DOES CELEBRITY REALLY MATTER? EFFECTS OF TONY AWARDS ACTORS ON BROADWAY THEATER REVENUE

Abstract

This research examines the effects that Tony Awards nominations and wins for actors have on the Broadway production revenue. I studied this using a panel of weekly grosses for Broadway productions from 2000 to 2017. This paper finds that former nominations generally reduce the weekly revenue, while former Tony Awards-winning actors increase the gross revenue significantly by 11%. Having a nominated actor increases the revenue of that ongoing production by 19%. However, the effects of receiving the Tony Awards for a current production are uncertain within the scope of this paper. The research also studies other effects on the Broadway production revenue. For instance, the Tony nominations would boost revenue even further for productions that are already well-received. Casting former Tony winners would increase the top ticket price but new winners have insignificant impacts on the top price.