Ariel Schwartz
FastCompany
SeatGeek, launched Tuesday at TechCrunch50, is a Farecast-like Web site for sports and concert tickets in the secondary market. It's so simple, I'm surprised no one ever thought of it before.
The site predicts future ticket prices with an algorithm that aggregates information from hundreds of secondary market Web sites (StubHub, TicketCity, RazorGator, etc.) and combines it with a number of other factors to make its calculations. Potential ticket prices of an upcoming Yankees game, for example, could be predicted based on past and current prices, who's playing in the game, the weather forecast, and whether a Rolling Stones concert is going on next door. Overall, the algorithm is 80% accurate, according to SeatGeek co-founder Jack Groetzinger.
When I searched SeatGeek for this Sunday's Seattle Mariner's game against the Yankees, I was instructed to wait on buying cheap, medium priced, and expensive seats, as all three categories are predicted to decrease moderately in price. A search for Monday's LA Angels game against the Yankees predicted steady prices for cheap and medium priced seats, and a moderate decrease in expensive seats. SeatGeek also provided me with the option to receive an e-mail alert when prices hit rock bottom.
What if SeatGeek's is wrong about a prediction and a customer waits to buy tickets, only to find that prices have skyrocketed? The company plans to implement an optional insurance policy on its predictions--so if SeatGeek is wrong, they'll compensate accordingly.
SeatGeek's revenue plan is based on that optional insurance policy, along with an 8-10% cut of the purchase price on deals listed on the site and a future premium service for ticket brokers.
"There's so much antagonism towards Ticketmaster and other concert promoters," Groetzinger explained. "This is a tool to fight back."
The site is still limited in its scope, predicting only MLB games and select concerts, but eventually SeatGeek plans to expand into NFL games and more. It's a work in progress, to be sure--a search on SeatGeek for "the Yankees" came up blank, but "Yankees" yielded multiple results--but one that has the potential to make a dent in the ticket brokering industry.
Showing posts with label ticketing news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ticketing news. Show all posts
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tickets.com Congratulates INTIX Board Members
Congratulations to the new INTIX board members including:
- Mardi Dilger of Tickets.com
- Aren Murray from Texas A&M University
- Derek Younger of the Washington Nationals
- Gary Lustig of Ticket Philadelphia (returning for a second term)
Sue Uings has also been appointed to the board and will represent the non–North American INTIX members. She is a past board member, current member of INTIX, and oversees Europe Talks Tickets (ETT).
- Mardi Dilger of Tickets.com
- Aren Murray from Texas A&M University
- Derek Younger of the Washington Nationals
- Gary Lustig of Ticket Philadelphia (returning for a second term)
Sue Uings has also been appointed to the board and will represent the non–North American INTIX members. She is a past board member, current member of INTIX, and oversees Europe Talks Tickets (ETT).
Monday, December 14, 2009
Top CEOs to Speak at Keynote Session at Ticket Summit
Ticketmaster, Tickets.com, TicketFly and Veritix CEOs to Provide Insight on the Future of the Primary Ticket Market
Ticket Summit, the leading conference and trade show for ticketing and entertainment executives, today announced its notable roster of top CEOs slated to speak at the event's Keynote session. The Ticket Summit January conference -- a three-day event scheduled January 13-15, 2010 at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York City -- will include a Keynote session Friday, January 15 featuring Sean Moriarty (Former CEO, Ticketmaster), Larry Witherspoon (CEO, Tickets.com), Andrew Dreskin (CEO, TicketFly), and Jeff Kline (President, Veritix).
The Ticket Summit Keynote session is scheduled to be among the culminating events of the three-day conference, following a variety of sessions ranging from ticket pricing strategies and event promotion, to brand-building, and sports and entertainment. "The Ticket Summit Keynote Session on January 15 is bound to be the conference's most paramount event yet," said Dr. Molly A. Martinez, Executive Director, Ticket Summit. "With ticketing agents, event promoters, venue managers, and primary ticket distributors all in the same room, the dialogue on the state of the industry will be extremely insightful."
More than five-hundred attendees from the United States and throughout the world are expected to attend the upcoming conference. TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro observed: "Ticket Summit is by far the must-attend conference where all the key players in the ticket industry come to network. And with the addition of such a notable keynote session, attendees are going to get to be part of a dialogue that's truly one-of-a-kind."
About Ticket Summit
Ticket Summit is the world's leading conference and trade show for ticketing and entertainment. This event attracts hundreds of global business leaders, entrepreneurs, and entertainment experts in the ticket community. Past attendees and sponsors include: Billboard, eBay, Forbes, Google, Live Nation, NBA, NFL, NHL, StubHub, Ticketmaster, among others.
Ticket Summit was founded in 2006 by host company TicketNetwork, Inc. The upcoming Ticket Summit conference and trade show is scheduled to take place at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York, NY, January 13-15. For information, visit www.TicketSummit.org.
Ticket Summit, the leading conference and trade show for ticketing and entertainment executives, today announced its notable roster of top CEOs slated to speak at the event's Keynote session. The Ticket Summit January conference -- a three-day event scheduled January 13-15, 2010 at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York City -- will include a Keynote session Friday, January 15 featuring Sean Moriarty (Former CEO, Ticketmaster), Larry Witherspoon (CEO, Tickets.com), Andrew Dreskin (CEO, TicketFly), and Jeff Kline (President, Veritix).
The Ticket Summit Keynote session is scheduled to be among the culminating events of the three-day conference, following a variety of sessions ranging from ticket pricing strategies and event promotion, to brand-building, and sports and entertainment. "The Ticket Summit Keynote Session on January 15 is bound to be the conference's most paramount event yet," said Dr. Molly A. Martinez, Executive Director, Ticket Summit. "With ticketing agents, event promoters, venue managers, and primary ticket distributors all in the same room, the dialogue on the state of the industry will be extremely insightful."
More than five-hundred attendees from the United States and throughout the world are expected to attend the upcoming conference. TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro observed: "Ticket Summit is by far the must-attend conference where all the key players in the ticket industry come to network. And with the addition of such a notable keynote session, attendees are going to get to be part of a dialogue that's truly one-of-a-kind."
About Ticket Summit
Ticket Summit is the world's leading conference and trade show for ticketing and entertainment. This event attracts hundreds of global business leaders, entrepreneurs, and entertainment experts in the ticket community. Past attendees and sponsors include: Billboard, eBay, Forbes, Google, Live Nation, NBA, NFL, NHL, StubHub, Ticketmaster, among others.
Ticket Summit was founded in 2006 by host company TicketNetwork, Inc. The upcoming Ticket Summit conference and trade show is scheduled to take place at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York, NY, January 13-15. For information, visit www.TicketSummit.org.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tickets.com's Doug Lyons Talks Strategy
Venues Today
LONG BEACH, CALIF. — The employees of Tickets.com don’t need 20 million reasons to spend a few bucks on a party. Last week, they found just one reason to throw a swanky soiree at the Grand Hyatt in Long Beach, Calif. — to celebrate the 20 million smackers they just spent to develop ProVenue.
About 90 people converged on Tickets.com’s Executive Summit Tuesday night. On display was the company’s new ProVenue portfolio, a new ticketing application designed to offer venues and box offices a fully customizable ticketing product.
Major League Baseball has yet to switch over to the new platform, although Tickets.com Business Development VP Steve Demots said he expected a handful of teams to be live by Opening Day 2010. Current users include the Hartman Arena in Wichita, Kan.; the Palladium in Hollywood, Calif., and the Seattle Theater Group. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics is also using ProVenue.
As for the future, the next possible market could be regional ticketing companies, said Doug Lyons, director of Sales and Engineering for Tickets.com. The former Paciolan executive (Demots is also from Paciolan) believes many ticketing companies are looking at new systems now that their Paciolan-powered programs are essentially operated by Ticketmaster. Venues Today sat down with Lyons to discuss ProVenues and how Tickets.com hopes to change the business.
Venues Today: What is the story of ProVenue?
Doug Lyons: In the past, there have been companies to compete with the Ticketmaster style. You buy the software, you put it on a server in your building and you sell tickets. The difference for ProVenue is that you get your own version of the software with your own database, but you also get full customization. You get to control all of the fees and can add-on services. Are you interested in stored value? We can recommend our partner Givex, or you can use your own. It’s all about creating a product that’s a good foundation with lots of functionality for the ticketing piece, and then be available to add our recommended services, or do it your own way.
VT: It sounds similar to the Paciolan-model. One of the problems they faced with their legacy software was that there were so many versions in existence that IT became very difficult. How do you avoid that?
DL: ProVenue is what other industries have been doing for the last five-to-10 years. They’ve been building these data centers that host technology and are designed to have shared resources, but still have control and are secure.
VT: You’ve also made some changes to the secondary model, creating a platform that allows the venues to determine how much control or participation they want to have over ticket resales. How are venues utilizing this technology?
DL: The Olympics is a good example. The 2010 Winter Olympics (in Vancouver, B.C.) wanted to offer people the ability to resell tickets through the Olympics website. They can control that and put rules around it, just like Flash Seats does with their product. We can also work with other secondary providers, like StubHub, that can share data. You can also share in the revenue, but that’s between you and StubHub.
VT: What’s your sales strategy?
DL: Right now, we’re not selling as much as we are getting input and feedback. We’re putting the finishes on the product. Major League Baseball was a big priority for us because they are our owners. We’ll put a bunch of teams on at the end of the season.
Learn more about ProVenue >
LONG BEACH, CALIF. — The employees of Tickets.com don’t need 20 million reasons to spend a few bucks on a party. Last week, they found just one reason to throw a swanky soiree at the Grand Hyatt in Long Beach, Calif. — to celebrate the 20 million smackers they just spent to develop ProVenue.
About 90 people converged on Tickets.com’s Executive Summit Tuesday night. On display was the company’s new ProVenue portfolio, a new ticketing application designed to offer venues and box offices a fully customizable ticketing product.
Major League Baseball has yet to switch over to the new platform, although Tickets.com Business Development VP Steve Demots said he expected a handful of teams to be live by Opening Day 2010. Current users include the Hartman Arena in Wichita, Kan.; the Palladium in Hollywood, Calif., and the Seattle Theater Group. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics is also using ProVenue.
As for the future, the next possible market could be regional ticketing companies, said Doug Lyons, director of Sales and Engineering for Tickets.com. The former Paciolan executive (Demots is also from Paciolan) believes many ticketing companies are looking at new systems now that their Paciolan-powered programs are essentially operated by Ticketmaster. Venues Today sat down with Lyons to discuss ProVenues and how Tickets.com hopes to change the business.
Venues Today: What is the story of ProVenue?
Doug Lyons: In the past, there have been companies to compete with the Ticketmaster style. You buy the software, you put it on a server in your building and you sell tickets. The difference for ProVenue is that you get your own version of the software with your own database, but you also get full customization. You get to control all of the fees and can add-on services. Are you interested in stored value? We can recommend our partner Givex, or you can use your own. It’s all about creating a product that’s a good foundation with lots of functionality for the ticketing piece, and then be available to add our recommended services, or do it your own way.
VT: It sounds similar to the Paciolan-model. One of the problems they faced with their legacy software was that there were so many versions in existence that IT became very difficult. How do you avoid that?
DL: ProVenue is what other industries have been doing for the last five-to-10 years. They’ve been building these data centers that host technology and are designed to have shared resources, but still have control and are secure.
VT: You’ve also made some changes to the secondary model, creating a platform that allows the venues to determine how much control or participation they want to have over ticket resales. How are venues utilizing this technology?
DL: The Olympics is a good example. The 2010 Winter Olympics (in Vancouver, B.C.) wanted to offer people the ability to resell tickets through the Olympics website. They can control that and put rules around it, just like Flash Seats does with their product. We can also work with other secondary providers, like StubHub, that can share data. You can also share in the revenue, but that’s between you and StubHub.
VT: What’s your sales strategy?
DL: Right now, we’re not selling as much as we are getting input and feedback. We’re putting the finishes on the product. Major League Baseball was a big priority for us because they are our owners. We’ll put a bunch of teams on at the end of the season.
Learn more about ProVenue >
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tickets.com Proudly Sponsors 2008 Arena Managers Conference
Arena Managers Conference
Kansas City, MO
September 13-16, 2008
Tickets.com was proud to sponsor the 2008 annual Arena Managers Conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Networking, professional development, valuable sessions and open forum discussions are all part of the opportunities available at the conference. Tickets.com chose to network on the golf course during the early morning Ed Burch Memorial Golf Tournament, also sponsored by Tickets.com. Our very own Marshall Pred, Regional Director, Midwest, participated as a panelist at the “What’s Going on with Ticketing Now” session. Scott Mullen, Executive Director, I Wireless Center and moderator for the session, asked the obvious question, “Is the future of ticketing on our PDA’s?” After a long three days of socializing and education we say thanks to those that made it out and see you next year!
Kansas City, MO
September 13-16, 2008
Tickets.com was proud to sponsor the 2008 annual Arena Managers Conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Networking, professional development, valuable sessions and open forum discussions are all part of the opportunities available at the conference. Tickets.com chose to network on the golf course during the early morning Ed Burch Memorial Golf Tournament, also sponsored by Tickets.com. Our very own Marshall Pred, Regional Director, Midwest, participated as a panelist at the “What’s Going on with Ticketing Now” session. Scott Mullen, Executive Director, I Wireless Center and moderator for the session, asked the obvious question, “Is the future of ticketing on our PDA’s?” After a long three days of socializing and education we say thanks to those that made it out and see you next year!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Ticket Industry News: Ahead of the Curve
Venue managers keep pace with technology, but there's room for improvement
by Dave Brooks
Venues Today
Venue managers are continuing to adopt new technologies, although most find themselves catching up with current trends instead of leading the pack, a Venues Today survey in conjunction with Turnkey Sports and Entertainment found.
Venues Today surveyed 91 facility operators at arenas, amphitheatres, convention centers, fairgrounds, performing arts centers and stadiums and found that 86 percent believed the industry as a whole is keeping up with innovations, or leading the way. But when asked how they thought their own facility was keeping pace, only 64 percent answered in the affirmative.
"That's the thing about technology, there's always a sense that you're behind someone else," said Mark Petracca of Vtech Communication's Network Division, which helps install networking platforms for large-scale consumer business. "We tell our clients that technology tends to dramatically evolve every 18 months and becomes obsolete every 30-36 months. With a pace like that, it's no wonder that a lot of our clientele feel it's pointless to buy into new systems because it could be useless in three years."
But in the same breath, Petracca notes that not evolving technological touch points, especially in the communications sector, is perilous.
"You have to upgrade your system in smart ways, one that does its best to foresee future technological improvements and can adapt to those changes," he said.
Petracca is overseeing the company's installation of wireless internet systems for large commercial facilities. Wireless Internet upgrades were the top technological improvement identified by venue managers in the survey, with 27 percent saying they have installed wireless platforms at their facilities.
"It's not just about creating a space where people can get on the web and check their MySpace accounts," said Felix Hernandez, director of communications for the Los Angeles Convention Center. "Wireless capabilities are central to almost every aspect of the meeting planning industry and our clients are demanding we provide this service."
Hernandez said the Los Angeles Convention Center's network can be subdivided between users, each getting their own secured server to share information. Broadcast media have increasingly used a specially secured "media server" that allows them to send feeds to their newsrooms without running cables to their news vans, while planners tap into the network with wireless control devices that keep an accurate head-count of attendees.
Tickets were the next advancement in technology, with 35 percent of respondents estimating that their box offices would lead the venue's technological revolution. Approximately 21 percent said their facilities used some type of wireless ticket device to control access to their facilities, while five percent said they even had success with mobile phone technology.
The Arizona State Fair, Phoenix, is taking its tickets wireless after a successful two-year run with a wireless midway powered by Ray Cammack Shows, said Kristen Walsh, the fair's marketing director.
"The goal was to eliminate counterfeit tickets and get real time attendance updates," she said of the system powered by Ticketmaster. "We've also had some success using it for our concert series."
Derek Palmer of Tickets.com said he wasn't surprised that mobile phone ticketing was identified as the largest technological growth area behind advanced LED displays.
"There's a lot of curiosity out there about this product," Palmer said. "Essentially it delivers the ticket to the user's mobile phone via SMS text messaging, which in turn can be read from a barcode scanner."
Like "ticket-less" credit card tickets being developed by Ticketmaster, Palmer said the cell phone tickets prevent scalping because they're nearly impossible to exchange.
And while ticketing took the lead for most likely to introduce change, concessions was voted most unlikely to adapt to new technological trends wit 50 percent of respondents reporting that they were doubtful they would see any long term technological changes from their food providers.
"That doesn't surprise me because kitchens are developed for long term use," said concessions consultant Chris Bigelow of Bigelow Industries. "Kitchens are a major part of the design phase and we're getting much better at making the right decisions early on. If you ask venues if they felt their concessionaires were adjusting to today's tastes, a majority of them would respond yes."
In terms of budgeting, two-thirds of respondents said they spend between zero-to-10 percent on technological innovations, while 19 percent said they spend between 11-20 percent of their budgets on technological improvements. While an overwhelming majority of respondents reported that their technology budgets hadn't changed in the last two years, 58 percent reported that their budgets have increased over the past five years.
Learn more about mobile phone tickets >
by Dave Brooks
Venues Today
Venue managers are continuing to adopt new technologies, although most find themselves catching up with current trends instead of leading the pack, a Venues Today survey in conjunction with Turnkey Sports and Entertainment found.
Venues Today surveyed 91 facility operators at arenas, amphitheatres, convention centers, fairgrounds, performing arts centers and stadiums and found that 86 percent believed the industry as a whole is keeping up with innovations, or leading the way. But when asked how they thought their own facility was keeping pace, only 64 percent answered in the affirmative.
"That's the thing about technology, there's always a sense that you're behind someone else," said Mark Petracca of Vtech Communication's Network Division, which helps install networking platforms for large-scale consumer business. "We tell our clients that technology tends to dramatically evolve every 18 months and becomes obsolete every 30-36 months. With a pace like that, it's no wonder that a lot of our clientele feel it's pointless to buy into new systems because it could be useless in three years."
But in the same breath, Petracca notes that not evolving technological touch points, especially in the communications sector, is perilous.
"You have to upgrade your system in smart ways, one that does its best to foresee future technological improvements and can adapt to those changes," he said.
Petracca is overseeing the company's installation of wireless internet systems for large commercial facilities. Wireless Internet upgrades were the top technological improvement identified by venue managers in the survey, with 27 percent saying they have installed wireless platforms at their facilities.
"It's not just about creating a space where people can get on the web and check their MySpace accounts," said Felix Hernandez, director of communications for the Los Angeles Convention Center. "Wireless capabilities are central to almost every aspect of the meeting planning industry and our clients are demanding we provide this service."
Hernandez said the Los Angeles Convention Center's network can be subdivided between users, each getting their own secured server to share information. Broadcast media have increasingly used a specially secured "media server" that allows them to send feeds to their newsrooms without running cables to their news vans, while planners tap into the network with wireless control devices that keep an accurate head-count of attendees.
Tickets were the next advancement in technology, with 35 percent of respondents estimating that their box offices would lead the venue's technological revolution. Approximately 21 percent said their facilities used some type of wireless ticket device to control access to their facilities, while five percent said they even had success with mobile phone technology.
The Arizona State Fair, Phoenix, is taking its tickets wireless after a successful two-year run with a wireless midway powered by Ray Cammack Shows, said Kristen Walsh, the fair's marketing director.
"The goal was to eliminate counterfeit tickets and get real time attendance updates," she said of the system powered by Ticketmaster. "We've also had some success using it for our concert series."
Derek Palmer of Tickets.com said he wasn't surprised that mobile phone ticketing was identified as the largest technological growth area behind advanced LED displays.
"There's a lot of curiosity out there about this product," Palmer said. "Essentially it delivers the ticket to the user's mobile phone via SMS text messaging, which in turn can be read from a barcode scanner."
Like "ticket-less" credit card tickets being developed by Ticketmaster, Palmer said the cell phone tickets prevent scalping because they're nearly impossible to exchange.
And while ticketing took the lead for most likely to introduce change, concessions was voted most unlikely to adapt to new technological trends wit 50 percent of respondents reporting that they were doubtful they would see any long term technological changes from their food providers.
"That doesn't surprise me because kitchens are developed for long term use," said concessions consultant Chris Bigelow of Bigelow Industries. "Kitchens are a major part of the design phase and we're getting much better at making the right decisions early on. If you ask venues if they felt their concessionaires were adjusting to today's tastes, a majority of them would respond yes."
In terms of budgeting, two-thirds of respondents said they spend between zero-to-10 percent on technological innovations, while 19 percent said they spend between 11-20 percent of their budgets on technological improvements. While an overwhelming majority of respondents reported that their technology budgets hadn't changed in the last two years, 58 percent reported that their budgets have increased over the past five years.
Learn more about mobile phone tickets >
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