Business Enquirer Issue 115 | Ticketmaster | July 2023

NOT JUST THE TICKET!

TICKETMASTER

NOT JUST THE TICKET!

DIRECTED BY: CHARLOTTE BILLIG ARTICLE

WRITTEN BY: LAURA WATLING

The sports event industry in the UK is set to continue to grow over the next four years at a rate of 2.9%, with a projected market volume of £1.63bn by 2027. Globally, the sports event market is projected to reach $29.97 billion by the close of 2023.

Of course, with millions of tickets flying off the proverbial shelves, event hosts and their customers need a robust sales platform.

Enter Ticketmaster Sport, the subsidiary of the global market leader in live events ticketing - Ticketmaster.

The business is driven by innovation, focussed on bringing results to clients and a heightened experience to sports fans from the minute they consider attending an event.

Ultimately, Ticketmaster Sport is focused on getting tickets in front of sports fans, with an unrivalled marketing database, technology, and brand power to do just that.

“We’re powering the products and solutions that transform the way fans access live entertainment,” said Chris Gratton, UK Managing Director of Ticketmaster Sport.

Chris, whose first foray into sport was working on the 2006 FIFA World Cup at the Leo Burnett Advertising agency, joined the team at Ticketmaster to bring his unique perspective to the ticketing business through a sporting lens.

Meeting Client’s Requirements

Ticketmaster Sport has three core offerings for its business clients - Retail, White Label, and Self Service.

Hosted from Ticketmaster.co.uk, Retail markets sporting events directly to fans, and hosts them on a discovery platform. Often the choice for one-off events like WWE, Retails uses the power of Ticketmaster’s internationally known brand to drive sales.

Football, boxing, or wrestling. Whatever your sporting penchant, you’ll need a ticket for entry.

Meanwhile, the White Label solution is deployed for high touch, high frequency, and high volume sporting clients such as football clubs and tournaments

“White Label is regularly the choice for clients where they want to own the fan conversation but have Ticketmaster Sport facilitate that interaction. We’ve just signed Premier League clubs Brentford FC and Crystal Palace FC to that platform,” explained Chris.

Finally, Self Service utilises the business’ Universe platform, which gives event owners the autonomy to set up and selfserve.

“A number of our clients use Universe for tickets which wouldn’t fit within the traditional club ticketing requirements like museum tours and one-off conferences,” Chris continued.

Better Solutions for Better Results

“Our support structure ensures we embed ourselves in our clients’ businesses to get a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges they face,” explained Chris, “this allows us to address them through our technologies”.

Whether an event attendee is first in the queue when tickets launch, or it’s a 3am impulse buy, the ticketing industry is always on. Therefore, Ticketmaster Sport offers always-on support, with a personalised account team of business and operational leads to assist clients through every stage of ticketing.

Ticketmaster Sport takes an innovative approach to ticketing solutions, ensuring its technology is unrivalled.

In 2022, the business launched 3D Virtual Venue, a market-leading 3D venue visualisation service allowing fans to browse different areas of the event venue, compare seats and hospitality options, and decide specifically where they want to sit with life-like views.

The first client to implement this was Tottenham Hotspur Football club.

Chris Gratton, UK Managing Director of Ticketmaster Sport

“The launch with Tottenham Hotspur was hugely successful, and we’ve continued to build out new stadiums and onboard clients. Fans love it,” said Chris.

Continually looking to innovate to uplift both the client and customer experience, Ticketmaster Sport recently launched its digital away-day ticketing service.

“Traditionally this had to be delivered through hard stock being sent back and forth between teams, at high cost and manual handling. We’ve developed a solution which allows for fully digital sales and fulfilment that is now in use widely through the Football League, taking this operational overhead completely out of a ticket office,” explained the Managing Director.

Fighting Fraud

It’s recently been reported that in 2022, £6.7 million was lost in the UK to event ticket fraud, with over 7000 reports to Action Fraud1

Ticketmaster is on a mission to curb this activity, having launched its revolutionary SafeTix technology in the UK.

“SafetTix has been built with leading-edge technology, providing encrypted mobile tickets which offers powerful fraud and counterfeit protection,” said Chris.

On closing his conversation with Business Enquirer, Chris commented “Relationships are at the heart of everything we do. And in a business that never stops, it’s so important to take the time to create and grow that rapport with our clients. In doing so, I have learned so much from them and how they approach this incredible industry”.

www.ticketmaster.com

1. https://www.avonandsomerset-pcc.gov.uk/news/2023/04/dont-getticked-off-with-ticket-fraud-this-summer/