Research Details

Abstract

In the summer of 2022, the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Lyric), a major opera company, is facing a deepening challenge. Lyric has seen ticket sales decrease, declining from 54% of revenue in 1998 to 33% by 2018. Since 2010, the primary source of this decline has been a loss in subscribers--high-value patrons who attend several operas per year. This subscriber lack is concerning not just for the lost ticket sales but also because subscribers are far more likely than single-ticket buyers to make gifts (a stream that now constitutes 51% of Lyric's revenue).

As it plans to counter this downward trend, Lyric's marketing team has two questions to answer: First, the team must decide which audiences to focus on to fill its empty seats--past subscribers, "opera-primed" lookalikes of past subscribers, more diverse audiences closer to Chicago's urban core, or millennials; then, once the team chooses a target audience, it must determine how Lyric should address that audience with its product, customer experience, and opera programming choices.

Type

Case

Author(s)

Jim Lecinski, John Masko

Date Published

03/07/2023

Citations

Lecinski, Jim, and John Masko. Lyric Opera of Chicago: Setting the Scene to Grow Ticket Sales. Case 5-123-004 (KE1258).

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