In the calendar week 25 of 2025 (week ending June 22, 2025), attendance at Broadway shows in New York increased by ** percent compared to the same period of the previous year. As of that week, attendance at Broadway shows reached almost *******.

Total attendance at Broadway shows in New York increased in 2024/2025 over the previous season, reaching **** million. This figure, the second-highest reported over the period considered, represented a ** percent annual increase in attendance.

This library holds data about over Broadway shows, grouped over weeklong periods. Only shows that reported capacity were included, so the dataset stretches back to the 1990s. The dataset is made available by the Broadway League (the national trade association for the Broadway industry), and you can view the data online at http://www.broadwayleague.com/.

Data Dictionary

Key	List of...	Comment	Example Value
Date.Day	Integer	The day of the month that this performance's week ended on.	26
Date.Full	String	The full date representation that this performance's week ended on in "Month/Day/Year" format.	"8/26/1990"
Date.Month	Integer	The numeric month that this performance's week ended in (1 = January, 2 = February, etc.).	8
Date.Year	Integer	The year that this week of performances occurred in.	1990
Show.Name	String	The name of the production.	"Tru"
Show.Theatre	String	The name of the theatre.	"Booth"
Show.Type	String	Whether it is a "Musical", "Play", or "Special".	"Play"
Statistics.Attendance	Integer	The total number of people who attended performances over the week.	5500
Statistics.Capacity	Integer	The percentage of the theatre that was filled during that week.	88
Statistics.Gross	Integer	The "Gross Gross" of this performance, or how much it made in total across the entire week. Measured in dollars.	134456
Statistics.Gross Potential	Integer	The Gross Potential is the maximum amount an engagement can possibly earn based on calculations involving ticket prices, seating capacity, and the number of performances. This number is expressed here as a percentage of what could have been achieved (Gross Gross / Gross Potential). In case the GP could not be calculated, it was replaced with 0%.	0
Statistics.Performances	Integer	The number of performances that occurred this week.	8

Acknowledgement

Original Data

CORGIS Dataset Project

Foto von Rob Laughter auf Unsplash

The average admission paid to attend a Broadway musical in New York has experienced an increasing trend over the last 15 years. That said, the figure recorded in 2024/2025 showed a 1** percent decline over the previous season, with the average ticket price for a musical reaching ***** U.S. dollars. Has attendance at Broadway recovered from the impact of COVID-19? Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance at Broadway shows in New York fell to under ***** million in the 2021/2022 season. After bouncing back in the following years, combined attendance at musicals, plays, and specials totaled **** million in 2024/2025, almost catching up with the peak reported in 2018/2019 and reaching the second-highest figure to date. How big is the U.S. theater market? In 2024, the market size of the U.S. theater industry was estimated at nearly *** billion U.S. dollars, remaining stable over the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of businesses in the U.S. live performance theater industry exceeded ***** in 2024, experiencing a slight annual decline.

Context

#TidyTuesday is a weekly data project aimed at the R ecosystem. As this project was borne out of the R4DS Online Learning Community and the R for Data Science textbook, an emphasis was placed on understanding how to summarize and arrange data to make meaningful charts with ggplot2, tidyr, dplyr, and other tools in the tidyverse ecosystem. However, any code-based methodology is welcome - just please remember to share the code used to generate the results.

Content

This data comes from Playbill. Weekly box office grosses comprise data on revenue and attendance figures for theatres that are part of The Broadway League, an industry association for, you guessed it, Broadway theatre.

CPI data is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are many, many measures of CPI, so the one used here is "All items less food and energy in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, seasonally adjusted" (table CUSR0000SA0L1E).

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks to Alex Cookson who provided ALL of this week's data, cleaning script, and readme! You can check out his recent blog post on the same data here, and explore all of the raw data and other details on Alex's GitHub.

This statistic shows the attendance at touring Broadway shows in the United States from 1999 to 2019. During the 2018/19 season, **** million people attended touring Broadway shows.

Explore this data if you're a theater enthusiast or anyone interested to learn more about this cultural treasure that defines New York City. Datasets consist of records on Broadway productions in New York City as reported by The Broadway League and Internet Broadway Database.

• Weekly_Grosses from the weeks running June 1980 - Feb 2025, theater name, total number of attendees, % of full capacity filled.

• Best_Musical from 1949 to present year including production name, theatre, writers/playwrights, composers, lyricists.

• Best_Play from 1969 to present year including production name, theatre, playwright, translator.

• NYCTheatres from 1969 to present year including production name, playwright, translator.

Out of 41 theater venues in New York hosting Broadway shows, ** had a seating capacity of over ***** as of February 2025. Overall, the Gershwin Theatre, located in Midtown Manhattan, had the largest audience capacity, with ***** seats. In contrast, the Hayes Theater, named after renowned actress Helen Hayes, was the smallest venue to host Broadway shows, with *** seats. How many people attend Broadway shows every year? During the 2023/2024 season, total attendance at Broadway shows in New York was above ** million, slightly surpassing the figure recorded in the previous year. While attendance increased when compared to the 2022/2023 season, the gross revenue by Broadway shows in New York decreased by almost ** million U.S. dollars in 2023/2024. What are the most popular Broadway shows on social media? In 2025, the most popular Broadway show on TikTok was The Lion King, with roughly **** million followers, ranking ahead of Hamilton and Wicked. In contrast, Hamilton was by far the most popular Broadway show on Instagram in 2025, recording almost *** million followers, while The Lion King came in ***** place.

Live performance theaters have staged a robust comeback in the wake of the pandemic, with Broadway theaters posting increased attendance and box office grosses in recent seasons. Audiences are returning in greater numbers, drawn by star-studded productions, innovative adaptations and the irreplaceable thrill of live entertainment. Social media has become a significant promotional force, particularly in attracting younger audiences who value the unique, immersive experience of seeing a live show. Even as ticket prices soar, especially for blockbuster revivals and headline-grabbing casts, high production costs have restricted profit growth. Revenue has spiked at a CAGR of 8.7% over the years to total $8.6 billion in 2025, when revenue will contract by an estimated 0.04%. Looking back over the past five years, live theater has demonstrated remarkable resilience amid ongoing uncertainty and mounting costs. Productions have experimented with new marketing strategies, leveraging the influence of digital platforms and celebrity stunt casting to engage fans and fill seats. Social media-driven success stories, such as Beetlejuice the Musical, illustrate how connecting with Gen-Z and Millennial audiences is reshaping industry dynamics and fueling packed houses. Simultaneously, contemporary revivals and creative adaptations of classic works have broadened appeal by reflecting modern values and fresh perspectives. While some traditional forms—like opera and ballet—have struggled to hold on to their historical subscriber bases, single-ticket sales and digital content have become vital for staying competitive. Although audience enthusiasm is high, rising production and operating costs will make financial sustainability elusive for many shows, leading to shorter runs even for successful productions. The threat of reduced public funding—compounded by potential federal arts budget cuts—could force many theaters, particularly smaller and regional ones, to scale back or close altogether. At the same time, live streaming and digital partnerships are emerging as crucial pathways for audience outreach and supplemental revenue, though legal and logistical hurdles remain. Ultimately, the theaters that adapt swiftly, deploy innovative engagement tools and diversify their revenue streams will be best positioned to thrive in a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape. Revenue is expected to contract at a CAGR of 0.3% to $8.5 billion through the end of 2030.

The most attended type of show in Las Vegas, United States, in 2024 was a production show, with over half of the survey sample saying they had been to one. Meanwhile, the least attended type of shows were Broadway shows and Nightclubs/DJ shows, with only one percent of visitors attending either.

In the calendar week 25 of 2025 (week ending June 22, 2025), the average ticket price of Broadway shows in New York declined by 0.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. As of that week, an average Broadway admission amounted to almost 130 U.S. dollars.

The market size of the live performance theater industry in the United States amounted to 5.7 billion euros in 2023. As forecast, this figure was expected to remain stable in 2024.

The income of not-for-profit professional theaters in the United States increased significantly in 2023 over the previous fiscal year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, the total income of such organizations amounted to 3.64 billion U.S. dollars. This figure was evenly split between earned and contributed income.