Estimating the Financial Impact of the West End’s Theatre Critics (web publication)

Abstract

The paper sets out a method to quantify the impact of theatre critics on the West End in 2003. Using a sample of 32 productions launched with open-ended runs, the impact of good reviews and bad is estimated. Account is taken of the circulation of different papers, the proportion of readers who are theatregoers, the nature of the different reviews and the size of theatre in which each production takes place. The author estimates that the net financial impact of the reviews in 2003 was positive and values it at £18.7m. This is equivalent to 6.3 per cent of the West End’s total box office. A low correlation (R2 = 0.12) is found between positive reviews and the length of run. The slope of the trend is in the expected direction, namely positive. The author notes that The Evening Standard, the newspaper with the biggest impact on West End theatregoers, was the most negative towards the 32 productions analysed.