The Differences in Ticket Prices for Broadway Shows

1
The Differences in Ticket Prices for Broadway
Shows
By Courtney Snow
I wanted to find out whether there was a
significant difference in the price of musicals,
plays, and musical revivals. The first thing I
did was find the ticket prices for all of the 27
current Broadway shows, using broadway.com. In
some cases, a range was given, and in other cases
a single number was given. In order to make the
numbers work together for an accurate analysis, I
averaged those ticket prices that had a range,
coming up with a single digit for each show. The
descriptive statistics for the data are below.
After looking at this data, I decided to use
two-sample t-tests to find out if there was a
significant difference between the three types of
shows. The results of these tests are below.
For the graphical displays, I decided to use
three dotplots, each showing the frequency of
various prices.
Two-Sample T-Test and CI ticket price-play,
ticket price-musical Two-sample T for ticket
price-play vs ticket price-musical
N Mean StDev SE Mean ticket p 5
72.50 6.61 3.0 ticket p 16 86.4
11.0 2.8 Difference mu ticket
price-play - mu ticket price-musical Estimate for
difference -13.92 95 CI for difference
(-22.81, -5.03) T-Test of difference 0 (vs not
) T-Value -3.45 P-Value 0.005 DF
11 Two-Sample T-Test and CI ticket price-play,
ticket price-revival musical Two-sample T for
ticket price-play vs ticket price-revival
musical N Mean StDev SE
Mean ticket p 5 72.50 6.61
3.0 ticket p 6 86.04 8.53
3.5 Difference mu ticket price-play - mu
ticket price-revival musical Estimate for
difference -13.54 95 CI for difference
(-24.08, -3.01) T-Test of difference 0 (vs not
) T-Value -2.96 P-Value 0.018 DF
8 Two-Sample T-Test and CI ticket
price-musical, ticket price-revival
musical Two-sample T for ticket price-musical vs
ticket price-revival musical N
Mean StDev SE Mean ticket p 16 86.4
11.0 2.8 ticket p 6 86.04
8.53 3.5 Difference mu ticket
price-musical - mu ticket price-revival
musical Estimate for difference 0.38 95 CI for
difference (-9.39, 10.15) T-Test of difference
0 (vs not ) T-Value 0.09 P-Value 0.933
DF 11
Descriptive Statistics ticket price Variable
N Mean Median TrMean
StDev ticket p 28 83.18
81.25 83.33 11.20 Variable SE
Mean Minimum Maximum Q1
Q3 ticket p 2.12 62.50 100.00
75.63 94.38
Next, I divided the ticket prices into categories
according to the type of show it was, either a
musical, a play, or a revival musical. Below are
the descriptive statistics for all three
categories.
Descriptive Statistics ticket
price_musical Variable N Mean
Median TrMean StDev SE Mean ticket
p 16 86.42 87.50
86.98 11.00 2.75 Variable
Minimum Maximum Q1 Q3 ticket p
65.00 100.00 80.00
95.00 Descriptive Statistics ticket
price_play Variable N Mean
Median TrMean StDev SE Mean ticket p
5 72.50 75.00
72.50 6.61 2.96 Variable
Minimum Maximum Q1 Q3 ticket p
62.50 80.00 66.25
77.50
Analysis From the two-sample t-tests, I was
able to conclude if the differences in ticket
price were statistically significant. In the
case of the price to see a play compared to the
price to see a musical, the p-value is 0.005, so
it is significant at the 0.05 level. Therefore,
there is a statistical difference between the
prices of a play and a musical. In the next set
of data, the comparison of the price of a play to
the price of a revival musical, the p-value is
0.018. So, there is a significant difference
between the two types of shows. In the final
comparison, between the ticket price of a musical
and a revival musical, I did not find any
significant value to conclude that there is in
fact a difference between the two prices. The
p-value was 0.933, and the confidence interval
contained the number zero, not letting me reject
the null hypothesis that there is no difference
between the two. Overall, plays are less
expensive than musicals or musical revivals. So,
depending on what show you want to see, you will
pay a different price.
Descriptive Statistics ticket price_revival
musical Variable N Mean
Median TrMean StDev SE Mean ticket p
6 86.04 83.13
86.04 8.53 3.48 Variable
Minimum Maximum Q1 Q3 ticket p
77.50 100.00 79.38
94.38