Sure, we all know by now that Google houses just about every dirty secret for Broadway (you might as well throw in Las Vegas shows as well). All of our discounts, stinky reviews, customer complaints and Reidel rants are a few key strokes away. I challenge you to Google your show with the words ‘reviews’, ‘discounts’ or the word ‘sucks’. It’s an interesting read.
When I say this, the response I often get is, "Who really searches for that info? Just because it’s there doesn’t mean people are looking for it." If you believe for a second that people aren’t looking for this kind of information, you are completely out of your mind. I have more than enough data to support consumers researching before buying tickets. Call me and I can break that data down for you.
With all of that said, here is what I see as the bombshell. Google is now making the voice of the consumer even more prominent. On select shows, when you Google their show name, we are now seeing a five star rating system next to their listing on Google. In short, Google has partnered with key entertainment and travel related websites to give an overall index of what consumers thought of that production. Why the bombshell? Because like an Amazon book, when someone is looking for you, a big fat consumer rating may be right next to your show name. Don’t think for one second that if you have one star out of five next to your show name this won’t have an effect on sales. We have some clients that have over 150,000 searches for their brand monthly on Google! This could be very big news for the live entertainment industry. It’s been happening in the travel industry for quite some time – Google a hotel and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, we have only seen one sighting so far for a particular production, so I wouldn’t be too worried just yet. But, as more and more sites are beginning to expand consumer-generated reviews, it wouldn’t surprise me if this becomes a much bigger issue. What this says to me is that if consumers love you – this is a great thing! If they don’t, then you potentially have big problems and you need to keep an open ear to the criticism. No matter what though – this further illustrates that you have to be proactive in making the consumer experience as enjoyable as possible both before and after what happens on stage.
I won’t dive too far into the topic as we are still figuring out the details on how this is rolling out but we will keep you posted as we learn more.