Infographic: What’s a Tony Award Worth?

Broadway ticket sales rake in over $1 billion annually. In fact, in a single year, Broadway shows will sell more tickets than all the area’s sporting events combined (Knicks, Mets, Rangers, Yankees, etc.). To put that into perspective, let’s compare that with another giant showbiz industry, Hollywood. The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King have each grossed more than $5 billion, just on ticket sales. That’s more than Avatar and Titanic combined, and more than the six Star Wars films combined. So what exactly makes or breaks a Broadway production? While that answer is dependent on a number of factors, one thing is certain: receiving a Tony Award, or even just being nominated, is a huge win for a show.

To investigate the impact top Tony Awards Best Musical and Best Play have on the shows that win them, we dug a little into the past. For each winning show from the last 10 years, we compared the change in revenue, number of tickets sold and admission price 20 weeks prior the Tony Awards, to 20 weeks post the awards. To dive a little deeper, we also examined the data before and after winning other major Tony Awards, such as ‘Best Performance by an Actress/Actor in a Leading Role’, ‘Best Direction’, ‘Best Revival of a Musical’ and more.

So which Tony’s are the most rewarding? Does having a Tony-winning lead actress or lead actor generally drive up a show’s gross revenue? Get the answers to these questions and so many others in this infographic that explores what a Tony award is worth to a Broadway production.