If you’re new to the blog, then welcome to my quarterly analysis of Broadway grosses and attendance (The big-boy businesses on the Dow look at their “earnings” on a quarterly basis, so why not us, right?).  It’s pretty simple, actually.  At the end of each 13 week cycle (the first of which starts the week after the Tony Awards), I take a look at how we’re doing so far, compared to where we were last year.

If you’re not new to the blog, don’t worry, this quarterly report will seem new, because you’ve never seen numbers like this before.

Here we go . . . halfway through the 2014-15 season and . . .

GROSSES

• The tally so far this season is:  $667,471,431.
• Last season at the end of Q2 we had grossed $589,000,963.
• That’s a teenage increase of 13.3% for the Broadway season so far.  (This is why it’s really good to be a theater owner, since part of their rent is a % of the gross.)

ATTENDANCE

• 6,463,796 people have seen Broadway shows so far this season.
• 5,687,756 people had seen Broadway shows at this point last year.
• That’s a 13.6% increase over last year.  Yeah, that’s right, almost another eight hundred thousand people saw shows this year over last year!

PLAYING WEEKS

• There were 793 playing weeks after the second quarter this year.
• There were 685 playing weeks after the second quarter last year.
• That’s a massive increase of 15.8%.  In other words, there are a crap-ton of shows on the boards right now.

So?

Things are going well.  To say the least.  Grosses are up, and attendance is up as well (it’s when gross is up and attendance is flat you know you’re not building your brand).

Part of the big bump comes from that crap-ton of shows that are on the boards right now, but hey, who cares what gets the horse to water, as long as it drinks . . . and preferably from one of those $12 sippy cups all the theaters sell at their concession stands.

We’ve got another half a season left, though.  Do you think these gains will hold up (we already gave back a few percentage points from the end of Q1)?

Honestly, I don’t think we can sustain these gains, even with the packed-house spring coming up.  I’m predicting both attendance and grosses to be up by the end of the year for sure, but I’d put the gains in the single digits instead of the doubles.

But what do you think?  Tell me in the comments below.

(Got a comment? I love ‘em, so comment below! Email Subscribers, click here then scroll down to say what’s on your mind!)