Proshot Broadway: Maximizing Profit in the Theater

There has been a large argument about whether or not Broadway shows should be professionally filmed and released. Many fans argue it gives people more access to the shows, while others argue that theater is best experienced live. But what are the economics of the situation?

I personally believe that if professionally recorded shows were released to the public, similarly to how movies are released on DVD after the movie is shown in theaters, that this would bring in more profits for Broadway.

How would proshots, or professionally shot musicals, do this? Firstly, they would give access to Broadway shows to people who wouldn’t have spent money to see them live. Depending on the show, tickets on Broadway can be hundreds of dollars. People also have to drive to the venues and make time to watch the show. There are people who don’t have time, money, or the transportation to do any of these things. With a proshot, these people could pay much less money to see these shows. And importantly, they’re now paying for the shows. Rather than make $300 or $0 from a person, Broadway could suddenly be making $15-$20 per person in an untapped market.

This strategy would also help stop the spread of illegal videos of the shows, or bootlegs. With a bootleg, people can get the show for free, but the quality is often very bad and the websites to get these recordings can give your computer a virus. Plenty of fans would much rather pay for a professional looking HD version of their show, especially if they are supporting something they love by paying for it.

Proshots could also cause exposure to broadway, bringing in more people who had never heard of the shows otherwise. Someone who has never heard of Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera is unlikely to spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket to see them. But someone who paid $10 to see a recording might realize they really like the show and want to see it live.

Google trends shows that when the Newsies proshot was released in 2017, there was a huge spike in popularity for searching the term up, and there are still occasional spikes in popularity.

(This graph uses a scale that shows searches from the last 5 years)

A similar thing happened to Legally Blonde: The Musical when it was filmed for MTV in 2007.

(This graph uses a scale that shows searches from 2004 until now)

Overall, Broadway shows could actually make more money from filming and releasing their shows. They could get sales from people who would have never paid hundreds of dollars for tickets in the first place, getting money from a new source. They could also expose more people to Broadway, thus getting more ticket sales in general.

There is a counter argument saying that if people could just watch musicals at home, why would they buy theater tickets? One only has to look at sports games and movie theaters to see that even if something is easy to watch at home, people will go out of their way to pay more money to see it.

Broadway should release proshots of their musicals. It’s the economically sound thing to do.