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.

There are a number of brands working towards monetising emotional data. Studio XO worked with Saatchi & Saatchi at this year’s New Director’s Showcase 2014. 2,300 people in the audience wore the wristbands and their emotional responses were visualised on screen, showing the audience how they felt, as they felt it.