Middle East ticketer Platinumlist eyes expansion
Platinumlist, a leading ticketing and event solutions company in the Middle East, is planning to open offices in the UK and Europe at the beginning of 2024.
The Dubai-headquartered firm currently deals in concerts and attractions in 18 cities across Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE.
“By the end of the year will be fully operating in all the GCC regions,” Platinumlist MD Vassiliy Anatoli told IQ. “With regards to worldwide expansion, we have also opened in Turkey and plan to open offices in the UK and Europe in Q1 of 2024.”
The company launched in Turkey in June this year, with two concerts at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul by Iraqi singer Majid Al Mohandis and Syrian singer Assala Nasri.
“We have been particularly successful in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain which provided the majority of the growth”
“We discovered there are plenty of synergies in this region to our audience and our network of event organisers” continued Anatoli. “We aim to add to this thriving market by enabling more organisers to hold events in Turkey from our existing territories and visa versa. Moreover, we want to enable our audiences to discover Turkey as a holiday destination. We can confidently say that we are able to offer competitive event and attraction technology in B2B and B2C sectors in Turkey.”
Speaking about the company’s success in the Middle East, Anatoli said: “We have been particularly successful in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain which provided the majority of the growth. In Saudi Arabia, we are working on major projects with the Saudi Gaming Federation as well as the Ministry of Culture mega project and MDL Beast. In Bahrain, we are working with Formula1 Bahrain Grand Prix and Sun Waves Festival as well as concerts by major international acts such as Maroon 5, 50Cent, Westlife, and more in Al Dana Amphitheatre.”
Platinumlist launched its own iOS and Android app after the pandemic, which has now been downloaded a million times, and brings the company’s monthly online visitors to more than two million. “It has become the platform of choice,” adds Anatoli.
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The unstoppable rise of the Gulf States
Exactly two years ago, at the very moment IQ was producing its last market report on the live market of the Gulf, not to mention gathering the live music community in London for ILMC, the pandemic closed in, and the world shuddered to a halt.
We all know what happened next: lockdowns, calendars in the bin, plenty of pain and an ever-extending timescale for the return of concerts. Every market suffered, and the Gulf was no exception. In the final analysis, the UAE was only fully locked down for around four months and Saudi Arabia for a little over a year, but the hit was a hard one and some restrictions linger on.
Nonetheless, due to a unique set of circumstances, this may also be one regional market that has emerged from the whole mess looking sharper and shinier than when it went in. In 2022, the Gulf boasts new live venues, new touring connections and, in Saudi Arabia, a booming new territory that has shifted the centre of the region and – albeit not without controversy – greatly boosted the appeal of the region to international acts.
The second edition of MDLBEAST’s Soundstorm festival in Riyadh, a four-day “rave in the desert” last December, where Tiësto, Martin Garrix, and David Guetta played and a reported 180,000 attended the opening night, represents the new face of live music in the Gulf.
That same month, the kingdom also hosted the Formula One Grand Prix, with music from Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo, and A$AP Rocky. Chris Brown, Black Eyed Peas, James Blunt, Wyclef Jean and Craig David are also recent visitors, courtesy of MDLBEAST’s MDLBEAST Presents arm, which has rapidly built a reputation as the market’s leading provider of musical talent.
“I would assume that the kingdom is the biggest buying market in the world right now”
“I don’t play for politicians, I play for people,” Guetta told a Soundstorm press conference, side-stepping the criticisms of the regime that remains the main stumbling block to the international performing community’s guilt-free acceptance of the Saudi riyal.
That stumbling block is seemingly getting smaller these days, partly due to the billions at the disposal of a Saudi regime that is investing in entertainment, not only to conjure tourism, but to keep its free-spending domestic audience from travelling abroad in search of fun.
“I would assume that the kingdom is the biggest buying market in the world right now,” says veteran Middle East promoter Thomas Ovesen, outgoing entertainment director at the Diriyah Gate Development Authority in Saudi. “For me, what is happening with live entertainment in Saudi Arabia is what people used to say was going to happen in China. And while it hasn’t materialised there, we are seeing it here now: Western artists coming in for premium fees and a potential touring market in the region. It’s phenomenal.”
For all its wealth, its tourism, and its appetite for growth, the Gulf as a live music region has never been in a position like this before. Efforts to develop Abu Dhabi and Dubai as destination markets have yielded wily, pragmatic local industries and plenty of impressive events – including the recent delayed Expo 2020, which brought Coldplay to Dubai’s Al Wasl Plaza in February, among many other highlights. But the emirates’ modest expat-dominated populations and geo-graphical isolation have impeded their efforts to elevate their status on the broader touring map.
The addition of Saudi Arabia to the mix – the 35m-population kingdom having opened its doors in recent years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify the country’s economy and develop its public sector – effectively changes everything.
“In Saudi, you see the same crowd behaviour you see anywhere else in the world. They are loving it”
In addition to the artist fees, a particular appeal of the Saudi market, thinks Ovesen is the presence of a true local crowd. “People live an expat life in Dubai – they’re probably a bit privileged, sometimes it can be hard to get a reaction out of them,” he says. “But in Saudi, you see the same crowd behaviour you see anywhere else in the world. They are loving it. And they are embracing the opportunity to attend live entertainment. We used to say that the only place in the region where you could get that experience was when we took the show to Beirut or Cairo. But that’s exactly the situation in Saudi.”
The other markets in the region may not be quite as pent-up, but they are certainly ready for the shift. Nine months before the pandemic, Dubai took delivery of its first indoor arena in the Coca-Cola Arena, while Abu Dhabi put the finishing touches to its own Etihad Arena during the lull. Kuwait and Bahrain likewise have impressive new facilities, and talk has inevitably turned to the development of a genuine touring circuit, involving the Gulf States and all manner of roughly proximate markets, from South Africa and India to Turkey and Egypt.
At the time of writing, the Gulf region is preparing for a milestone in this regard: a bona fide three-date tour by an A-list international act, as Live Nation’s Maroon 5 shape up for the Pyramids in Egypt, the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and Park HaYarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel. “This is the first time an A-list Western act has been able to do a regional tour, and it sets a great precedent for the future,” says James Craven, president Live Nation Middle East. “Ticket sales have really exceeded even our most bullish forecast, which again really underlines the enduring demand for shows.”
A necessary piece of this particular puzzle has been the recent thawing of relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Israel, which in turn has made it
possible for tours to fly directly between the two markets for the first time.
“Having regionally routed runs ensures that bands are able to play for even more fans, rather than playing a one-off show that takes them out of the market for years,” says Craven. “Previously artists would simply fly in for one show in the UAE. But we are now seeing the potential for as many as ten or more dates on a regional Middle East tour.” In a world still navigating its way out of the pandemic, these are significant and unprecedented moments, and, geopolitics permitting, they suggest the future of live music in the Gulf is likely to assume a very different shape to its past.
“We are now seeing the potential for as many as ten or more dates on a regional Middle East tour”
Promoters
The promoting landscape in the Gulf is a mixed one, combining heavyweight state-owned promoters (Abu Dhabi’s Flash Entertainment), familiar corporates (notably Live Nation, operating out of Dubai), fast-growing Saudi entities such as MDLBEAST, and a variety of Dubai-based independents, ranging from specialist operators to beach club DJ promoters to wealthy dabblers.
Out of all of them, the meteoric rise of MDLBEAST arguably makes it the promoter to watch, and its ambitions are unlimited by the boundaries of Saudi Arabia, or even those of the Gulf itself.
“We want to be present in the entire region,” says Talal Albahiti, MDLBEAST chief operating officer and head of talent booking and events. “The Middle Eastern music market is expected to grow up to 16.5% by 2027, reaching $670m [€605m]. MDLBEAST will play a significant role in supporting that growth. We also want to go beyond the region, as we are not only looking to host festivals and concerts in the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain but also in Greece, Spain, and the US.”
MDLBEAST has also been invited to take on live events for circling Western promoters, says Albahiti. “We have been approached by a few European companies to produce their festivals, which was a pleasant surprise and much-deserved recognition to all the team. It shows that our commitment and dedication are being recognised by the international market.”
Clearly, the live market in Saudi Arabia is poised at an exciting but delicate moment, and MDLBEAST is acutely aware of the need to nurture the industry in the proper way if it is to thrive sustainably in the long-term. At its inaugural XP Music Conference in December 2021, it gathered 150 delegates from the Middle Eastern music industry in Riyadh with a view to accelerating the market’s growth.
“I believe that the next Drake of this world will come from Saudi Arabia”
“For me personally, XP is our most important work because it aims to help build real infrastructure for the music industry in a region where it is currently missing,” says Albahiti. “We need that if we’re going to support local and regional talent and for our organisation to grow.
“We don’t want to be just another music touring company picking global acts and bringing them to Saudi Arabia – our vision is much grander than that. We want to empower, develop, and educate local and regional talents across different genres. I believe that the next Drake of this world will come from Saudi Arabia. If not, then definitely from the Middle Eastern region.”
In its own way, Live Nation has also spent the pandemic nurturing talent in the region – specifically promoting talent it needs on the ground to broaden the range of playable markets.
“Because of the restrictions in place for a lot of the last two years, we focused on future planning and opening up newer markets like Jordan, Egypt, India, and Kuwait,” says Zaed Maqbool, Live Nation VP talent, Middle East, who has spent years building the foundations for a viable circuit to rival those elsewhere in the world. In this context, the significance of the impending Maroon 5 tour is worth restating.
“Maroon 5 was truly a labour of love,” says Maqbool. “The first-ever regionally routed run, an A-list band, and an undying willingness to create a new regional route for Western artists. It all came together. That one really represents a paradigm shift for touring in the region. We now have offers out for more regional tours – and they’re all big names.”
While it may have taken the roaring engine of Saudi Arabia to jolt the region into a higher gear, the UAE promises to become a significant central strategic point as a Middle Eastern/ Asian/African circuit coalesces – at least according to Live Nation’s thinking.
“We have been preparing for this moment since back in 2007, 2008″
“India will become a part of the equation,” says Maqbool. “Israel and UAE are already mainstays because of their proximity and the fact that they are mature markets in their own right. South Africa is also a market we connect to, as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have direct flights. So basically, the UAE becomes the connecting transport hub for the region and beyond.”
With not only a new arena but the well-established 40,000-cap Etihad Park stadium at its disposal – which over the years has witnessed Coldplay, Rihanna, The Stones and others – Abu Dhabi’s Flash Entertainment is, like all promoters in the region, highly prepared for an influx of talent.
“We have been preparing for this moment since back in 2007, 2008,” says Flash CEO John Lickrish. “One of the strategies we thought we were going to implement, or was going to happen organically, was a regional touring circuit.
“We thought it would be Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, ourselves, maybe Bahrain. In fact, we are dealing with content pushed through Israel, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain… hopefully India – we will see how that develops. Yeah, it’s a great thing. Obviously, having more content available takes us out of the position of feeling like everything that comes is something we have to deliver ourselves.”
Not every Gulf promoter emerged from the pandemic intact. Arab Media Group-owned Done Events, with its roster of Dubai-based festivals including RedFestDXB, Blended, and Dubai Jazz Festival, has ceased trading. Others, meanwhile, have emerged. Former Done Events live events manager Peter Green had already gone out on his own by the time of Done’s demise and now operates as GME Events. He sold 15,000 tickets in his first year of operation, promoting Russell Peters and Michael McIntyre at the Etihad Arena and The Kooks at the Coca-Cola Arena, as well as several more comedy shows at the Dubai Opera and the Dubai World Trade Centre.
“Saudi Arabia is a tricky market. It has the demand, but it is difficult to enter”
“All of those shows were obviously socially distanced,” says Green. “The venues can obviously take more, but we achieved far more than I thought we would, as a new promoter, with Covid restrictions in place. Shows are coming back now and restrictions are less, but it is still challenging with the ever-changing Covid landscape. I think the attitude now, though, is let’s get on with it, and let’s do what we can.”
Other promoters in Dubai include the jazz-focused Chillout Productions, founder of the Dubai Jazz Festival, and The Artist Network, whose events include Desert Groove – formerly Groove on the Grass – at the Dunes Resort in Ras Al Khaimah.
Meanwhile, after three years with the state-backed DGDA project, which is developing the historic town of Ad Diriyah into a national, cultural and tourist centre on the edge of Riyad, Ovesen is poised to return to his promoting roots with new venture T.O.P. Entertainment and will operate as an independent with offices in Saudi and the UAE, but also looking to organise events across Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
Ticketing
The leading ticketing company in the Gulf remains Platinumlist, which operates right across the region. “We sell 80% of UAE entertainment tickets and have been in KSA for six years,” says managing director Vassiliy Anatoli. “Our turnover in Saudi is larger than in UAE, although it’s hard to say what our market share is exactly.
“Saudi Arabia is a tricky market. It has the demand, but it is difficult to enter. It is hard to get independent event permits for organisers, and the majority of events are funded by the General Event Authority, which imposes the use of state-owned ticketing platforms.”
“We had a very successful Q1 of 2020 that helped us a lot with the rest of the troubled year”
Anatoli’s perspective on the pandemic is a widescreen one that neatly charts the ups and downs of the entire Gulf market. “We had a very successful Q1 of 2020 that helped us a lot with the rest of the troubled year. Despite the pandemic, many attractions kept operating and that is what we focused on whilst there were no events.
“2021 started well but was swiftly cut off by another spike in cases locally, which halted the industry for another four months. However, by March 2021, Saudi started making plans, and we won the tender for the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 and many other major projects, such as Rotana Concerts, the Evolution Exhibition, the Museum of Happiness, and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale.
“Finally, the UAE resumed events in full swing by September 2021, which catapulted our revenues. Another major win was the 2021 Indian Premier League and ICC World Cup, which has sold over 350,000 tickets.”
In the coming years, Anatoli expects the biggest growth to come from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, though he also points to Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait as markets seeing comfortable growth. Other ticketing outlets in Dubai include bricks-and-mortar retailer Virgin Megastore, as well as Ticketmaster and Indian giant BookMyShow.
Venues
Dubai’s 17,000-cap arena Coca-Cola Arena, the first permanent, multi-purpose arena in an emirate that had been staging shows on laboriously converted brownfield sites on the edge of the city for years, opened in June 2019. It managed just nine months in operation before Covid closed its doors.
“On Feb 15, they announced all restrictions were removed. The only requirement now is that masks must be worn indoors”
Coca-Cola Arena general manager Mark Jan Kar describes the moment at ILMC 2020 when it became clear what the immediate impact of the encroaching pandemic would be (“I’ve never seen an insurance panel more engaged,” he says) and with precise recall of dates, fills in the story up to the present day.
“Everything came to a complete halt, but we had Iron Maiden in May, and we thought, ‘Okay, we’ll close for a month…’” he says, recalling the initial optimism of the times. “That obviously didn’t happen, but we undertook some behind-closed-doors activities for some government entities. Then we were an Ikea catalogue venue, and we were a venue for a movie set. We were very close to becoming a vaccine centre.”
Over the next year or so, the UAE flexed its restrictions, “and slowly but surely, we went from 1,500 capacity, heavily socially distanced, to 2,500, to 5,000, then 60%, 70%, 80% of capacity, and thankfully, on Feb 15, they announced all restrictions were removed. The only requirement now is that masks must be worn indoors.”
In the same period, after an inevitable delay, Abu Dhabi finally inaugurated its own arena, the 18,000-cap Etihad, part of the AED12bn (€3bn) Yas Bay development project. “We would have liked to have it earlier; but it’s a really beautiful facility. It’s easy to operate, it’s cost-effective, scalable,” says Lickrish. “We have a host of good commercial partners that have come on board, Etihad being the big one. It’s next to impossible to make the industry work here without corporate partners, and that’s been a fact for quite some time now. So that’s exciting. Our corporate boxes are sold out, and now we are just planning content.”
On the schedule at the Etihad Arena for the coming months are Arab pop stars Amr Diab, Sherine Abdel Wahab, and Kadim Al Sahir; Maroon 5; UFC; and the International Indian Film Academy Awards 2022.
“For us to have a phenomenal venue 130km down the road creates healthy competition”
The almost simultaneous arrival of two world-class arenas in a previously arena-free zone – to add to the Dubai Opera, the Media City amphitheatre and the World Trade Centre, all in Dubai – might be viewed as an embarrassment of riches. But if the competition is unwelcome, no one is saying.
“For us to have a phenomenal venue 130km down the road creates healthy competition,” says Kar. “Both serve a domestic market, and they also allow us to create tours for artists.”
Those tours, of course, don’t necessarily have to come from the Western content machine. A feature of the Middle Eastern market that is occasionally lost on Western eyes is the sheer diversity of its offering.
“For us, Western acts would probably make up 25% to 30% of the content,” says Kar. “The balance is very much Asian content, and that includes Bollywood but also Pakistani and Bangladeshi music. And then you have got Arabic, where you have the Khaliji music that is popular across the Gulf, but also Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian, all with completely different dialects and demographics that would attend. Comparing anyone with another is like comparing Bruno Mars with Metallica.”
It is also inevitable that more venues are to come, particularly in the region’s most newly vibrant market. Most of the Saudi events still take place on outdoor sites or in temporary structures such as the 15,000-seat Diriyah Arena near Riyadh, but further building is taking place. ASM Global will manage the 20,000-cap Jeddah Arena at Airport City, promised for late-2025, while the 25,000-cap Victory Arena in Riyadh is currently undergoing a major facelift.
With Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup at the end of this year, there has been a massive construction programme, which could ultimately benefit the local live entertainment scene. And in Bahrain, three million man hours of work has created the spectacular 10,000-seat Al Dana Amphitheatre, which has literally been carved from the rock of the Sahkir desert (more about that project in IQ’s June issue).
“The challenge, believe it or not, is starting to become the seasons”
Another territory ready to take its place in a regional circuit is Kuwait, which welcomed a 5,000-cap multi-purpose all-seater arena in March. The Arena Kuwait, in Kuwait City’s 360 Mall, targets live entertainment, sports, corporate projects, exhibitions and conferences, and in its first few weeks of operation hosted six sold-out Arabic music concerts and two regional business-to-consumer expos.
“Kuwait is a new market for international and regional promoters and event organisers, as un- til the opening of The Arena Kuwait, venues and event spaces were limited,” says general manager Ken Jamieson. “Kuwait has an event-hungry population and the response to our first plethora of events has been very satisfying for all concerned. We have a packed calendar for the rest of the year as the demand has been outstanding..”
As the infrastructure expands, of course, so do the challenges of a region with a range of extreme weather conditions and great disparities in both its seasonal habits and venue provision.
“The challenge, believe it or not, is starting to become the seasons,” says Maqbool, wrestling with a circuit that potentially spans thousands of miles across Africa and Asia. “If an artist wants to do a tour in what is called the winter here in the Middle East, we need to take into consideration the different ‘winter’ conditions at each stop of the tour and the implications that has on venue type and timings.
“In the UAE, we have not one but two arenas to play around with, so we’re good the year round. But it’s not the same in Egypt, it’s not the same in India and some of the other markets as well. When it’s our winter, it’s their summer, and vice versa, and that’s a little nuance that sometimes plays into the equation. There’s a fair amount of playing Tetris with the routing, figuring out what works for everybody.”
And, give or take some teething troubles, a bit of geopolitical discord, and some Western liberal reservations, there’s the new regional circuit for you. It may well very come to offer dazzling new horizons for live music – but don’t expect it to be an easy ride.
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Platinumlist powers through the pandemic
The pandemic has brought a lot of changes to the events industry worldwide and triggered a reset button for many in the ticketing industry. Here, we catch up with MD Vassiliy Anatoli to find out how Dubai-headquarterd ticketing platform Platinumlist has weathered the pandemic.
We had a very successful Q1 of 2020 that helped us a lot with the rest of the troubled year. We noticed that despite the pandemic, many attractions kept operating and that is what we focused on whilst there were no events.
Previously, in 2018, we have entered into an OTA (online travel agency) sector and started selling attractions along with the events. This has helped us a lot in 2020. Most major OTAs have slashed budgets and we have become the number one OTA attractions seller locally. This has yet boosted our OTA division which has now grown three times in revenue and continues to do so every year.
The events were only stopped for approximately four months in the UAE and for over a year in Saudi Arabia. Despite this, we have managed to have a healthy break even at the end of 2020.
“The UAE resumed events in full swing by September 2021, which has catapulted our revenues”
2021 has started well but was swiftly cut off by another spike in cases locally which halted the industry for another four months.
However, by March 2021, Saudi started making plans and we have won the tender for the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 and many other major projects such as Rotana Concerts, Evolution Exhibition, Museum of Happiness, and Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale.
Finally, the UAE resumed events in full swing by September 2021, which has catapulted our revenues. Another major win was the 2021 Indian Premier League and ICC World Cup which has sold over 350,000 tickets. The Gulf football, UAE Pro League, has resumed its operations at the same time around August 2021.
We were very lucky to be able to retain our full technical team past the pandemic. The work of adding more products and refining the existing functionality has not stopped. We have ventured into online events and streaming briefly but quickly understood that it’s not our future. The plan over the pandemic was to increase our functionality set and launch with a big major product by the end pandemic.
“We are actively looking for partners worldwide to enter new markets”
Staying true to our commitment, we are about to introduce a SAAS solution that is aimed at empowering small to medium organisers to build their own events and manage ticket sales from start to finish. Currently its in Beta mode, but will be launched fully with map configuration at the end of Q2.
Moreover, the Upsells or Ticket Add-ons functionality was also launched, adding value to the users’ ticket purchases and at the same time increasing the revenue of the organisers.
Another major highlight is the launch of the Platinumlist App on IOS and Android, which immediately ranked 5th on the Appstore upon launch and has now become the platform of choice of over 450,000 downloads combined IOS Android.
Higher revenue has increased our profitability, which allows us to continue to reinvest in daring projects such as SAAS and event funding backed by crypto, a safe resale platform to name a few and to continuously expand into new regions.
Our benchmark year was 2019 when we saw 60% growth YOY. By the end of 2021, we have managed to increase our revenue in comparison to 2019 even though we operated only for six months of the year, which I think is a notable testament of our team and technology resilience.
We have set an ambitious goal for 2022 and Q1 looks like we are on track. We are actively looking for partners worldwide to enter new markets as our functionality stack very competitive at the moment.
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Bridging the Gulf: Arab Gulf states come of age
And it was all going so well!
Going into Christmas, you might have said the live entertainment business in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf states was on a decisive path to maturity, at least in certain prominent markets. Dubai finally had its permanent Coca-Cola Arena and was hauling in the crowds and the talent, including Maroon 5, Westlife, the 1975 and John Legend.
Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, had nailed down a name for its own 18,000-cap. indoor venue – Etihad Arena, part of the 12 billion AED (€3bn) Yas Bay development project – and an expectation of a 2020 opening.
Even Kuwait, fairly quiet lately on the touring front, was preparing to cut the ribbon on a 5,000-cap mixed-use arena: the Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah International Tennis Complex in Surrah, managed by Live Nation and opened in February.
And, of course, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the pedigree dark horse of the region, was fast emerging as by far the most promising market of them all, with concerts, festivals, Formula E racing, international tennis, equestrian competitions and boxing. To varying degrees, these events have met with international controversy due to Saudi’s well-known diplomatic issues.
But they have also been powered by large amounts of cash, rabid local demand and the grand ambitions of ‘MbS’ – controversial crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – and his Vision 2030 plan to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy and develop its public sector.
“Dubai is a country that depends on tourism and entertainment, so they will be very keen to reopen as soon as possible”
Then came Covid-19, which still rages worldwide at press time, and the region was forced to hit pause on its entertainment aspirations. Like almost everywhere else, concert halls closed, shows were postponed, and the industry went into enforced hibernation. When it will rouse itself again is anyone’s guess.
“As with the rest of the world, all events [in Saudi Arabia] are cancelled until further notice,” said Vassiliy Anatoli, managing director of regional ticketing hub Platinumlist, speaking to IQ in late March. “The public is not allowed to go outside the house from 3pm until 8am and the death toll is rising. People are worried.”
The UAE states had imposed similar measures and were already daring to dream of a light at the end of the tunnel. “Large organisers are hopeful to restart their operation in July, but again, that depends on how the situation pans out in the coming [months],” said Anatoli.
“Dubai is a country that depends on tourism and entertainment, so I’m sure they will be very keen to reopen as soon as possible,” he added. “[Dubai’s] Expo 2020 has already been moved to ’21. As for the rest of the organisers, they have moved all events to November and December. Rugby Sevens is confirmed for December, but again, it depends on government regulation.”
Each of the various Gulf markets has its own economic logic: generous state funding combined with remarkably strong ticket sales in Saudi; a similar balance in Abu Dhabi, albeit on a far less turbo-charged scale; and a grittier commercial market in Dubai, closely controlled, but not underwritten, by the state. Clearly, all will suffer damage, even if some can absorb it better than others.
Continue reading this feature in the digital edition of IQ 89, or subscribe to the magazine here
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Selling tickets in the UAE: A primer
Is this a good year for ticket sales?
The UAE has one of the most vibrant event scenes in the world. Customers are spoilt for choice, whether it’s family events, sports or EDM.
Many local promoters may say there has been a recession in ticket buying. But in my view there has just been too much on offer.
What kind of events are selling particularly well?
Many event organisers seem to be excessively targeting high-income customers with an average ticket price of US$100 or above, but there is a relatively limited amount of people who are able to afford that – and they’re spoilt for choice anyway.
From what we see, Indian, Arabic and sporting events are a particularly promising segment at the moment. Offering entertainment to low-income expats and local customers, which are a majority here, is something that has a lot of potential.
What are the challenges of the Emirati market?
I would say there is a lack of communication and planning between event organisers. Some of the new promoters in town jump into the game without doing in-depth research and consultation. We often see major events overlapping, where both organisers end up wasting huge investments despite our recommendations.
And, as I mentioned previously, mid- and low-income customer sectors are often ignored, which is a missed opportunity.
Which ticketing companies have the biggest marketshare in Dubai?
According to the official Dubai Tourism figures, Platinumlist has approximately 80% marketshare in entertainment events, with the rest serviced by Virgin Tickets and Ticketmaster.
Flash Entertainment, which is subsidised by the government, is the dominant event organiser in Abu Dhabi. Flash brings a lot of Live Nation’s big artists and works exclusively via Ticketmaster at the moment, for obvious reasons.
The UAE is relatively small and has different technical requirements to the rest of the world – you can’t simply copy and paste ticketing technology used in the UK or Australia
What are the strengths of Platinumlist?
The UAE is a unique ticketing market, especially with the introduction of the Dubai e-Ticketing system in 2013. This market is relatively small and has different technical requirements to the rest of the world – you cannot simply copy and paste ticketing technology used in the UK or Australia.
Our business model is different from other conventional ticketing companies. Over the years we have established ourselves as a comprehensive event guide that has reasonable traffic and returning customer base. Ticketing nowadays is not rocket science, in my opinion, and we provide it almost at cost price with an average percentage of 5% inclusive of card-processing charges.
We focus a lot on inbound marketing, which I believe is key; we have 12 years’ experience and a team that knows its digital and conventional marketing channels locally. We know every advertising and service supplier in town and make sure that our clients get the right prices without any backhanders. Such positive consulting, which we provide free to all our clients big or small, has won us a 99% client retention and a solid reputation.
What is Dubai e-Ticketing?
Since 2013 all ticketing companies in Dubai must draw their ticketing stock via API from the Dubai e-Ticketing system.
It is mandatory for every organiser planing an event in Dubai to set up ticket inventory on the e-Ticketing server and then appoint a licensed local ticketing company to sell tickets online.
Secondary ticketing is a hot topic elsewhere in the world – do you see any future for it in the UAE?
Resale of tickets for above face value is against Dubai law.
Being a primary ticket seller I see little gain from resellers for the music industry in general. Promoters invest huge sums in marketing and artist fees; obviously it is discouraging for them to see resellers harvesting demand by simply buying Google AdWords, hitting event organisers where it hurts most. The result is inflated prices, dissatisfied customers and no increment in sales – at least this is the case in the Emirati market.
However, promoters and primary ticketing companies have only themselves to blame: There is a clear gap for ticket marketing portals worldwide and it is being filled now.
Vassiliy Anatoli is managing director of Platinumlist.net, a Dubai-based events guide and ticketing platform.