Dynamic Pricing In Action

[showgirl]

We know some theatres do this, though not all publicise the fact and some seem to use it as a threat to scare people into booking - and as we also know (Latecomer commented only today), prices can fall as well as rise, catching out early bookers.

However, at the new Nuffield Theatre in central Southampton, I've seen the top-price matinee ticket rise by £8 (from £36 to £44) in a matter of days - and I don't suppose £36 was the original price for those seats, either.  That does seem quite steep for a midweek matinee and for a play not likely to appeal to school groups but clearly they've had no problem almost selling out, so good luck to the theatre, if not to my bank balance if I succumb!

[Mark]

I got a £25 box seat for Long Days Journey yesterday about an hour before the show.
Equally I've gotten Kinky Boots dress circle for £20 last minute when dynamic pricing has kicked in, and Girl from North Country for £15 in previews when it first opened, also on the day. Labour of Love prime stalls for £10 about an hour before the show during previews.

[andrew]

Feb 19, 2018 15:11:15 GMT Mark said:

I got a £25 box seat for Long Days Journey yesterday about an hour before the show.
Equally I've gotten Kinky Boots dress circle for £20 last minute when dynamic pricing has kicked in, and Girl from North Country for £15 in previews when it first opened, also on the day. Labour of Love prime stalls for £10 about an hour before the show during previews.

Were those last minute tickets from The website or from the box office? It’s maybe no more than semantics, but ‘Day seat’ pricing is not the same thing in my book as dynamic pricing. I’m always happy when the prices go down though, no matter how a tickets bought...

[Mark]

I bought my Girl from north country one online. I know for Labour of Love they were available online but I was in the area anyway. Kinky Boots was available online also but again, was in the area (we’d lost the Mormon lottery)

I think the only real “last minute reduction” from that lot was my long days journey ticket, but they’re not official dayseats.

[charliec]

Early in Groundhog Day previews I went quite a few times after getting v last minute premium tickets at £21 down from £90! The Old Vic is great at making some seats really cheap on the day of performance, especially during previews. Did the same for Christmas Carol.

[wickedgrin]

I have become fascinated regarding dynamic pricing in the West End.

Delfont Mackintosh use this system a lot on their website for their theatres.

But recently I have experienced this using Today Tix Rush tickets for Company for £25 sat in the centre of row D in the Dress - a seat usually priced at £99.50 Premium and on the Today Tix app (not rush) a discount seat for Dreamgirls Row F of the stalls for £35 - a seat usually £85 -£100. Now I'm certainly not complaining and I would recommend others to search out these deals, but I am fascinated how this works for the producers.

Obviously the situation at the last minute is that they don't want unsold seats in prime positions in the theatre and they discount to fill these, but clearly they have over estimated the demand at that price for that particular production - but could probably have sold them all for say £70 top price as opposed to £100 premium.

It clearly pays them to do this though that if they sell enough seats at the premium price and sell the last remaining few at a huge discount the revenue must be more than just having top prices?

But at Dreamgirls the other evening despite a very full mid week evening performance there were plenty of empty seats around me in the "premium" section but the back of the stalls were packed! 

I wonder what the tipping point is? 

Company is very undersold on the website - still at top dollar but when I have attended it seems packed - there must be some discounting going on?

It's very confusing. I think it puts off a lot of people who would like to go and see (say) Company and see the best seats are £100 - £135 and simply don't book. The rest of us seem to spend an awful lot of time fishing out bargains!!!!

It cannot make sense to sell prime seats for £25 though - is the dynamic pricing bubble bursting with a resistance to paying such prices. Personally I think producers can only get away with it if they have a HUGE hit currently Hamilton and Harry Potter, and demand FAR outstrips supply. The rest of the shows - if the prices are too high, folk either don't go or see something else.

[Deleted]

This week on the Manchester Arena website, I saw tickets drop three pounds every row away from the front of the stage. Not seen that before.

[Jon]

There’s an interesting article from the New York Times from a few years ago about how Disney uses dynamic pricing for The Lion King and shows how it can done well:

www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/theater/ticket-pricing-puts-lion-king-atop-broadways-circle-of-life.amp.html

[talkingheads]

I booked to see King Hedley at Theatre Royal Stratford East next year on the day of release and got two front row seats for £20.

[Deleted]

Wicked UK Tour. At ATG venues, they have been dropping the price of any unsold seats to £25, which is a steal.

[Deleted]

I'd love to know how the algorithms work. How they set up at what time prices change and by how much and also whether clicks and uncompleted purchases influence price changes.

Company, to stick with the example provided earlier, were dropping prices the night before each performance but that seems to have stopped now.

[joem]

Nov 12, 2018 14:22:33 GMT @remark said:

I'd love to know how the algorithms work. How they set up at what time prices change and by how much and also whether clicks and uncompleted purchases influence price changes.

Company, to stick with the example provided earlier, were dropping prices the night before each performance but that seems to have stopped now.

I am almost certain that multiple searches for a flight on a particular date puts up prices, at least temporarily, on the BA website so I assume the same can happen on any "dynamic pricing" (another of those wonderful euphemisms where something bad is presented as something good) website.

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2018 15:32:13 GMT joem said:

Nov 12, 2018 14:22:33 GMT @remark said:

I'd love to know how the algorithms work. How they set up at what time prices change and by how much and also whether clicks and uncompleted purchases influence price changes.

Company, to stick with the example provided earlier, were dropping prices the night before each performance but that seems to have stopped now.

I am almost certain that multiple searches for a flight on a particular date puts up prices, at least temporarily, on the BA website so I assume the same can happen on any "dynamic pricing" (another of those wonderful euphemisms where something bad is presented as something good) website.

Yes I can confirm, from first hand experience, that does occur for flights having sat with family on different computers over a number of days pricing up trips. I also suspect the same would come into play with Dynamic pricing but I've not noticed it with Company which twice now I've checked seats for a particular performance daily for 7 days up to the performance and not noticed a price increase.
I dare say maybe the more popular performances (Fri/Sat Night) this can occur though.

[TallPaul]

Reviving an old thread. This is the view of Cast in Doncaster, which I suspect won't be introducing dynamic pricing any time soon!  (Sorry it's quite long, but I didn't feel it was my place to make cuts.)

We've all seen it in theatre brochures up and down the country "tickets from £13" but for who?

Nationally, the industry has seen a range of ticketing shake ups in recent years. Everything from changes to concessions, Pay What You Decide performances, the publication of booking fees, restoration levies and controversially, the recent wave of venues employing Dynamic Pricing.

Dynamic Pricing is when theatres charge different prices for the same ticket based on demand. Increasingly we're seeing theatres increase prices when demand is strong, but we think this unfairly penalises vulnerable customers.

Consumers should not have jump through hoops to avoid feeling ripped off. Even for those who would like to get the best price, often the choice of where to sit, when to book and additional fees can be baffling.

For vulnerable customers, in areas of low engagement like Doncaster, there are multiple barriers in place preventing local people from accessing the theatre. For elderly customers, or those with disabilities, mental ill health, children, complex lives or with English as a second language, a trip to the theatre needs a lot of courage, determination and planning. Navigating the online booking process or plucking up the courage to pick up the phone can be a big thing for people.

Paradoxically, one of the issues with organising a trip to the theatre is that there’s so much to organise, especially if you have additional needs. Customers simply have no choice but to go away and come back again to book. With dynamic pricing structures, by the time the customer returns, the price may have changed — and it’s too confusing. While a customer is sorting the transport, contacting their carer, arranging a baby sitter or checking their bank balance the ticket price could be slowly ticking up and up.

Dynamic Pricing penalises customers who need additional support to attend, while savvy shoppers and experienced theatre goers get the best prices. As a charitable sector, can we say that we’re removing barriers for audiences, and dynamically pricing in the same breath?

And apart from anything else, it's just dishonest. Having a number of limited tickets available at the cheapest price and then advertising that as the only price in your brochure is just a lie.

When Cast opened in 2013, part of our values included a simple structure in every space with one price band only, and we still adopt that policy. This strategy doesn’t come without risk, obviously. As a charity, we subsidise customer’s tickets on average by around 40% and one price house approaches don’t allow for those in a position to pay more to do so.

We’ve made a number of changes to the pricing in the last few years. In 2016 we changed the way we communicate our booking fee, absorbing it into the overall price to make it clearer for customers. And in 2018 we implemented our Under 26 price, which replaced traditional concessions including over 60s. This was well-timed with the relaunch of our Carer Ticket programme, which offers a free ticket to anyone in need of a carer, no questions asked. Concessions don't indicate an ability to pay, and by presenting an Under 26 price, we’ve been able to better communicate with customers our charitable reasoning behind discounts.

Our responsibility to distribute cheaper tickets for those most at need is a point of pride for our theatre. For most events we have a series of tickets available at rock bottom rates (around £3 to £5) for the hardest to reach in our community. This way we can make sure our cheapest go where they are needed most, distributed through closed network of targeted groups. If you'd like more information about this scheme please contact Nicola Doyle at [e-mail].

More action is needed as a sector to drive simplification, and much more transparency is needed in pricing for all but especially the hardest to reach - and I'm sorry, but Dynamic Pricing is just wrong.

When theatres advertise tickets from £15 and customers end up paying £36 - something's up.

Sian Booth Head of Marketing and Communications, Cast

[marob]

I agree with that completely. I hate dynamic pricing. It does leave me feeling like I've been ripped off.

I just got stung booking for My Beautiful Laundrette at Birmingham Rep. I checked the website a couple of weeks back and any seat was £10. I should have booked there and then, but with so many unsold seats I put it off until this week when the cheapest seat I could find was £19. Their system wouldn't let me leave a single though, so instead had to go for a £23.50 seat further back. Then get further into the booking and find a £2.50 transaction fee on top.

The performance was still billed as "from £10" which is technically correct, but a bit misleading, no mention of dynamic pricing on the show page.

[justfran]

Interesting reading, thanks for sharing TallPaul

[BurlyBeaR]

“Dynamic pricing is racketeering. It’s wrong” says ALW

http://instagram.com/p/DAlI_FGRIvW

[marob]

Well said. But wasn’t Sunset one of the more extortionately priced shows using the dynamic pricing model?

[Jon]

A lot of theatres use dynamic pricing such as Theatre Royal Stratford East but they're upfront about it, it's not the same as Ticketmaster doing it within the same booking opening.

[pineapple4you]

Oct 8, 2024 11:42:38 GMT marob said:

Well said. But wasn’t Sunset one of the more extortionately priced shows using the dynamic pricing model?

I'm not sticking up for Lloyd Webber but that has a lot to do with ATG producing it. It's the reason why Sunset is the most expensive average ticket on Broadway now like Merrily was before it. They are one of the greediest out there.

[distantcousin]

Oct 8, 2024 15:18:35 GMT pineapple4you said:

Oct 8, 2024 11:42:38 GMT marob said:

Well said. But wasn’t Sunset one of the more extortionately priced shows using the dynamic pricing model?

I'm not sticking up for Lloyd Webber but that has a lot to do with ATG producing it. It's the reason why Sunset is the most expensive average ticket on Broadway now like Merrily was before it. They are one of the greediest out there.

And not defending ATG in any way, but I have noticed the aspect of dynamic that one mostly never sees - in that for Mandy Gonzalez performances seem to be bringing up some comparatively (for Broadway prices) bargain tickets....

[max]

I disagree with Dynamic Pricing for Subsidised Theatre. I think audiences there take risks, often with new or obscure work. They buy their ticket and may come away saying 'ho hum, that one didn't really work'. But when that theatre then has a success on its hands and those same faithful go to book and find the price has ratcheted up - it's a kick in the teeth for the local audience community's previous leaps of faith.

Don't do it!

[Jon]

Oct 10, 2024 17:25:40 GMT max said:

I disagree with Dynamic Pricing for Subsidised Theatre. I think audiences there take risks, often with new or obscure work. They buy their ticket and may come away saying 'ho hum, that one didn't really work'. But when that theatre then has a success on its hands and those same faithful go to book and find the price has ratcheted up - it's a kick in the teeth for the local audience community's previous leaps of faith.

Don't do it!

Subsidised Theatres do need to make money though and a hit production can help balance the books

[parsley1]

f*** me

Look at the pricing for Earnest at the NT

It’s basically sold out more than a month before is starts

Top stalls are £110

[max]

Oct 10, 2024 20:46:36 GMT Jon said:

Oct 10, 2024 17:25:40 GMT max said:

I disagree with Dynamic Pricing for Subsidised Theatre. I think audiences there take risks, often with new or obscure work. They buy their ticket and may come away saying 'ho hum, that one didn't really work'. But when that theatre then has a success on its hands and those same faithful go to book and find the price has ratcheted up - it's a kick in the teeth for the local audience community's previous leaps of faith.

Don't do it!

Subsidised Theatres do need to make money though and a hit production can help balance the books

Fair point.  Though I always used to say that if you go to your subsidised local theatre you've already paid 3 times.  Once through general taxation, again through local taxation, and once again for the ticket charge. [That's less true now that few councils have kept up their subsidy ot the local ACE house]. I still think paying twice is enough.

I'd prefer to see subsidised theatres staging an undeniable banker for those much-needed 'balance the books' shows; rather than putting a last minute premium (via dynamic pricing) on shows that turn out to be a hit.