached for comment.
In older, cramped theaters, in particular, theatergoers may be willing to pay more for extra knee room, or the ability to slip away without crawling over others.
In Portland, symphony officials studied seating charts at the 1,900-seat Merrill Auditorium. After analyzing historical buying patterns, the symphony this year began charging more for popular seats while keep- ing the same spread of prices from high to low, Kornhauser said.
Pricing is not always based on the best view of the stage. For example, some concertgoers who sat far in the back, getting a value seat while enjoying the hall’s best acoustics, are now paying more. And, of course, some aisle seats now command a premium price. Other aisle seats are priced the same as before.
Also, symphony officials discovered that the kid-friendly matinees are actually most popular. Thus, the discounts don’t apply to those performances.
The pricing formula means someone paying $55 for an aisle seat may be seated next to someone who paid $40. And someone at the matinee performance may pay more than someone at the evening performance.
But there’s a method to the madness, said Kornhauser, who came to Portland a few years ago from New York’s Lincoln Center. “Part of marketing is geeking out on numbers and percentages and things like that.”
