Gallo Center for The Arts

The Finance Committee of the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, CA was interested in learning more about the timing of ticket purchases. They wanted to gauge when tickets for a performance should be expected to sell – heavily just after tickets go on sale, evenly until the date of the performance, or heavily during the week prior to the performance? Al Poulus, Director of IT and Ticketing, told us about the perception—in his words, the "myth"—that Modesto is a “late ticket-buying town.” In the past, Al said, this perception had driven the Gallo Center's marketing decisions. 

The Finance Committee wasn’t satisfied with anecdotal evidence; they wanted facts. To get them the data they wanted, Al went to JCA Answers (T-Stats) and quickly created a report showing when ticket purchases occurred in relation to each performance. Within 15 minutes of the Finance Committee's request, Al was able to send them a report. “The Finance Committee loves the report," Al says, "and [they] view it as a great tool to analyze the potential success or failure of upcoming shows.”

What did the report show? That Al's "myth" was just that—a myth. Certain kinds of performances did indeed sell very late, but many of the Gallo Center's flagship genres sold the bulk of their tickets months in advance. Armed with this insight, the Gallo Center is able to fine-tune their marketing approach based on the genre of a given performance. This allows them to reduce expenses and increase revenues by promoting each event only in its optimum sales ‘window’—approaching the right people at the right time.