Live Streams and Subscriptions Bring Broadway Home

Last week Tony-winning producer Ken Davenport livestreamed his Off-Broadway musical Daddy Long Legs online for free, reports Lee Seymour for Forbes. The viewing of

Last week Tony-winning producer Ken Davenport livestreamed his Off-Broadway musical Daddy Long Legs online for free, reports Lee Seymour for Forbes. The viewing of this particular show was free and it can be viewed by up to 800 people per week. While this was not revenue-generating, Seymour says this was one of several attempts by Broadway to bridge the gap between digital and live audiences.

Broadway

Earlier this fall a new subscription service, BroadwayHD, launched to also bring Broadway home to viewers, says The Daily Dot. Created by Tony-winning producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, BroadwayHD is a streaming service that extends the reach of Broadway-quality shows to anyone anywhere for $169.99 per year, or $14.99 per month.Subscribers have access to more than 100 recorded shows, including Romeo and Juliet with Orlando Bloom, King Lear and Elaine Stritch at Liberty which can be watched on a computer, mobile device, Apple TV or via Google Chromecast. In addition, BroadwayHD features “free to watch” videos of actors and producers with interviews, trailers and previews. Broadway HD does not, however, offer currently running shows.BroadwayHD reminds us of Medici.tv which we wrote about a year ago. In addition to live streamed concerts and replays of those concerts, subscribers also have access to more than 1,500 classical music videos, including concerts, ballets, archives, documentaries, profiles and more. At the time of that writing, the six-year-old Medici.tv had generated $1 million annually from subscription revenue.While the details vary by offering, each of these shares a common goal – reaching global audiences who aren’t able to enjoy a performance in person. In some cases, achieving that goal generates revenue. In others, it provides exposure, but in all cases, it allows a performance to extend beyond its reach through technology.Insider Take:As streaming music and video have taken off in the subscription economy, we are constantly seeing new entrants to the market. The bounds of available online entertainment are virtually limitless. We can get sports, wrestling, comedy, drama, documentaries, concerts, Broadway plays, classical music, lectures and more without ever having to leave home.According to Seymour, Broadway purists don’t think the digital gap needs to be bridged, but we don’t think offering live streaming or subscriptions to Broadway plays is going to hurt Broadway at all. In fact, we see it as a great complement to the ability to attend live performances.There are many people who aren’t able to see a live performance due to geography, lack of a ticket, financial constraints, health issues, etc. These innovative services allow subscribers to experience great art in their own homes or on the go, giving performances additional exposure.At the same time, the shows and their producers have the opportunity to generate additional revenue without a lot of additional cost. Whether it is through direct sales to their audience, or a revenue share with a service like BroadwayHD or Medici.tv, there is an opportunity here for everyone to benefit. We are excited to see these innovations take off, and if they’ll be as successful as Medici.tv has been thus far. We’ll be waiting in the wings to find out.~ Dana E. Neuts, Subscription Insider    

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