Dan Newman September 6th, 2011 - 11:46 AM
Ticketmaster, event property company owned by LiveNation, recently expanded its interactive maps by integrating Facebook into them. Using the upgrade, ticket buyers and event attendees can share their concert location with Facebook friends only or the entire Facebook community if they so desire by logging in to Facebook via the interactive map on the Ticketmaster website.
Last year, Ticketmaster released an interactive map last year that allowed users to see where friends and family were sitting. Research done by Ticketmaster indicated that this equated to $5 more in ticket sales every time someone shared a ticket purchase online. When coupled with the fact that 75% of Ticketmaster’s traffic is from users sharing and referring events using Facebook, a fusion between the two seems logical enough.
This news comes at the same time as news that rival Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) will begin selling their own tickets on a new website, axs.com. Partnered with Outbox Technology, which is led by former Ticketmaster CEO Fred Rosen, AEG plans to expand this service to over 100 different concert venues by 2012, although intially only AEG owned venues such as the Ogden Theater in Denver, will be included.
The model works like this: Outbox uses a “white label” system that allows clients more flexibility and control over ticket sales, meaning users can order tickets on AEG’s website or through their individual venue’s websites.
“For instance, on the website of the Ogden and Bluebird, you’ll be able to go to those sites, find shows and transact all in a very Ogden or Bluebird look and feel,” AEG senior VP of digital Todd Sims said in a recent interview with Billboard.biz, “But if you’re coming at it from an [axs.com] standpoint, it’s an axs look and feel.”
Enhancing the user experience is clearly the goal of AEG as well. Ticket prices are shown in full at the beginning of the transaction instead of the end.
“The key thing is letting the consumers know so that they’re not surprised at the end that their ticket price is much higher than they thought,” Sims continued.
