In Friday’s (2/24) Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Maloney writes, “Following Broadway’s record-breaking success with flexible ticket pricing, the Metropolitan Opera will adopt a new pricing system next season, boosting the cost of the most sought-after seats and lowering the cheapest ticket price to $20 from $25, the opera said. On average, single ticket prices will increase by 7.6% and subscriptions by 4.2%, opera general manager Peter Gelb said in an interview discussing the 2012-13 season. More than a third of the Met’s 3,800 seats will be available for less than $100. Mr. Gelb said the company’s shift to so-called dynamic pricing—which started in a more limited way this season—was prompted by the Met’s desire to bring as many people as possible into the opera house, and at the same time to maximize revenue. … By adding new zones in the house and adjusting ticket prices according to demand, the company hopes to increase revenue by 1% to 1.5%, said Lisa Mallory, assistant manager for marketing and communications. Donations for the fiscal year that ended last July supported 43% of the Met’s $325 million operating budget, which the company balanced for the first time in seven years, thanks in part to $11 million in profit from its HD broadcasts in movie theaters around the world.”
Posted Febraury 24, 2012
