American Conservatory Theater Case Study

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American Conservatory Theater found within their research that there was a large number of "Sudden Subscribers" to their theater. Confusion as to why individuals would subscribe to their theater having not previously visited prompted some of their initial research. Subscription has stuck around and continues to produce revenue for organizations, revenue upon which they are still very much dependent. Different individuals decide to subscribe to organizations or newsletters, etc, for many different reasons. Willingly deciding to pay $50 a person for a theater subscription without first experiencing a performance at said theater could occur at any point by any individual. If someone moves to an area and is actively looking for activities to do, they may decide to subscribe to a theater. After all, if theater is enjoyable to them, it makes more sense to subscribe and save money in the long run if you are greatly into the arts and see yourself attending many shows. In this case, ACT offers subscribers seven shows for the price of six. Deals often entice consumers and will have them believing that they are receiving a good deal and should make the purchase.

These "sudden" subscribers however, differ from that of the "continual" and "gradual" subscribers. Many "sudden" subscribers are middle aged, which infers that they are most likely just starting a family, or have younger children and are also working 40 or more hours a week in a steady career. Many "sudden subscribers" also have attend the least amount of cultural events such as ballets or operas. Motivation behind making or attending theatre is ultimately driven by the desire to satisfy deep-set values, and the literature on satisfaction can therefore serve to illuminate the motivations behind arts attendance (Walmsley, n.d.). Due to the fact that these subscribers are middle aged, it can also be inferred that they are more likely to make a purchase on a whim which can explain why they have a sudden subscription to the theater unlike "Continual" or "Gradual" subscribers which are shown to have a slightly higher median age, and are more purchase conscious.

In the process of completing this research, ACT uncovers various differences among the three groups that they have split their subscribers into; Continuous, Gradual and Sudden. Continuous subscribers are subscribers who are repeat subscribers and constantly subscribe to the theater. Gradual subscribers are subscribers who have attended the theater previously, perhaps several times prior to making the decision to subscribe to the theater. Sudden subscribers are subscribers whom have not previously attended shows at the theater and decide to begin their subscription regardless. All three groups of subscribers have different paths that were taken prior to their decision to subscribe to the American Conservatory Theater.

The theater took a closer look at these three groups within their research and uncovered various demographic differences as well as different initial reasons for subscribing to the theater initially. Continual subscribers were shown to hold the longest residence within the area, while Sudden subscribers have the shortest residence time. This makes sense in the fact that the Continual subscribers have experienced many shows by the theater while residing in the area and thus continuously subscribe to the theater. Gradual subscribers have attended the most cultural events out of the three groups, thus showing that they have “tested the waters” of other cultural events such as ballets and operas prior to deciding to subscribe to the theater.

When focusing on the benefits associated with subscribing to ACT, the three groups also differed quite a bit with their reasons for subscribing. Sudden subscribers found the idea of having a guaranteed ticket one of the lesser reasons behind their initial subscription to the theater. Continual subscribers stood almost 4% over Gradual subscribers and about 6% over Sudden subscribers when it came to supporting the arts as a reason to subscribing to the theater. Continual also has the lowest percentage when it comes to being more certain to attend, which highlights their want to support the arts regardless if they will attend all shows purchased.

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Sources:

Aaker, David A.; Kumar, V.; Leone, Robert P.; Day, George S. Marketing Research, 12th Edition. Kindle Edition.

Cox, G. (2013). Legit Theater: Why It's Too Simple Just to Say the Audience is Dwindling. Retrieved December 02, 2016, from http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/legit-theater-audience-dwindling-1200827636/

Robinson, J. (2015, January 26). Inconveniently, subscriptions still sustain the arts. Retrieved December 03, 2016, from http://www.trgarts.com/Blog/BlogPost/tabid/136/ArticleId/289/Inconveniently-subscriptions-still-sustain-the-arts.aspx

Standard, P. (2016). Boom & Bust: Inside the Rapidly Expanding World of Subscription Services. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from https://psmag.com/boom-bust-inside-the-rapidly-expanding-world-of-subscription-services-66d377c029f4

Timberg, S. (2014). The High Cost of Theater, and Defending Gatekeepers. Retrieved December 02, 2016, from http://www.artsjournal.com/culturecrash/2014/02/the-high-cost-of-theater-and-defending-gatekeepers.html

Walmsley, BA (2011) Why People Go to The Theater: A Qualitative Study of Audience Motivation. Journal of Customer Behavior, 10 (4). 335-351.