Ticketmaster global COO Amy Howe to step down
Ticketmaster’s global chief operating officer Amy Howe has announced plans to leave the company next year and has already begun transitioning to a consulting role ahead of her departure.
Howe has served as global COO of the Live Nation-owned ticketing giant since August, when she was promoted from the firm’s president of North America.
She was appointed alongside now-Ticketmaster global chairman Jared Smith and global president Mark Yovich.
Howe has been with Ticketmaster and Live Nation since 2015, when she started as chief strategy officer. She has represented the company in its dealings with the US government and most recently testified before the Senate’s subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy in February.
Howe was appointed alongside now-Ticketmaster global chairman Jared Smith and global president Mark Yovich
Howe will depart after Smith who, in October, announced plans to step down from his role at the company at the end of this year, when Yovich will take over his position.
Smith, who has been with Ticketmaster for more than 17 years and previously served as the company’s president of North America, and COO, said his departure will help Ticketmaster to bring in new leadership for the post-Covid-19 era.
“The company deserves to have the person who’s going to be here long-term making the decisions right now of what it should look like,” Smith told Sportico.
Ticketmaster has seen a number of staffing changes in 2020. In late October, the company announced that Marla Ostroff had been promoted to managing director, Ticketmaster, North America; Trevor Allin had been promoted to EVP, business and commercial operations, North America; and Maura Gibson joined in a new role as EVP, client solutions and strategy, North America.
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Ticketmaster promotes Mark Yovich to global president
Ticketmaster’s international president, Mark Yovich, has been promoted to president of global business as part of the company’s shift to combine North American and international business operations, according to Billboard.
Elsewhere in the company, Jared Smith is being promoted from president to global chairman and will oversee Ticketmaster’s business across 31 international markets including North America.
While chief operating officer and president Amy Howe will step up into the role of global chief operating officer.
Ticketmaster’s promotions are part of its global expansion which recently saw the company establish a presence in Asia. In February the company launched Ticketmaster Singapore and acquired Taiwanese ticketing platform Tixcraft, bringing the company’s operations to 32 countries worldwide.
“There is tremendous opportunity for continued growth on a global basis”
“By acquiring market leaders Tixcraft in Taiwan and launching in Singapore, we have established two great bases with talented teams to support the bourgeoning live entertainment scene in Asia,” said Yovich, last year.
Last year the company’s international division sold 115 million tickets and sees “tremendous opportunity for continued growth on a global basis, particularly in the 15 markets where we promote concerts but do not yet have a substantial ticketing operation,” according to the company’s 2019 earnings report.
Ticketmaster’s shift comes as parent company, Live Nation, revealed a tough second quarter due to this year’s coronavirus crisis. The entertainment group reported a 98% drop in revenue and US$665m loss but CEO Michael Rapino remains optimistic about the future, predicting the business will return “stronger than ever”.
The loss includes refunds issued by Ticketmaster, which reimbursed money for 11m tickets across 42,000 shows and generated a loss of approximately $79m.
However, Live Nation’s share price has been on a steady incline since the end of June, increasing from $42.64 to its current value of $47.64.
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Ticketmaster makes senior marketing hires
Ticketmaster has announced Kathryn Frederick as chief marketing officer (CMO), responsible for leading the company’s performance marketing, brand, partnership, insights, growth and digital marketing teams.
The global ticketing leader has also appointed David Eisenberg as vice-president of partnership marketing and Andrew Samson as vice-president of brand marketing.
As CMO, Frederick will report to Amy Howe, president and chief operating officer of Ticketmaster North America, to lead a centralised marketing team tasked with “building new tools and approaches to maximise customer affinity and revenue”, according to the company.
“Since joining Ticketmaster, Kat has built the tools and strategies that have made her team the market leaders in customer acquisition,” says Howe. “In her new role as chief marketing officer, she will continue to develop innovative solutions for Ticketmaster and our clients to further engage fans across all our channels from the initial event search to the event itself and beyond.”
“Since joining Ticketmaster, Kat has built the tools and strategies that have made her team the market leaders in customer acquisition”
Frederick joined Ticketmaster in 2015 and was previously senior vice-president of growth and insights. Prior to joining Ticketmaster, she held senior marketing roles at price-comparison site PriceGrabber and gin brand Distillery No. 209, and helped launch celebrity news site omg! (later Yahoo! Celebrity).
Eisenberg will lead the company’s sponsorship strategy and partnership marketing teams, which manage relationships with dozens of properties, sports teams and leagues, including the NFL, NBA and NHL. He will also head up marketing strategy across concerts, sports and theatre. Prior to joining Ticketmaster, he led integrated marketing at StubHub.
Samson, meanwhile, will lead Ticketmaster’s brand activations, campaigns and brand marketing strategy. Has was formerly head of brand partnerships at Fox Sports.
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