Digital ticketing platforms for events and entertainment are evolving to become more than places to score tickets to the latest show — they are also introducing features to reduce friction at checkout. TodayTix, which just notched $73 million in funding, plans to enhance the app via curation as well as personalization and bolster its efforts to put on shows through its TodayTix Presents Program. Brian Fenty, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said per reports, “We’re actually a media company, with our own content and perspective — not on the quality of the shows, but to have a point of view on how users should and could engage with this content.”
The company is also seeking to improve the way consumers buy tickets. Fenty said, according to reports, that “the hardest part is to complete the purchase in 30 seconds or less.” The average ticketing platform, however, stands somewhere in the range of three to seven minutes. When it comes to commerce innovation, TodayTix has implemented Apple Pay as a payment option through its app per a previous PYMNTS report. (The company knew a large proportion of its consumers tapped into iOS devices, and that a quarter of its iOS users had cards in Apple Wallet.)
Through other efforts, Fenty seeks to work with show producers to offer them information about which productions are selling. He also seeks to help them use information to discover the best ways for promotion. As of now, the company has sold over 4 million tickets, which purportedly comprises 4 percent of West End ticket sales in London and 8 percent of ticket sales on Broadway. But TodayTix is not the only online platform seeking to innovate in the events space.
Social Media
Other ticketing players are innovating through social media: Eventbrite and Facebook, for instance, are launching a Ticketing on Facebook, powered by Eventbrite, feature to let entrepreneurs and small businesses make and sell tickets more easily directly through the social media platform. With the function, Facebook Page users in the U.S. can add paid or free tickets to their event by choosing “Create Tickets” in the setup for the occasion. Attendees can then purchase tickets or register for non-paid functions.
Facebook Director of Product Management Sue Young said in an announcement for the feature, “With this product, we are making it easier for event organizers to create and start selling tickets directly on Facebook by helping them complete the process without ever leaving the app.” Eventbrite SVP of Platform Pat Poels also pointed out that 700 million people each month tap into Facebook events “and partnering on this initiative is our effort to better serve the people responsible for bringing those events and gatherings to life.”
From Eventbrite to TodayTix, ticketing platforms are aiming to change the way that consumers buy access to events online — and how organizers market their gatherings through the web in the digital age.
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