Broadway’s Playbill: staying alive in the digital age
By Mario R. García
I confess I collect these little magazines that an usher dispenses as we happily look for our seat as we prepare to enjoy a Broadway show. I also confess that I return to them from time to reminisce. Now the little yellow magazine that exists to profile theater luminaries gets profiled by The New York Times. Fun piece.
The headline in The New York Times enticed me in a split second: New York Today: The Future of Playbill.
My first thought was that perhaps it wasn’t the Playbill that I thought, the little yellow book that we flip through while waiting for a show to start. Although the Times’ story reminds us of a reality of our time: many theatergoers are now NOT looking at Playbill, but, instead, at the screen of their phones. So, like publications elsewhere, our beloved Playbill, too, falls victim to the most desired object in the digital landscape.
Some interesting facts I got from the Times piece about Playbill:
Playbill has two New York offices, one digital and the other analogue, which are separated by about four miles and the East River, but at times can feel worlds apart.
At the digital office:
A team of 11 writers and editors worked at one long table, quietly tapping out features and news stories, and creating videos and social media content.
Time spent on Playbill is quite good, if we remember that average attention span of many in our audience is about 8 seconds:
The average Broadway audience member spends about 16 minutes in their seats before a show starts, according to Playbill’s market research, but that time is increasingly spent on phones.
The man behind the makeover of Playbill: Mark Peikert was hired by the magazine in 2016 and has broadened Playbill’s coverage to include more pop culture articles and online broadcasts of red carpet events, also gave the print edition a makeover . He says:
“In the past, too many times the pages would look like The New Yorker, all text. You don’t want to sit in a dark theater and read that before the show. You want to read something quick and snappy and get a lesson or learn something.”
Some Playbills more special than others
For theater lovers like me, the Playbill magazine is a reminder of a special evening, a grand performance, a show you would see again perhaps.
Then there are those Playbills that offer something extra. Perhaps you got the stars to sign your Playbill (never been that lucky), but the next best thing could be waiting for you at EBay, for example, as this Playbill signed by Valerie Harper and other stars of the play The Allergists Wife, that you can get for about $140.
The future of Playbill?
The Times’ article only hints at what the future of Playbill could be: since most people spend the time before a show perusing their smartphones, will the print edition of Playbill exit stage left to give way to an app with the same information?
As digitally minded as I am, I still want to roll up the printed edition of Playbill, stick it in my back pocket as I walk home after the show, then read it page by page.
I am sure that I am not alone with that sentiment.
Wishing Playbill, the printed edition, a long run! Think Chicago or Phantom of the Opera.
And talking about long runs, I still have my Playbill when I saw Annie on Broadway.
Just think that the star playing the title character was Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City fame.
A keeper for sure.
This week
Reporting this week from one of the most scenic spots in Germany, Lake Konstanz, where we wrap up the so called SHIFT project with the regional daily Sudkurier.
This is a digital strategy project and this week I will be conducting training sessions for all journalists in the team.
