Pricing Structure and Market Segmentation in Korean Theatre: An Empirical Analysis of Musical and Dramatic Productions

Korean musical theatre charges substantially higher VIP ticket prices than dramatic plays, but the source of this price gap is more complex than a direct licensing-based explanation. Using a novel dataset of 162 theatrical productions staged in Korea between 2006 and 2025, this study examines whether licensing-based industrialization is associated with higher inflation-adjusted VIP ticket prices and whether this relationship reflects production costs or market segmentation. Ordinary least squares regression shows that musicals carry a real price premium of approximately 55,000 KRW relative to plays, even after controlling for licensing status, celebrity casting, peak season, run length, performance duration, and year. Licensed productions show a premium of approximately 12,000 KRW in full-sample models, but this effect disappears when analysis is restricted to musicals only. These findings suggest that licensing does not independently raise prices within musical theatre. Instead, licensed works are concentrated in a structurally high-priced musical segment where producers have greater pricing power. The study concludes that Korean musical theatre operates as a distinct commercial segment, with pricing shaped more by market segmentation, demand-side signaling, and structural separation from dramatic theatre than by a single driver of cost.