Musical theaters on social media: an empirical analysis of content strategies

The subject of the study is the digital communication strategy of musical theaters on social media platforms "VKontakte" and Telegram. Special attention is given to the content and structure of publications, the visual and semantic filling of content, as well as the ways in which performing arts institutions interact with their audience in the digital environment, algorithmic filtering, and platform logic. The analysis covers the activities of four leading Moscow musical theaters: "Helikon-Opera," MAMT, "New Opera," and the Musical Theater. The goal of the analysis is to identify the features of the content strategy, determine the priority topics and communication approaches, as well as assess the effectiveness of specific sections and formats in terms of their ability to generate interest, engagement, and maintain audience attention over a prolonged period. The methodological foundation is content analysis, which includes categorizing publications into 12 thematic categories, as well as a comparative analysis of the statistical indicators of the theaters’ online activity. The analytical platform Livedune was used as a tool for data collection and processing. The novelty of the research lies in one of the first empirical analyses of the online activity of musical theaters in the Russian segment of social networks. The work is based on the application of analytical tools from the Livedune platform and includes the development of an original classification of content publications into 12 thematic sections. The quantitative analysis showed that publications about backstage and artists provide an average engagement rate of 1.4% to 2.4%, while commercially oriented posts attract less than 0.7%. Significant differences were also identified in the frequency of section usage and types of visual content. This made it possible to determine the most effective forms of online communication. The results obtained can be used by theaters to build individualized strategies for their social media presence, increase audience interest, and integrate online communication into the traditional model of interaction with the audience.

musical theatre, social media, network society, theatre audience, performing arts, digitalization, digital communication, engagement, fragmented thinking, theatre marketing