THE THEATRICAL PUBLIC OF NEW RUSSIA THE THEATRICAL PUBLIC OF NEW RUSSIA Moscow, 2010 Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Art Theatre School The State Institute for Arts Studies Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Art Theatre School The State Institute for Arts Studies Some results of the sociological surveys Alexander Ushkarev

The attempts to increase a sales volume and growth of theatres’ own incomes become the dominant trends in commercial activity of the theatres Why do we do it? Subsidies “Does the public exist for the theatre or the theatre exist for the public?” Incomes

What is the theatrical public?

The typology of the theatre audience The theatre audience is not homogeneous People do not behave identically

For this part of the buyers all the artistic products are the substitutes The audience preferring theater to any other kinds of arts or other forms of entertainment The motivation of their cultural choice is already associated with the need to go to a specific theater Particular interest in a specific plays Individual concern to the creators of the performance – its directors and performers S-5 The typology of the theater audience S-4 S-3 S-2 S-1

The typical structure of the theatre market Consumer groups at the theatre market SegmentsS-1S-2S-3S-4S-5 Share (%)37,224,220,814,03,8

Consumer groups Total S -1S - 2S - 3S - 4S - 5 SEX Men27,525,924,221,719,425,3 Women72,574,175,878,380,674,7 Total100 AGE Till 138,77,07,76,63,07, ,418,718,915,913,418, ,620,921,127,729,922, ,017,419,414,714,219, ,218,117,515,318,716, ,114,811,715,717,912,6 61 and older3,1 3,74,12,93,4 Total100 EDUCATION Secondary41,233,330,426,317,234,0 Special19,715,815,413,911,916,8 Higher39,150,954,359,870,949,2 Total100 PROFESSION Children23,021,219,115,013,320,6 Students3,46,68,511,013,36,4 Workers25,612,810,67,0-16,3 Civil servants12,613,311,710,013,312,3 Intellectuals19,928,135,141,04028,3 Pensioners5,111,99,68,013,38,3 Others10,45,4 8,06,87,8 Total100 Consumer groups and the socio-demographic characteristics of the theater audience Consumer groups and the socio-demographic characteristics of the theater audience

The higher the selectivity of the consumers so fewer the consumers and the more often they visit the theatre The theatre goers of the first two groups (about 62% of the theater audience) do not feel any dependence from the specific theatres or the creators. And consequently switching to substitutes for theatre is the most probable reaction of these consumers to a rise in prices. About 38% of theater goers have the determined theatrical requirements. This tendency creates conditions for monopolization of an artistic product. The structure of the audience and the consumers’ activity

Motivation for visiting the theatre Desire to rest and spending time with pleasure is the main reason for visiting the theatre today Motives Proportion of positive responses (%) Desire to rest and spend time with pleasure52,3 Friends' or relatives’ advice23,6 Plot of the play23,4 Interest in creators of the production18,1 Preferred genre or type of performance12,8 Other factors11,9 Visit theatre with the child8,7 Advertising of the performance7,9 Specifics of the staging4,6 No response1,8

Repertoire preferences Theatre public in general Participation of popular actors is the main repertoire preference for all groups of consumers especially for groups with low selectivity. Consumers with high selectivity have a more variety and balanced structure of preferences. Repertoire preferencesS-1S-2S-3S-4S-5Total Participation of popular actors 38,631,930,631,927,433,3 Staginess of the performance31,831,328,021,620,228,3 The experimental staging8,810,110,410,916,010,3 Classic play 13,716,018,518,618,716,5 Staging of the popular director7,110,612,517,217,711,6 The Moscow Art Theatre public

Why the theatre leaders were not ready to raise in prices for theater tickets (The results of theatre leaders’ survey, 1994) Pricing policy of the Russian theatres Justification of the behaviorSignificance Traditions, experience and the habitual practice of previous years 28% The risk of reducing the accessibility of the theater to certain social groups 71% Falling attendance at the performances50% About 85% of consumers was ready to pay a higher price

Dynamics of the average price of attendance (rubles) 45RUR ≈ £1 Pricing policy of the Russian theatres

Dynamics of the average prices of attendance in some of Moscow theatres Some of the Moscow theatres Average price of visit Growth index Federal theatres ,5 Maly Theatre ,7 Moscow Art Theatre ,5 Vakhtangov Theatre ,2 Theatre “Satiricon” ,0 Municipal theatres ,5 Moscow Operetta ,8 Mossoviet’s Theatre ,1 Mayakovsky’s Theatre ,4 “Lencom” ,6 Satire Theatre ,2 “Sovremennik” ,7 Tabakov’s Theatre ,3 Russia in general ,6 Pricing policy of the Russian theatres

The information channels and the channels of ticket purchase Audience of The Moscow Art Theatre (Proportion of positive responses) (%) Consumer groups & Marketing elements Information channels Significance (%) The friends and relatives 35,1 Repertoire mailing3,2 Press (newspapers, magazines) 7,2 Special theatrical editions12,6 TV & Radio5,8 Outdoor advertising13,6 Internet5,5 Something else15,6 No response1,4 Total100,0 Channels of tickets distribution Significance (%) Theatre box office47,1 City box office (dealers)10,9 Distributors19,7 Ticket skinners5,2 Internet2,1 Somewhere else13,4 No response1,6 Total100,0 The main channel of ticket purchase is the theatre box office. Total significance of Internet in ticket purchase is still negligible The opinion of the friends and relatives is the basis of the information component of the marketing strategy of the Russian theatres today

Consumer groups & Information channels Consumer groups & Marketing elements Audience of The Moscow Art Theatre (Proportion of positive responses) (%) Information channels Consumer groups Total S-1S-2S-3S-4S-5 Friends and relatives45,338,634,728,423,337,8 Repertoire mailing2,93,63,13,65,33,4 Press5,056,98,811,614,27,8 Special theatrical editions8,812,815,619,225,513,6 TV & Radio4,25,47,48,410,76,1 Outdoor advertising13,314,415,616,417,214,7 Internet4,55,26,58,29,55,9 Something else1818,0316,0114,614,516,8 No response2,021,51,170,80,71,5 Total100 To expand the audience we can rely on “the viral marketing”. To improve the audience structure we should use targeted advertisement in special theatrical journals.

The theatrical public of new Russia THANK YOU!