Dynamic Ticket Pricing and Revenue Management in the Live Entertainment industry: findings from interviews and customer surveys

Abstract

This paper is the result of a collaboration with Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the object is to analyze the Dynamic Ticket Pricing applied in the live entertainment industry with an emphasis placed in the opera houses’ polices. The research starts with a literature review on the Revenue Management and Dynamic Pricing definitions, origins, and prerequisites. The study then proceeds highlighting the specificities of the pricing policies applied in the live entertainment sector and some experiences taking into consideration sport, movie theater, concert and opera houses cases. The paper ends with a qualitative research conducted thorough targeted interviews and online surveys aimed at gathering data to analyze Dynamic Ticket Pricing strategies applied by major opera houses around the world and the spectators’ perceptions toward the ticket categories and the price fluctuations. The purpose of the qualitative research is the identification of differences and similarities between the strategic pricing policies applied by the different opera houses and, in conjunction with the results of the spectators’ surveys, the identification of optimal ticket policies able to maximize revenue, attendance and attendees’ satisfaction.