The Afternoon Report, January 7, 2009

This information, called The Afternoon Report, is provided by a daily email blast from the publicity firm of Boneau Bryan-Brown, which maintains this blog. This feature doesn't run daily on The Clyde Fitch Report, but whenever The Afternoon Report seems to point out articles of interest.

Roundabout Theater Company Launches MYROUNDABOUT.org 1/7
“MYROUNDABOUT.org is an interactive cultural home that allows subscribers to connect with Roundabout artists and staff, explore Roundabout's rich 43-year history and learn more about the many benefits of Roundabout's subscription and patron programs. MYROUNDABOUT.org is part of a larger audience engagement campaign that reaffirms Roundabout's commitment to superior customer service for their patrons by providing feedback opportunities, current information regarding updates and improvements to subscription benefits, unparalleled access to "insider" information related to current and future productions, and special areas designed to help subscribers plan their visit. The website also features the Roundabout Blog, a multimedia archive, a link to Roundabout's digital magazine Front & Center, a monthly prize drawing and exclusive interviews with members of the Roundabout family.”
Oy. Glad they have the money to do this. It's the "feedback opportunities" that will likely prove most interesting, don't you think?

Mobile Marketing Moves From Ads to Apps
Advertising Age – by Rita Chang
“As applications -- particularly iPhone apps -- grow in popularity, tools are emerging to help track their conversion rates and monitor whether clicks on ads lead to completed downloads of advertised apps. Ad network AdMob has just launched such a tool, and in its prelaunch testing, these findings emerged:

--Free applications have an average conversion rate of 10% vs. an average of 1% for paid applications.
--Games generally have higher conversion rates than other categories of applications, up to twice those of nongame applications at similar price points.
--The average acquisition cost for free applications is less than $1, significantly less than the average application download costs on the PC web.

These findings bode well for marketers who say fancy microsites may not always be the answer if the endgame is continuing engagement. Applications have the advantage of living on after the buzz fades from the product launch.”
Does this mean that an In the Heights game should be created -- whoever gets the $78,000 first?

Broadway ticket sales up again for holiday season, performance mixed for 2008
“Broadway's gross ticket sales stayed merry in the week ending Sunday, January 4, rising to $25,690,836 from last week's $25,307,611. The best performing shows this week were Wicked at the Gershwin, followed by The Lion King at the Minskoff and Billy Elliot: The Musical at the Imperial. Wicked and The Lion King were also dubbed first and second highest grossers of 2008, according to Variety.com. In addition to these top-sellers, a number of productions surpassed the million dollar mark this week, including Jersey Boys (number three for the year), The Little Mermaid (number four for the year), Mamma Mia (number five for the year), In the Heights, Mary Poppins , The Phantom of the Opera and Shrek. Highest grossing plays were All My Sons at the Schoenfeld, followed by Equus at the Broadhurst and Boeing Boeing, which also closed on January 4 after a successful run at the Longacre. Attendance was sky high for a number of productions this week. Shows with the best attendance include Chicago (101.2 percent), Jersey Boys (101 percent), Spamalot (101.3 percent), Spring Awakening (104 percent), The Lion King (100 percent), The Phantom of the Opera(100.4 percent), and Wicked(100 percent).”
That's the good news. The bad news is coming, unfortunately.

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