Wednesday, February 25, 2015

TDF Making Mischief on Broadway World

Those TDF tentacles that were seen wrpped around Playbill.com are also weaving their way into Broadway World, another theater website known prmarily for their popular chatboard.

Here's a screenshot from the other day:


Once again, TDF, and Broadway World (by proxy) commit the sin of competing with Broadway shows on price. TDF only makes commissions on tickets they sell (at up to a 50% discount!). They are not concerned with the long term health of Broadway shows, because they are trying to draw customers away from higher discounts, or even full price sales by advertising their exclusive discounts. In the above screenshot, the four "lucky" shows are being touted for sale at 50% off.  TDF is actively seeking to draw customers to their TKTS discount booths at the expense of these shows' individual marketing plans, which, by the way, costs these shows a great deal of money to implement. 

Not only that, but by selecting specific shows to highlight, they are clubbing the other shows that make use of the TKTS discounts. TKTS and/or Broadway World have decided these four shows deserve special attention, again, at the expense of other competing shows. 

With Broadway attendance more or less stagnating, maybe up a bit one year, down somewhat the next, this must be viewed as TDF's plan for growth in a non growth industry. The only way for TDF to increase revenue is to grab a larger slice of a stagnant pie, and that's not good for Broadway shows or their producers. 

The only fair way for TDF to operate, as what must have been the original intent of the organization, is to not compete on price with the shows that utilize TKTS. TDF/TKTS must return to their previous method of selling shows with no editorial bias or preference. Every show that offers tickets at the TKTS booths should be on a fair and equal footing with other shows offered. Advertising their TKTS discounts should be verboten.

If TDF has identified a need to increase it's revenue, rather that continuing this sort of destructive policy, it should commission a top to bottom audit of it's entire operation. Like most non-profits, there will likely be a profound amount of simple cost cutting that could easily be implemented to fiscally shore them up.


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