Fandom Unpacked

Making the Point: How Loyalty Programs Strengthen Live Entertainment

• Situation • Season 1 • Episode 19

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Want to see how a loyalty program actually moves behavior without feeling transactional? We sit down with Katie Dalton, president of Audience Rewards, to unpack the mechanics that turn a thrilling night out into a habit fans can’t wait to repeat. From the first “wow” perk to AI-powered recommendations, we explore the playbook that keeps people choosing live entertainment over another night on the couch.

We start by nailing what success looks like: delight for the fan and measurable value for the brand. Katie explains why theater has a head start—emotion. With Broadway as a passion product, the goal isn’t just discounts; it’s crafting moments that spark dopamine and bring fans back into the tent. We dig into the unique Broadway challenge where each show is its own business, why some productions engage at a level ten and others hesitate, and how suburban audiences remain a high-potential segment for repeat attendance when you structure rewards around realistic frequency.

We get tactical about incentives—why tickets top the redemption list, how micro-earning hooks like daily trivia drive stickiness, and how experience-led rewards can produce outsized results. If you care about ticketing, fan engagement, retention, and the business of Broadway, this conversation delivers strategy you can act on today and a vision for where loyalty is heading next. Subscribe, share this with a colleague in live entertainment, and leave a review to help more fans find the show.

Recorded Thursday, November 6th, 2025
Hosts: Damian Bazadona, CEO & Founder, Situation & Maureen Andersen, President & CEO, INTIX
Guest: Katie Dalton, President, Audience Rewards
Producer: Peter Yagecic, Innovation Advisor, Situation

Peter Yagecic:

You're listening to Fandom Unpack from Situation and INTIX, the podcast series where we unpack modern fandom with some of the brightest minds in sports and entertainment. I'm producer Peter Yigisik, and joining me for today's QA are Situation CEO and founder Damien Bazadana, and President and CEO of Intix, Maureen Anderson. Our guest today is the wonderful Katie Dalton, president of Audience Rewards, which is Broadway's official loyalty program. For the past 17 years, Audience Rewards has been providing benefits like free tickets, theater collectibles, and unique experiences to more than three million fans of Broadway. That is mind blowing. I'm going to be back in a little bit to ask Katie some listener questions we got ahead of time at fandomunpack.com. But Damien, how about rewarding our audience by kicking us off?

Damian Bazadona:

All right, Katie. Let's start at 30,000 feet. What does a successful loyalty program look like? And you've done this many times over for many exciting live experience brands, but like what does it achieve and how do you just how would you describe success?

Katie Dalton:

Thank you so much for having me and for starting with this question to ground our conversation out of the gate. A successful loyalty program should accomplish two things. On the fan side, the program should engage and reward the customer in meaningful ways. So the program should provide added benefits, a sense of value, some excitement. Any loyalty program wants a fan to come away with a feeling of, wow, how cool. How cool that I just got this perk or how great that I just got this reward. I got something extra. This feeling, a little bit of a dopamine that makes the customer think, I want to do that again. So that's part one. Part two is that a loyalty program should also work for the brand side. So there is a reason that every major uh travel program, uh, travel brand, retail brand that you can think of, airlines, hotels, online shopping, um, there's a reason that these brands invest in loyalty programs. And that is because that happy feeling that a loyalty program is designed to create a new customer, that that feeling um can translate into really meaningful uh shifts in purchase behavior and increases in revenue. Um, it's really designed to keep customers coming back in a highly competitive market.

Damian Bazadona:

I would say I'm I am a member of about 50,000 loyalty programs. Um, and I left my phone at home yesterday by accident. This is the first time it's ever happened. I had no phone yesterday for the whole day. And then I realized how reliant I am on loyalty programs. Everything from my train ride to the Starbucks, so you name it, I'm kind of relying a little bit on everything. What's unique about loyalty and live entertainment compared to a lot of these other, whether it's my coffee or just Sal and all these other things? Like, what's unique about live entertainment and loyalty programs and and has it, has it changed since you guys have started?

Katie Dalton:

Sure. Um I think what is unique in this space um in entertainment, we are starting from a place already. Um, if if one of the goals of a loyalty program is to build an emotional investment and the connection, live entertainment brands are already starting from a place where that emotional connection is very high. As opposed to some of the programs you just mentioned, I also love just salad. I wouldn't say that I feel passionate about my salad order, right? That's just a little bit of a different um product, whereas entertainment is a passion product already. Um, and so um what we can do in this vertical is starting from that place, use that emotional connection to take it a step further. Um what these programs are designed to do are to um drive one more ticket purchase or or taking a really big step back in the entertainment space. Um, our our customers have endless options for how to spend their time, how to spend their leisure dollars. So part of the goal of a program like this is to keep coming back into our tent. So to say, Netflix will be there tomorrow, come back and see another show, tap into that emotional connection that you have with uh with this product.

Damian Bazadona:

Well, the fact that you're not passionate about your salad means you have not had the chicken and feta salad.

Katie Dalton:

I'm a big fan of the autumn Caesar myself.

Damian Bazadona:

What aren't loyalty programs good at that that I that many of the people that be listening to this podcast or in the live experience space think that they might be? Is there what's the most common misconception that they think that a loyalty program is going to solve that it might not?

Katie Dalton:

Sure. I'm gonna start that with a few notes on what loyalty programs are good at. These programs are very effective at moving the needle in customer behavior. Um by providing added value, these programs can shift what a customer is doing, how much they're spending, um, what day of the week they're coming, how far in advance they might buy that ticket. Um, in terms of what these programs are not, um, a loyalty program is not a quick fix. Um, and what I mean by that is um for any brands listening who do not currently have a loyalty program set up, um, it's not something that you can turn on tomorrow and expect to see meaningful shifts in behavior tomorrow. A loyalty program, by definition, um, takes some time. It takes some time first for the brand to communicate here's what we're offering you. So if you come back, here's what we're going to give you. That takes some time. It takes some time then for the customer to um engage in that program, to um buy a few tickets, to buy a few salads. Um and then it takes time to get your free thing. And when the customer gets the free thing, that is the hook. That is when these programs really, really take off in terms of the meaning and engagement and value that they they bring to the customer.

Damian Bazadona:

On a scale of one to ten, uh it's a bit of a complicated question, but bear with me. Scale of one to ten, how engaged are Broadway productions uh in the audience rewards ecosystem? Now I know that's your sweet spot. You guys have sold a significant number of tickets to Broadway shows. And I'm asking that question just to find out, hey, really, what is the current with your perspective? What is the level of engagement? The reason I'm getting to that question is I do feel like one of the common themes in this region, particularly on Broadway, is this how are we getting suburban markets back? How are we getting the local market back? Because we're becoming very reliant on tourism. So you say to yourself, well, what are the ways to get locals back? And here's this amazing loyalty program, which a significant number of those people live in the region. That's why they're they have to kind of be in the region to be to return on multiple occasions. Are they engaging with you enough? Like what is the level of engagement? Take me through that and what should they be doing? Because it seems like there's an opportunity to be had here. And it from where I sit, I just don't see I'm leading the witness here a little bit. I just don't see that level of engagement as much as it probably could be.

Katie Dalton:

Sure. Um, I love this question. And um engagement varies by show. That's not meant to be a cop-out answer. That is the real answer. Um, for anyone who isn't aware, each Broadway show is its own business. So that in itself, in the world of loyalty programs, is very different. Um, consider an airline for a second. Um, it would be really weird if when I fly United, my flight home for the holidays does earn my United Miles, but my work trip uh to a different city doesn't earn United Miles. That's a weird um way to run a program. Um, by the nature of what Broadway is, which is a bunch of different businesses, um, our program is a little less clean than a um a single brand in which everything is under the umbrella of that program. Um, all of that said, um, engagement varies by show. And um, we have shows that operate out of 10. Um, they get it, they see the value, they know that they can um use this robust loyalty program as an important marketing tool in their toolbox. Um and then, you know, we have other shows that are less engaged. And I think um it's important to acknowledge that for some of those lesser engaged shows, um, some of them view the loyalty program as a cost center. There can be this perception that if the loyalty program member is a big Broadway fan, maybe they would have bought that ticket anyway. And why should I give them something extra? Um, so I think that that's, you know, I understand that point of view. And I think it's a little bit of a misconception and a little bit short-sighted. Um, because again, even a really avid theater goer has a lot of things competing for their time. Um, they could go to a concert or a cool new restaurant. Um, and the more we can do to bring them back into our tent, um, I think that is really meaningful. Um, and you also mentioned, you know, bringing back suburban audiences. Um, we all know it's much more cost-effective to engage an existing customer than try to get a new one. And a program like this, um, we have uh just as many um members in the suburban tri-state area as we do right here in the city. And that's, I think, a market that can very easily um be tapped in a bigger way by these shows.

Damian Bazadona:

You know, the idea of how you do anything is how you do everything is I just think kind of applies to all these concepts, including rewards marketing, how they view it, how they perceive it, how they view the customer, you go straight down the line. There's usually a lot of consistencies. Um, Maureen, let me let you get in if we're gonna hog all the questions for.

Maureen Andersen:

I would love to. Hi, Katie. Um, I'd like to open the aperture a little bit here and expand a bit about incentives and bit and benefits that resonate um across different types of verticals. I mean, we all know that, you know, me as a fan, I could be a Taylor Swift fan, I can be a Wicked fan, and I can be a Denver Broncos fan. So I can be all of those things, but I can also be very siloed. So I'm curious, have you found incentives and benefits that resonate with fans of theater, concerts, and sports? And then the extension of that is that how do they differ between the audiences and what are the similarities? And you know, how much can you use with each other?

Katie Dalton:

Sure. Um, audience rewards operates primarily in theater. So I will speak primarily to that. Um, the benefit that resonates the most, um, the way that this program functions, fans buy theater tickets, they earn theater points, and then they redeem those points for more tickets. So the benefit that resonates the most is tickets, which really isn't surprising. Um, these are we offer a whole menu of ways that you can redeem your points. You can get um merchandise, you can get a t-shirt of the show you just saw, you can redeem for an experience. Um, the vast, vast majority of redemptions are for more tickets. So just engaging more in this um product that our fans love. Um, the frequency question is a really interesting one. So, in the loyalty space, um, if we think about a travel program, um a business traveler might spend, let's say they spend a few nights a week traveling for work. Um, the Hilton Honors program considers their sort of frequent, uh, most frequent stayers as the people who spend 10 days or 10 nights uh a month at their properties or 120 nights a year. Um in live entertainment, that behavior is very different, right? Live entertainment attendance is not for work. It's not something you have to do every week. Um it's something that you choose to do, that you have to use your um discretionary income to participate in. Um so the frequency is very, very different than other programs might see. Um and so in designing any sort of loyalty program, it's important to consider what is realistic. Um if um if this program were only meaningful to people who um see a live entertainment event 120 nights per year, that's not going to be actually meaningful to anyone in the real world. Um, and so this program is structured in such a way um a customer could um buy as few as two tickets and earn enough points to get their first free ticket. And and the the level of perks um increases the more customers engage. So in in the Broadway space, um our um subset of high frequency attendees are more like um 15 shows per year. With a segment of them, they might see 25 shows per year, while other actives are more like four or seven shows a year. Again, you know, you just have to kind of scale how you structure a program like this based on what is realistic for your product.

Maureen Andersen:

So frequency really is kind of the backbone to what you consider the stickiness of a program. Um, when you're designing one for those individuals, and I love the way you position every show, every event is its own business, which is perfect because not every show is going to have the same kind of frequency opportunity, therefore the same stickiness, because maybe a limited run. How do you get to sticky? How do you get to sticky?

Katie Dalton:

That that's the core question, right? Yeah, you know, um a loyalty program is not just about driving sales. Um, it's also about other ways to engage the fan. Um, and that is um, you know, we're always looking for additional ways to do that. Um one of the ways that has been sticky in the audience rewards universe is um free ways to earn points. We offer Broadway trivia on our site. It is the stickiest part of our website. If you answer a question correctly, you get a couple of points. People come back to that again and again. And that's meaningful for us in turn on the sales side because that means the customer is coming back to our website and we can serve them information about what other offers might be available uh to sell a ticket. Wonderful.

Maureen Andersen:

I, you know, you sell so many tickets and have so many folks that you're engaging with. Can we talk a little bit about um demographics and and what you are seeing in the space these days on, you know, trends by age and what's appealing to a younger audience? I mean, so much is about, you know, we're making sure we replace with younger. And then, you know, the the the kind of big elephant in the room about any fan conversation these days is how's ticket prices affecting the demographics as well on who's buying the tickets?

Katie Dalton:

Of course. Um, I I think this is such an interesting, um, sort of hot topic for all of us that work in ticketing. Um, and I I will not claim to be an expert in all things ticketing. Um I think with this question in particular, it's really interesting because we're all aware of the perception and the reality that younger audiences might be more price sensitive, right? They uh might be at lower income levels than some of their older counterparts. Um, and at the same time, we see um younger demographics buying high-dollar tickets to the Aerostore, or um I read a lot of articles about um customers using a buy now, pay later plan to buy Coachella tickets. Oh, wait. And those things sort of seem in complex, and I'm not gonna claim to know how to parse all of that out. Um, but what I can speak to um are some trends in the loyalty space and specifically within the audience rewards member base. Um we uh the younger age group within loyalty programs um compared to older program members, they tend to value content and some digital engagement a little bit more than their older counterparts. Um, both demographics, older, younger, everybody cares about monetary value. What am I getting? What is this program giving me? How is this program um helping me get more? Um, everyone cares about that. The difference is that younger audiences want a little bit more than that. Um, they want to engage digitally in a way that older audiences aren't as interested in. Um, and then, you know, going back to pricing and what can sometimes feel like a little bit of a conflict, um, within the audience rewards universe, um, our survey data shows that our younger demographic uh they are more likely to seek out looking for a discounted ticket. Um and then again, in what feels a little bit um disconnected, they are also um reporting a higher frequency of attendance than their older counterparts. So, you know, the the whole total amount of money, it's just an interesting um sort of thing that they want a cheaper ticket and also might be spending even more um to attend more frequently. Um, and actually, while we're on demographics, um just touching back on geo that Damien you brought up in terms of bringing suburban audiences back, um, you know, uh just to say again that I think that demographic um in the audience rewards universe, um, over a third of our membership base is in that suburban market. And I think, you know, anything that we can do to offer them something extra, bring back that sort of wow moment to bring them back into the Broadway tent, I think that's that's meaningful for all of us.

Maureen Andersen:

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Peter Yagecic:

Well, I would love to sneak in one of our listener questions on that note. Uh, this I don't know if this person is in the suburbs that asked this question ahead of time, but uh they they are clearly a fan of the program because they say I am a proud member of Audience Rewards, and I love how it lets me support all that Broadway has to offer. Do you think that some people see their audience rewards membership like a Broadway version of a membership to their local performing arts center? I thought that was interesting.

Katie Dalton:

Yeah, I think that's interesting. I have no data to support that. We haven't asked that as a survey question. Um, but I think the goals are similar, right? So, what audience rewards is uh our goal is to connect with fans more closely, to keep fans coming back to Broadway. Uh, and that aligns very nicely with what the goal is of a membership or a subscription program at a performing arts center. So I think that makes a lot of sense to compare them.

Peter Yagecic:

And and I'll sneak in one more uh before I kick it back to Damien. Uh, Katie, as you look to the next few years, uh are there any trends or technologies that you think are uh on deck to reshape loyalty in live entertainment or or in any brand?

Katie Dalton:

Yes. Uh just like anyone else, we are thinking about AI. Um, so uh in the loyalty space and specifically at audience rewards, we are building out ways to use AI to make these programs smarter and to serve fans more of what they are looking for. So, as an example, um we will be using AI to create marketing journeys that recognize um, hey, Damien, you have seen show A and show B. Our data model suggests that you will like show C. So we can automate serving you an offer for that particular show. Or similarly, we could say, Peter, you just earned 2,000 points for seeing Wicked. Um, now here is some Wicked merchandise that you can redeem for less than 2,000 points. And those kinds of um promotions may seem like no-brainers, and they kind of are. Um, but what happens is across um many, many shows and many customers and all sorts of different behavior, that's very hard to do manually. Um, so being able to introduce these smarter tools um is really exciting.

Peter Yagecic:

Well, and I will take that wicked merch and proudly display it. Um Damien, do you want to take the next question?

Damian Bazadona:

Yeah, how do you market yourself versus the shows themselves? Just out of curiosity, just for your own brand and how you position that, right? Because it's almost like they're a member, like particularly in the Broadway space. It's gotta be kind of complicated, right? Between Broadway and off-Broadway, I go, I'm a fan of the show, I now have loyalty to that show, but you're through the currency. I'm just curious how you market your own business and how do you separate that from the shows themselves?

Katie Dalton:

Sure. Um, we are in the business of supporting brand Broadway. That is what Audience Rewards is here to do. Our brand is not the brand. It's not intended to be the primary brand. Um we are here to support the art that um that fans are interested in. Um, and and I think, you know, I compare this program to an airline or a hotel a lot because I think it can be helpful in framing how we think about a program like this. Um at Delta Airlines, um they care a lot about Delta because you can get the same flight on a different airline. The flight isn't what is different, it's the airline. Audience rewards is the reverse. Um the shows and any entertainment property is in itself singular and unique. Um and we are just the umbrella asking you to come back, come back under this umbrella, engage with these shows. Um, and and by design, um, that means we are very um brand broad way forward.

Damian Bazadona:

It's not easy to become like the umbrella because that requires everyone in the entire ecosystem to say, yeah, yeah, you're the umbrella. It speaks a lot to the work you've done. Just kudos to you, because it is not easy that every program never recognizes that they ladder up into it. That's a that is a hard task to accomplish.

Katie Dalton:

Thank you. Now we just need to get more shows at that level 10.

Damian Bazadona:

There you go.

Maureen Andersen:

Hey, Katie, can I ask you a transaction question? Of course. Is that you know, on once you get them there, we've got the transactional side and we've kind of got that gateway moment with that ticketing handshake as we like to call it. And there's so many in these businesses, as you you call them, these separate entities, there's so many different players. And you've got producers, ticketing platforms that are different across each show, credit cards, uh, travel brands that maybe, you know, you know, the Amex people, I mean, whoever's the partner of choice. And are there trends that you're seeing that make the transaction easier? Or are there trends that you wish would make it easier that you're seeing? Are there things missing you would like to see?

Katie Dalton:

Yes. Um wearing the loyalty hat for a second. Um, you know, there has been so much um change and evolution in ticketing in the past five years. Um, and even with that change, I have a big wish wish list of how we could optimize how a loyalty program gets integrated into these technologies. Um, and I think, you know, if we go way back to where this conversation started, with the goal is the goal of a loyalty program is to give the customer a wow moment, give the customer positive feelings, um, and add value for the business, um, there's value there, right? And so um I think there is still a lot of room to grow in terms of um a loyalty component being layered in at the point of purchase. Um, so imagine if I could hover over the seat map and I see a little message that pops up that says, you have enough points to get the seat for free. That's cool, right? And I would say, oh, cool, let me go, you know, and then I that I reference this, but the moment of getting a perk in a loyalty program. Um while again, that may feel like a cost center in some ways, you have to you have to give someone something for free. What happens is that um escalates their investment in the brand and that increases their likelihood to come back another time. So that integration, I think, could be really beneficial across the board. Um, and then, you know, I think about other ways that we could um uh uh reduce friction and add sort of um moments of, hey, that was cool. Like um if a customer could show their loyalty number and get a free drink at the show. Um, or I understand this happens in sports sometimes, um, being able to um walk into a show and get a message, you're being upgraded. Um, you know, finding ways to um really reward our most engaged customers. Um, again, with the end goal that that will reap dividends for the brand in the long term.

Maureen Andersen:

Absolutely. Anything that reduces friction, I mean, you know, that's what we are all looking for. And, you know, the the the ticket purchase and getting them there is all that avenue to the experience and all of us working together to make the experience the best elevated element that we can, I think is, you know, is really the the the key element of all of this. I'm gonna throw it back over to Peter, I think, for an audience question.

Peter Yagecic:

Yeah, we'll do one more audience question and then I'll I'll kick it to Damien to wrap us up. Uh, this one came in, which I love, and it says, I'd love to hear Katie share a story or example of a fan interaction that looks at the emotional side of what audience rewards does best.

Katie Dalton:

I love this question too. Um, as we talk about fan engagement and incremental sales and average ticket prices, it can be easy to sort of sit here at our desks and forget about the real humans who are buying our tickets and experiencing what we all have to offer. Um, one of my favorite moments was a flagship redemption opportunity. Um, we offered for an audience rewards member to redeem points for a walk-on role in a Broadway show. Um, so that was her an opportunity for her to appear on stage. She um just to um how this comes about, uh, in order to redeem a high volume of points, that means that this fan has seen a lot of shows. She's bought a lot of tickets, she's very invested in Broadway. Um, and then she redeemed her points for an elevated opportunity. Um, and this was the kind of opportunity that um is a life highlight, right? Like she got to um rehearse on stage with the cast and she got her hair and makeup done and a costume put on. Her name was printed in the playbill. She was announced at the start of the show. Her parents, her friends were in the audience. Um, and and I think this just uh shows what sort of the peak of fan engagement is all about, because um she had engaged with Brand Broadway a lot in order to reach this moment. Um, and then you know, this moment is something that she will talk about. This moment is something that she will share about. Um, it has a wider net. Um, I think when uh some of these sort of high-touch experiences can feel like they are a little too micro, like that's just one person. Um, but that one person's life changer experience um resonates throughout her community. Um, and interestingly, you know, we've also seen that um audience rewards members who engage in an experience that's beyond just the performance itself, um, buy on average 10 times the volume of tickets than people who don't engage in those experiences. So there's a lot of value um for that type of experience. And I think that exemplifies uh what audience rewards is all about.

Peter Yagecic:

I love it. And and I bet a lot of people uh started saving up their points to try to have that experience.

Katie Dalton:

I wanted to do myself, but I work here.

Damian Bazadona:

It's not really how many points do you have? I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Um, first off, Katie, congratulations on all your success. Uh I've watched the the growth of the company and I've watched you in rooms and in conversations when you were trying to explain the value of rewards program in the very beginning and early stages, to which a lot of people look like looked at you like you had three heads, and to watch the growth of the business and the maturity of it. Total trailblazer and congratulations. It's just awesome success. And I appreciate you taking the time to do this with us today. Um, if you could evolve the phrase rewarding fandom as we head into 2026, we're recording this right at the end of the year here, and you think of the year the word rewarding fandom. If you were if you could evolve that word in 2026 and beyond, what would that what would that mean to you?

Katie Dalton:

My my first reaction to that is um I wouldn't want to change the core meaning of what it means to reward a fan, um, because doing so has benefits both for the fan and for the brand. Um my wish, though, is that that concept um were not considered a nice to have. Um, that that the idea of rewarding fans um became more of a cohesive, essential part of what we are all doing as marketers. Um because there is true value here. Um, it's good for everyone. Um, and I think there's a lot of room for uh for all of us to leverage that in a bigger way.

Peter Yagecic:

Well said. That is gonna do it for this episode of Fandom Unpacked. If you liked what you heard, please check out all the great QA interviews we've done at fandomunpack.com or by searching Fandom Unpacked and following the series in your podcast player of choice. We'd also love for you to rate and review the show while you're at it. That really helps us find new fans. We're gonna be back in your feed in two weeks. See you next time, true believers.