The Spanish study analysed the theatre demand of society according to the socioeconomic status of the different types of the public viewing found that wealthy class are influenced by professional reviews when they have paid for a ticket.
Researchers found that theatre is not just enjoyed by the intellectual classes. While they do prefer drama, the working class opts for comedy and the wealthier are swayed by reviews.
Theatre arts are loss-making services that require subsidies to stay afloat. This type of practice has frequently come under fire as it is thought that theatre is consumed mainly by society's economic elite.
The study published in the Journal of Cultural Economics proves this notion wrong.
According to its results, the so-called "intellectual class" prefers dramas, the "working class" opts for comedies and the wealthier are influenced by professional reviews when they have paid for a theatre ticket.
"The aim was to analyse theatre demand. It was based on a type of models used in microeconomics that analyses how individuals make their decisions. These models are used frequently in transport and marketing and go by the name of discrete choice models," said JM Grisol