Does ticket sales information disclosure affect speed of ticket sales?

Abstract

We analyze a Taiwanese theatre company’s ticket sales from 2008 to 2012 to investigate whether a consumer’s willingness to pay for a ticket was affected by the company’s disclosure of sales information (sales outcome). Sales are stratified by price band in order to understand the unique demand of each price bracket. We hypothesize that the sales outcome of a price band has a positive effect on the willingness to pay for a ticket in that price band, but that effect from other price bands is negative. Our findings support this hypothesis using the historical data of ticket sales from a Taiwanese theater. We also find that the sales speed decreases when the length of selling period becomes longer.