.png)
Pál Danyi, Chief Research and Development (R&D) Officer at DynamO, has spent more than three decades at the intersection of artificial intelligence and pricing strategy. His career spans telecom, tourism, consulting and academia, with a PhD in artificial intelligence and tenure with leading global organisations including Ernst & Young and Magyar Telekom. This experience now forms the backbone of DynamO’s pricing engine.
He has also co-authored two books, Modern Pricing (2021) and Pricing For Strategic Managers (2025), both reflecting the central idea behind DynamO: pricing in the 21st century must be data-driven, audience-focused and ethical.
For arts organisations, theatres, festivals and live entertainment venues across the UK, this approach supports smarter ticket pricing, stronger attendance and more sustainable revenue growth.
DynamO’s pricing algorithm is a demand-based system designed for cultural events, live entertainment and venues of all sizes.
Pál explains, “Based on sales figures and 30+ other parameters, we predict the demand for events and recommend prices accordingly.”
These parameters include:
This makes DynamO a powerful dynamic pricing solution for theatres, performing arts venues, museums, festivals and cultural organisations looking to improve their ticketing performance.
“We have different algorithms for small venues under 100 seats, for medium-sized venues of 300 or 500 seats, and for large arenas and festivals,” Pál says. “Genre is also very important. The purchasing behavior of theatrical audiences is completely different to that of comedy, concert and sports audiences, for instance.”
Sports events often sell 40-50% of tickets in the final days before the event, while a West End production with a famous name attached will typically generate most sales earlier on in the sales cycle.
Seasonal effects, such as Christmas, as well as audience composition, are also factored into recommendations. The sales curve for a pantomime, for example, which goes on sale far in advance, will be very different to that of a non-seasonal production with tickets on sale much closer to the event itself.
“Our algorithm adapts to these different sales curves and can provide accurate predictions for different types of genres and different days,” he adds
As such, DynamO’s algorithm isn’t universally applied. It recognises structural differences in demand curves and adjusts recommendations accordingly. This differentiation is what separates DynamO from generic dynamic pricing tools.
“It is not a one-size-fits-all engine: it is a context-aware pricing system,” Pál summarises.
For organisations searching for dynamic pricing software for arts and culture, this context-led approach is especially valuable in sectors where organisational mission, audience development and affordability all matter.
In the early stages of DynamO’s development, most clients defined a single primary goal - usually revenue maximisation. Over time, this evolved.
Today, the algorithm supports changing and layered objectives, such as:
“The two major goals are filling seats and maximising revenue,” Pál says. “But these goals may change over time, and our algorithm can follow these changes.”
The system dynamically adjusts pricing logic as priorities shift. This is especially important for:
For new shows with low sales figures, “Of course we can drop prices, but it’s important that they don’t fall too dramatically - because the majority of the audience may come later.”
Different pricing strategies also apply depending on how quickly a venue wants to react to demand signals, and the length of a sales period.
“We have different pricing strategies depending on how fast the client wants to react,” he says. “A one-year sales period has completely different characteristics than a 30-day sales period. Our algorithm can adapt to each.”
“This goal-sensitivity allows clients to treat pricing as a strategic instrument, rather than a reactive tactic.”
We believe that pricing should strengthen audience trust - not undermine it.
An important pillar of DynamO’s system is transparency and control.
“Sometimes there are scandals in the news that certain shows have skyrocketed prices,” Pál notes, alluding to Oasis-gate. “Control is an important pillar of our approach, and we have designed various features to avoid such surges.”
For DynamO, the 'best' price prioritises both audiences and organisers, with prices both decreasing and increasing. A balanced approach is crucial to protecting this relationship.
“We help clients in their communication with audiences and customers, to help them understand how and why the prices change each day,” he adds.
With minimum and maximum price caps, and alignment with industry best practice, at DynamO ethical dynamic pricing isn’t a marketing slogan - it’s a structural commitment.
In fact, when dynamic pricing is embedded into a ticketing strategy from the outset, it can be an invaluable tool to support organisational mission.
For example, after switching to DynamO from another provider, Edinburgh International Festival 2025 achieved its highest ticket sales percentage in over a decade, with over 88% of all tickets sold - while also doubling down on its commitment to inclusivity and accessibility.
Not only did the programme feature its first (sold out) dementia-friendly concert, the festival also offered its highest ever number of discounted tickets to D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent audience members, with half of all tickets priced at £30 or less – proving that commercial viability and organisational purpose can and should work hand-in-hand.
One of the clearest demonstrations of DynamO’s robustness is its ability to aid event scaling. The algorithm supports:
“In many cases, DynamO has enabled clients to scale up a show,” Pál shares. “If a production has been successful in a 300 or 400 seat venue, we can scale it up to 2,000 seats.”
In one standout example, a stand-up comedy show expanded from a 300-seat venue to an 18,000-seat arena.
“Scaling up is something producers are typically afraid of because they consider it risky,” he says. “But using our dynamic pricing solution, it’s not a risk anymore.”
For organisers, this transforms pricing from a constraint into an enabler of growth.
This demonstrates how dynamic ticket pricing for arts organisations can support both revenue generation and cultural access - a key priority for many UK venues, events and institutions.
DynamO’s pricing engine is the product of:
“Our primary goal is always understanding our clients and fully meeting their needs,” Pál says.
“At its heart is a simple conviction: pricing should reflect demand intelligently, serve clearly defined goals, and maintain audience trust.”
That is the philosophy guiding DynamO - and the reason its algorithm continues to scale alongside its clients across culture, sports and live events.
Whether you are a theatre, festival, concert hall, arts centre, museum or cultural venue, DynamO supports smarter ticket pricing for the UK arts sector through data-led, transparent and adaptable dynamic pricing.
If you’re interested in discovering how DynamO Pricing could help your organisation increase revenue and fill empty seats, get in touch using our contact form or email info@dynamopricing.com. We’d love to hear from you.
Across the UK performing arts sector, no two organisations sell tickets in quite the same way.
A major festival may need to respond to rapidly changing demand across hundreds of performances in a concentrated sales window. A regional theatre may be balancing year-round programming with the buying habits of a loyal local audience.
These differences make the sector a particularly useful test of what dynamic pricing can achieve. Rather than relying on a single formula or pricing pattern, success depends on adapting to the way demand develops for each organisation, production and performance.
Recent DynamO results illustrate this clearly. Edinburgh International Festival and Watermill Theatre have both generated double-digit average revenue uplift through dynamic pricing.
From Edinburgh International Festival to Watermill Theatre, DynamO is supporting organisations with very different audiences, programmes and sales cycles.
Below, revenue uplift is defined as the additional ticket revenue generated, compared with what the same ticket sales would have generated with static ticket prices. These results sit within the 12-30% revenue uplift range DynamO is currently achieving across arts and culture clients.
Across its 2025 Festival, Edinburgh International Festival achieved:
With a concentrated sales cycle, multiple productions and significant variation in demand across events and performance dates, pricing needs to respond quickly as audience behaviour develops.
Leon Gray, Head of Ticketing and Audience Experience at Edinburgh International Festival, says:
“DynamO is a powerful and versatile pricing solution that integrates seamlessly into our tech stack. Most people view dynamic pricing as a commercial tool, but DynamO has helped us to not only increase our revenue but maximise attendance and maintain our commitment to affordability initiatives. It’s been really nice and refreshing to work with a partner that gets who we are and what we are trying to achieve.”
Between January 2025 and July 2026, Watermill Theatre achieved:
Operating in a very different market, the organisation balances artistic programming, local audience development and commercial objectives across a year-round programme.
These results reinforce something we see consistently across our work in arts and culture: there is no single demand pattern for the sector, and demand can vary dramatically even within the same organisation.
One production may sell strongly as soon as tickets go on sale, while another builds momentum much later. Weekends may behave differently from midweek performances. Particular seating areas, performances or audience segments may develop their own patterns.
That is why DynamO responds at a much more granular level than simply asking whether an organisation is ‘busy’ or ‘quiet’. Each organisation sets where and how its prices can change, and DynamO responds to demand within those parameters.
Responsive pricing should not be confused with surge pricing. Surge pricing raises prices sharply in response to a short-term spike in demand. DynamO works within a price range the organisation sets in advance, making measured adjustments in either direction across the sales cycle.
This can include increasing prices when tickets are selling strongly, but it can also mean taking a more cautious approach or moving prices down when demand is softer. The result is a pricing approach that reflects how audiences are actually behaving.
For cultural organisations, revenue is rarely the only consideration. Pricing decisions often sit alongside commitments to accessibility, audience development, membership, artistic strategy and ensuring that a meaningful range of ticket prices remains available.
Dynamic pricing therefore needs to operate within those priorities rather than independently of them. Teams can determine where pricing is allowed to move, establish appropriate limits and protect specific inventory or price points where required.
This means dynamic pricing can support stronger commercial performance without requiring organisations to abandon the principles that underpin their wider ticketing and audience strategies.
The results from Edinburgh International Festival and Watermill Theatre show what that can look like in practice: double-digit revenue uplift across two very different cultural environments, achieved through pricing strategies adapted to the individual organisation rather than imposed through a standardised model.
Send us 12 months of sales history and we’ll model your potential revenue uplift, free of charge. Get in touch through our contact form or email info@dynamopricing.com.
Dynamic pricing in arts and culture is more than increasing ticket prices.
For theatres and cultural organisations, the challenge is more nuanced: making the most of periods of strong demand, responding when sales are softer, protecting affordability and ensuring that pricing supports the wider goals of the organisation.
This is where DynamO comes in.
Our very first clients included leading organisations within the Hungarian culture sector, giving us early experience of the particular challenges that theatres and cultural organisations face when balancing commercial performance with audience development and access initiatives.
Since then, DynamO has expanded across Europe and the United States, working with a growing number of theatres, venues, festivals and live event organisers.
Our recent results with a Northeast US theatre and a Pacific Northwest theatre demonstrate how that experience is translating across the Atlantic.
From the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest, DynamO is delivering strong results for cultural organisations operating in very different US markets. These figures, taken from our latest client impact reporting, show the potential for dynamic pricing to generate meaningful incremental revenue across the performing arts sector.
Between April and June 2026, DynamO helped the Northeast US theatre achieve a 19% average revenue uplift.*
Across a longer period from October 2025 to May 2026, the Pacific Northwest US theatre achieved a 12% average revenue uplift.*
*Revenue uplift is defined as the additional ticket revenue generated, compared with what the same ticket sales would have generated with static ticket prices.
These results sit within the 12–30% revenue uplift range DynamO is currently seeing across arts and culture clients.
While each organisation, market and sales cycle is different, both case studies demonstrate how a responsive, data-led approach to pricing can deliver strong commercial results in a range of cultural settings — with a 5-7x return on cost.
Working with theatres in different parts of the US has reinforced something we have seen throughout our work in the culture sector: demand behaves differently from one organisation, production and market to the next.
The Northeast US theatre and the Pacific Northwest US theatre operate in very different local markets, with their own audiences, programming and sales patterns. Within each organisation, demand can also shift significantly between productions, performance dates and different stages of the sales cycle.
That is why DynamO does not apply the same pricing rules everywhere. Our technology responds to the demand patterns of each organisation, within the pricing strategy and parameters set by its team.
When demand strengthens, this can mean capturing more value from high-demand inventory. When demand is softer, prices can respond in the opposite direction. This gives organisations a more flexible way to manage pricing throughout the sales cycle rather than relying on static prices or occasional manual changes.
That flexibility is also what separates DynamO from surge pricing. Surge pricing raises prices sharply in response to a short-term spike in demand. DynamO works within a price range the organisation sets in advance, making measured adjustments in either direction across the sales cycle.
Our recent partnership with TRG Arts is helping us reach and support more cultural organisations across the US, combining DynamO’s responsive dynamic pricing technology with TRG Arts’ deep expertise in demand management and arts-sector strategy.
Alongside this, our recent Tessitura and existing Spektrix integrations make it easier for organisations already using these platforms to adopt DynamO within their existing ticketing ecosystem.
Together, these developments are creating more opportunities for US theatres and cultural organisations to access dynamic pricing in a way that fits naturally with how they already work.
We’re excited to continue building our presence in the US, while supporting more organisations across the global culture sector.
Send us 12 months of sales history and we’ll model your potential revenue uplift, free of charge. Get in touch through our contact form or email info@dynamopricing.com.
UK theatre venues have carried the financial burden of box office infrastructure, ticketing technology, and marketing - only to steer much of the dynamic upside over to visiting producers.
When most of the extra pound generated by smart pricing flows straight out the door, venues lose the incentive to leverage technology that could improve their entire pricing strategy, not just dynamic pricing. It’s time to break that cycle.
Join DynamO Pricing and TRG Arts for an exclusive commercial working session designed specifically for venue leaders ready to ensure their deals can keep up with the pace of technology.
What we will cover:
Why attend?
This is a direct, commercially focused discussion on how to stop leaving money on the table. You will leave with actionable strategies to take into your next season's programming negotiations.
