Pay Per Laugh

Last year the Spanish government decided to raise the tax for theatrical shows from 8% to 21%, resulting in a fall in audience attendance of 30% in one year.

In response to this, Teatreneu, a comedy club in Barcelona, has partnered with advertising agency The Cyranos McCann and came up with an ingenious new way to get people back through the door.

Pay per Laugh is a new project that charges audience members according to how much they laugh at a show. Using facial-recognition technology installed in iPads attached to the back of seats, a count is made of how often each person laughs. This data is then sent to a server which creates and monitors the statistics. Audience members are offered free admittance but are charged €0.30 per laugh. However, the price for laughter is capped at €24.