66 Markets profiled
150+ Companies
In-depth:
n How AI will transform ticketing
n Cutting-edge tech firms
THE INNOVATORS THE INNOVATORS
Flicket
Flicket was created to help promoters and venues with small internal teams and limited time to ensure ticket sales are maximised by the opportunity that first-party data presents. Flicket specialises in white-label ticketing distribution, real-time analytics, and in-depth reporting.
“These event organisers needed a comprehensive solution to maximise their sales and revenue potential. We solve this problem by offering marketing automation, omni-channel sales strategies, and optimised integrations with social media channels without having to have multiple systems and additional budget,” explains CEO and co-founder Ben Calvert. “Flicket ensures no money is left on the table by providing new revenue streams such as ticket protection, control over the secondary marketplace, and the ability to negotiate strong third-party relationships such as payment providers. This holistic approach empowers our partners to achieve greater success with their events.”
Flicket’s recent MarTech products have seen their partners achieve results such as a 47% recovery rate of cart abandonment, 37% increase in conversion ratios, and 157% increase in first-party data. Flicket is now in use with Electric Avenue (Australasia’s largest single-day festival) and Big Sky PBR. “Our innovative solutions have consistently driven increased ticket sales and improved customer satisfaction,” says Calvert.
Flicket focuses on integrating micro-influencer marketing, social media strategies, and providing a robust CRM system to create a seamless and engaging experience for both organisers and attendees. “Our built-in resale platform is another key differentiator, giving us control over demand and pricing while ensuring a fair and transparent secondary market. The ticketing market is growing, with an increasing demand for more sophisticated and integrated solutions. Flicket is at the forefront of this evolution, constantly innovating to meet the changing needs of the industry,” says Calvert.
“We are excited to announce several new innovations at Flicket. Our latest updates include advanced AI-driven tools that provide automated communications to audiences based on their behaviour and preferences. We have also enhanced our CRM capabilities, offering more personalised and targeted marketing options for event organisers. Additionally, we are launching new sponsorship assets that allow brands to connect with audiences in more meaningful ways, driving greater engagement and value,” says Calvert, adding that the company is expanding its global footprint with new international deals. flicket.io
INNOVATORS
INNOVATORS
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Austria
Population: 9 million
Language: German
Currency: Euro (EUR)
GDP per capita: $64,600
Internet users: 8.3 million
Active smartphones: 11.1 million
Austria may seem small, but sitting at the heart of Europe and being blessed with a cultured, affluent, and enthusiastic audience means the territory has significant clout in the live events market. “In Austria, the classical music and cultural sector represents a market with significant potential, as do fairs, museums, and exhibitions,” says Eventim’s Dirk Colombet. “Our diverse ticketing solutions are well-suited to meet the needs of event organisers in these areas, offering features such as time slot management, upselling options, membership programmes, and self-service ticket exchanges.”
Primary ticketing
Two companies still dominate the ticketing landscape – CTS Eventim, operating as OeTicket, is the clear leader when it comes to music, sports, and most other forms of live entertainment, while the City of Vienna-owned Wien Ticket covers a huge range of music, cultural, and sporting events (it also arranges a significant number of exclusive ticketing partnerships). Other companies remain significant, however, such as Ticketmaster Austria and DEAG-owned myticket.at.
There are also various B2B ticketing solution providers that allow venues – particularly smaller, more independent ones – to sell their own tickets, and third-party services like Ticket Gretchen. Newer companies, such as B.A.M Ticketing and NTRY Ticketing, tend to focus on ticketing tech, such as NFTs, collectibles, and smart ticketing systems, something the bigger companies are also keeping up with. Last year, CTS Eventim launched OeTicket Light, a platform that allows vendors to conveniently sell tickets themselves.
And the likes of OeTicket also have one eye on diversification and expanding their offering. “To provide customers with a go-to place for classical performances, our Klassikticket brand was launched, and a dedicated campaign is promoting the new platform klassikicket.at,” says Colombet. “This platform serves as a valuable platform providing classical music promoters with access to a targeted audience, increased visibility, marketing support, and streamlined ticketing processes.”
Distribution of sales
As in Germany, tradition dies hard in Austria, and many fans – particularly older ones – are wedded to the ability to pay cash for a physical ticket at the many kiosks, outlets, and physical ticket shops that still exist across the country. Many cultural institutions, who sell predominantly to tourists, also still rely on physical tickets. But this is changing.
“While this still varies significantly by genre, venue, and promoter, overall, around 90% of tickets are digital,” says Klaus Zemke, Ticketmaster's regional vice president, Central
Europe, and managing director, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
Younger fans are driving digital adoption. While demand for solutions like CTS Eventim’s EVENTIM.Pass have proved popular, it remains available only for a select numebr of tours and events.
Secondary ticketing
Unusually for a sizeable market, the resale of tickets and scalping have not typically been much of an issue – only when it comes to the very biggest and most popular A-list superstars. “Scalping does occur on the willhaben.at platform, and of course there’s Viagogo, too,” says Franz Erhardt, CEO of promoter Barracuda Music. And for once, the largest companies have got out ahead of the issue.
“Ticket transfer and resale are products that fans and event organisers love, and we are pushing their adoption across more events and venues,” says Zemke. “We recently launched an advertising campaign to increase awareness of Eventim’s Fansale.at as a secure ticket resale marketplace,” adds Colombet. “According to a survey, our efforts resulted in a significant increase to the marketplace.”
International/domestic splits & genres
According to Spotify data, pop and rock remain the most popular genres, with hip-hop and rap still growing in popularity. Yet Schlager music remains a cultural juggernaut, especially when it comes to huge, outdoor summer shows and festivals. And although many stadia and arena shows, particularly in and around Vienna, are dominated by highprofile international artists, the market for domestic artists is extremely strong, in part because of support from some ticketing companies. “Our global reach lets us help rising acts and grassroots venues connect with wider audiences,” says Zemke. “We’re excited to work with more independent promoters to make this happen.”
Volbeat at Wiener Stadthalle
© Armin Rodler
Belgium
Population: 12 million
Languages: Dutch, French, German
Currency: Euro (EUR)
GDP per capita: $63,600
Internet users: 10.9 million
Active smartphones: 11.9 million
The market is dominated by Ticketmaster, but CTS Eventim’s move in April to acquire Vivendi’s See Tickets will add a whole new competition dynamic.
Primary ticketing
Despite consolidation at the upper end of the market, there’s still a wide range of smaller B2C and B2B operators, including Eventbrite, Tickoweb, Eventix, and Weezevent.
Lennard Moons, Northern Europe MD of Secutix, says the move towards cloud-based ticketing SaaS solutions, such as theirs, is a much-needed upheaval in the market. “The ticketing industry is primed to follow the same disintermediation process that’s happened across many other sectors,” he says, noting that removing distributor fees and enabling a direct-to-fan relationship are key steps forward. “In travel, finance, and retail, we’ve seen a successful reduction in the use of ‘middlemen,’ and this change to how business is done is now well overdue in ticketing.”
Distribution of sales
Online sales account for between 65-85% here. There remains a niche market for printed tickets (10-20%). David De Wever, CEO of PlayPass, says 80% of the tickets they deliver are via mobile.
“We are seeing an uptick in digital representing around a third of all tickets,” says Jakob Lund, Ticketmaster’s VP for Northwest Europe. “We anticipate this number to rise significantly next year as more of our clients go fully digital.”
Moons suggests that secure mobile app solutions not only improve security (and cut down on touting) but also open up new income streams. “It opens an array of opportunities for diversifying revenue with Web 3.0 products, including digital souvenir tickets and other NFT collectables,” he says.
Value of market
Live music revenues were worth €250m in 2022 and are forecast to grow to €292m by 2027 according to PwC, with much of the growth coming from a “thriving music festival summer season.” Major acts can still handle high ticket prices, but smaller events are at the mercy of price sensitivity.
“The Belgian market can sustain these price increases to some extent, but ongoing economic pressures and competition from alternative entertainment options pose challenges,” says Moons. “Event organisers must adopt flexible pricing strategies, enhance value propositions, and continuously monitor market conditions to ensure long-term sustainability.”
De Wever says its barometer report (based on client data) saw an 8% increase in daily ticket prices across Europe but adds that events were experiencing unprecedented sell-out rates.
“There is a growing demand for premium experiences, and organisers have to capitalise on this by offering tickets bundled with exclusive perks,” he says.
Secondary ticketing
TicketSwap, Viagogo, StubHub (previously owned by Viagogo), and SeatSwap are the strongest players, but they are operating in a much more controlled sector today.
“Stricter rules around secondary sales, including markup limits and anti-scalping measures, have helped maintain a fair and transparent market,” says Moons. De Wever says that there’s a trend towards event organisers directly managing secondary sales for their own events. “By taking ownership of the resale process, organisers can set resale prices, capture additional margins, and retain valuable resale data,” he says.
Ticketmaster has also made significant moves here. “We’ve recently introduced resale and ticket transfer, transforming how we tackle fraudulent tickets and illegal resales, nearly making these issues obsolete,” notes Lund.
TicketSwap reports that resale prices are capped at 100% of face value, while their data shows the average resale rate is 15% of the primary tickets. And that customers are increasingly purchasing last minute.
TicketSwap is the biggest player in secondary sales in Belgium. “TicketSwap has made the secondary market a more safe, convenient, and fair place to buy and sell tickets,” argues Maxim Troch, partnerships manager Belgium at TicketSwap. "TicketSwap is always compliant with local laws.”
International/domestic splits & genres
Belgium remains an important market for international touring acts (especially at the arena level where they can control the lion’s share of ticket sales). That said, government and wider music industry support for domestic acts are helping them to grow.
Cultural analysis
Dominant genres are pop, rock, and EDM, with indie and hip-hop seeing significant growth. Ticketing companies and event organisers are increasingly having to meet broadening consumer demand across a multitude of areas.
“We introduced a pre-queue account registration system during peak sales to gather data from interested fans, not just main buyers and their friends,” says Marijke van den Bosch, MD of See Tickets Benelux. “This ensures a better understanding of our client’s audience and improves the sales process.”
There are growing calls for greater experimentation with dynamic pricing. “This can help maximise revenue while also offering affordable options for more price-sensitive consumers,” proposes Moons. “Bundling additional services or experiences can also enhance the value proposition of tickets. For example, gig tickets could include complimentary drinks, merchandise, or exclusive access to certain areas to justify higher prices.”
Taxes & charges
Tickets are subject to a VAT rate of 6%. This was dramatically reduced in 2019 to help support the cultural sector and make live events more accessible. Commission is typically between 5% and 15%. Some, like PlayPass, go as low as a 2.5% flat fee, with VAT included, although there is a minimum fee of €0.99 per ticket.
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Company Index
ComeTogether
Creative China thecreativechina.com
CTS Eventim eventim.de
CTS Eventim Hungary eventim.hu
CTS Eventim Israel eventim.co.il
Eventfrog eventfrog.ch
Eventim Brazil eventim.com.br
Eventim Bulgaria eventim.bg
Eventim Croatia / Slovenia eventim.hr / eventim.si
Eventim España / entradas.com eventim.es / entradas.com
Eventim Netherlands eventim.nl
Eventim Scandinavia eventim.com
Piletilevi Group piletilevi.ee
Platinumlist platinumlist.net
PlayPass playpass.be
Punto puntoticket.com
Reservix reservix.de
SeatGeek seatgeek.com
SecuTix secutix.com
See Tickets seetickets.com
See Tickets France seetickets.com/fr
See Tickets Netherlands seetickets.com/nl
See Tickets Spain seetickets.com/es
See Tickets Canada seetickets.us
See Tickets Denmark musik.dk
See Tickets Portugal seetickets.com/pt
See Tickets US seetickets.us
SeeTickets Belgium seetickets.com/be
Skiddle skiddle.com
Stager stager.nl
Taquilla Live
taquillalive.com
TEG Group teglive.com.au
Thai Ticket Major (TTM) thaiticketmajor.com tickets.ie ticket.io
ticket i/O tickets.ie
Ticket Line ticketline.sapo.pt
Ticketcorner ticketcorner.ch
Ticketflap / Total Ticketing ticketflap.com
Ticketmaster Argentina entradafan.com.ar
Ticketmaster Australia ticketmaster.com.au
Ticketmaster Austria ticketmaster.de
Ticketmaster Brazil ticketmaster.com.br
Ticketmaster Canada ticketmaster.ca
Ticketmaster Chile ticketmaster.cl
Ticketmaster Czech Republic ticketmaster.cz
Ticketmaster Denmark ticketmaster.dk
Ticketmaster France ticketmaster.fr
Ticketmaster Greece ticketmaster.gr
Ticketmaster Ireland ticketmaster.ie
Ticketmaster Italy ticketmaster.it
Ticketmaster Mexico ticketmaster.com.mx
Ticketmaster Middle East ticketmaster.ae
Ticketmaster New Zealand ticketmaster.co.nz
Ticketmaster North America ticketmaster.com
Ticketmaster Norway ticketmaster.no
Ticketmaster Poland ticketmaster.pl
Ticketmaster South Africa ticketmaster.co.za
Ticketmaster Spain ticketmaster.es
Ticketmaster Switzerland ticketmaster.de
Ticketmaster Taiwan (Tixcraft) tixcraft.com
Ticketmaster Türkiye (Biletix) biletix.com
Ticketmaster UK ticketmaster.co.uk
TicketOne ticketone.it
TicketPAY ticketpay.de
TicketPro ticketpro.biz
TicketSolve ticketsolve.com
TicketSwap ticketswap.be
Tixel tixel.com
Tootoot tootoot.fm
Total Ticketing totalticketing.com
TuEntrada tuentrada.com
Transaction Consulting transaction-consulting.com
webtickets.co.za
weezevent.com
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