Now that mobile payments currently account for a little more than half of all e-commerce, mobile ticketing can also help increase revenue for ticket vendors and entertainment events alike. No-shows and empty seats are a thing of the past as mobile ticket providers can sell last second seats with the ability to sell tickets up minutes after an event starts. Plus, with no delivery fees, printing costs, or secret add-on surcharges, the customer and vendor both benefit from a secure transaction from a reputable and secure source, leaving scalpers and Ticketmaster in the dust.
On today’s “Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg” Randi talked the business of mobile ticketing with co-founders of TodayTix, Brian Fenty and Merritt Baer, as well as the CEO of Gametime, Brad Griffith.
BRIAN FENTY & MERRITT BAER of TODAYTIX
“The student rush line can take up to 25 times to finally get tickets that cost only $20 and the TKTS line you can wait for hours in snow and rain. We wanted to sell tickets in 30 seconds or less.”
“I think the dynamic pricing of tickets is something we’re seeing more and more. There are a lot of great discounts to be had.”
“In 2013, only .08% of Broadway tickets were mobile.”
“We launched a little over a month ago in the UK and have been completely embraced with open arms.”
“There are a lot of different ticketing agents in England, but none of them have tackled mobile.”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the biggest show people want to see in London.”
“People don’t just want to see the Lion King and Wicked. More folks are seeing more off-Broadway shows than ever as well.”
“We created a mobile lottery which we currently run for Fun Home who just won a bunch of Tony Awards.”
“Producers like lotteries because they entice more excited and engaging audience members.”
“A lot of trust comes from our app store reviews. We have over 2500 5-star reviews.”
“We also have a TodayTix concierge of actors that hand deliver your tickets to you up to 20 minutes before the show starts.”
“If you’re going to start something, do it with your best friend. When you have your best friend it makes the ride a whole lot better.”
“There’s a need to figure out how to use technology to have an ephemeral experience in theater, but we still need to unplug during the show.”
“The Yankees were a great time for me. When I was there I learned how to market to different demographics and younger people who didn’t want to spend $350 on season tickets.”—Brian Fenty
“There are 40 Broadway theaters owned by only 3 families. One of those companies owns Telecharge and one has a relationship with Ticketmaster. Both dominate the ticketing landscape.”
“We never take a website and cram it into a foreign screen to ensure a pleasurable customer experience.”
“Our customers respond well to our passion and experience in Broadway.”
“My favorite play, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and for musical is Something Rotten.”—Merritt Baer
“I love Hand to God in the play category. And Fun Home for musicals. It’s a hard ticket but worth it.”— Brian Fenty
“The apps I use every day are OpenTable, Uber and Instagram. I just deleted a wine recommendation engine but I wasn’t using it.”—Brian Fenty
“I love the New York Times app. It gives me great content on a daily basis. I recently deleted a museum app with content that only lives once.”—Merritt Baer
BRAD GRIFFITH of GAMETIME
“Gametime reimagines the game-going experience. You can pick the seats by their view + we curate the best 50 values we can find. Seamless & with zero printing.”
“I chance to work in baseball with Moneyball- style stats where I learned a ton about the numbers business.”
“We built a product for mobile from the ground up. Giants fans loved it. We took the data and showed it to investors to get the first round of investing.”
“Sports owners are looking for people doing interesting things within the sports industry.”
“13% of people don’t show up and are too busy to sell their tickets or give them to a friend. That’s where we come in.”
“The tickets come from teams, larger sellers, and fans then all those entities set their prices. Those prices change every 10 seconds in real time.”
“We only show 50 of the best values out of 5,000 candidate options.”
“We sell up to 90 minutes after start time, but 15 minutes before the event starts is really the sweet spot to buy.”
“We thought about putting scores into sale prices. Weather definitely affects prices.”
“Sports are hyper-social. You never really go alone.”
“The experience is better on mobile. It’s easier to purchase and go.”
“92% of our buyers in June heard about us from a friend.”
“AT&T Park remains a favorite of mine. Wrigley Field, the Seattle Mariners Safeco Field and Fenway are all my top 4 stadiums.”
“We make sure our first impression is one of trust. We put the fan experience at the forefront in all we do.”
“Think about an experience that you’ve had, what’s new to what’s happening in the world, and create your own Venn diagram into the intersection of the two to figure out the kind of company you want to create.”
“I’m a huge fan of Lyft and HotelTonight, who invested in Gametime as well. I think I have the most apps of any iPhone.”—Brad Griffith
Make sure to join “Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg” every Wednesday on SiriusXM Business Channel 111 9am PT/12 ET!!
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