Netflix is reportedly helping to drive ticket sales for comedy shows.
According to market research firm Statista, attendance at comedy clubs in the US has increased steadily from 14.62 million annually in 2008 to 18.32 million in 2017.
“Whether streamed online or caught in person anywhere from dingy rock clubs to 10,000-seat arenas, live comedy has never been hotter — an estimated billion-dollar business fuelled in recent years by Netflix’s deep-pocketed commitment to the genre,” The Hollywood Reporter states.
Ali Wong, who was apparently struggling to fill small rooms with her stand up, earned $1.8m touring, according to Billboard Boxscore, after her 2016 Netflix show Baby Cobra became an overnight hit.
“For a comic in 2018, there’s no quicker way to jump-start a career,” the Hollywood Reporter said.
Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, the seventh-highest-grossing touring comedian in the world, moved from Comedy Central to Netflix in 2017 with his special Relative Disaster.
“That’s what’s selling tickets these days,” he explains. “Promoters I’ve known for 20 years tell me you can have an HBO special and it doesn’t do anything.”
Image: Stock Catalog
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