UK government pledges to ‘tackle greedy touts’
The UK Government has launched its much-anticipated consultation into the secondary ticketing market with a pledge to “tackle greedy touts and give power back to fans”.
A new cap on the price of resale tickets are among measures that will be considered, alongside plans to limit the number of tickets resellers can list to the maximum they are allowed to purchase on the primary market.
In addition, there are proposals to increase the accountability of ticket resale websites and apps, creating new legal obligations so that they can be held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans.
The Government says it will also review existing legislation to strengthen consumer protection, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for resale platforms.
Launching the consultation, UK Government Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “The chance to see your favourite musicians or sports team live is something all of us enjoy and everyone deserves a fair shot at getting tickets – but for too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we are taking action to strengthen consumer protections, stop fans getting ripped off and ensure money spent on tickets goes back into our incredible live events sector, instead of into the pockets of greedy touts.”
“For too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices”
The consultation marks a significant milestone for the UK live music industry, which has long-campaigned for additional restrictions on the secondary market.
According to analysis by the Competition and Market Authority, typical mark-ups on tickets sold on the secondary market are often more than 50 per cent and investigations by Trading Standards have uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost. Research by Virgin Media O2 indicated that ticket touts cost music fans an extra £145 million per year.
The CMA has estimated the value of tickets sold in 2019 through secondary ticketing platforms to be about £350 million, with around 1.9 million tickets sold on these platforms. 1.9 million tickets accounted for around 5 to 6% of the number of primary tickets sold in 2019.
Adam Webb, Campaign Manager at FanFair Alliance, said: “These suggested measures are potentially game-changing. Other countries, notably Ireland, have demonstrated how legislation to prevent the resale of tickets for profit can massively curb the illegal and anti-consumer practices of online ticket touts and offshore resale platforms. The UK simply needs to follow their example.”
The industry looks certain to weigh in strongly behind the Government’s proposals, though IQ understands that as yet there is no agreement on the level of resale uplift the industry will recommend, with the Government asking for views on a range from 0% to 30%.
In previous statements the Government indicated that it would be looking at resale cap at 10% above face value.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said they were “committed to making ticketing simple and transparent”.
They added: “Since 2018, our resale has been capped at face value, providing fans a safe place to sell tickets they can’t use at the original price set by artists and event organisers. We support proposals to introduce an industry-wide resale price cap. We also urge the government to crack down on bots and ban speculative ticket sales.
“Ticketmaster welcomes any action to protect fans and give them the best chance of getting tickets to the events they love.”
“These suggested measures are potentially game-changing”
Jon Collins, Chief Executive of LIVE, the UK live music trade body, said: “LIVE welcomes this positive step to put fans back at the heart of live music by tackling ticket touting. We have been a long-term and vociferous advocate for regulation of the secondary market, supporting the great work of the FanFair Alliance, and are pleased to see government delivering on its manifesto commitment in this area.
“We are delighted that measures which permit responsible and fair fan-to-fan resale, while eliminating third-party profiteering, will be brought forward. This will reduce the incentive for touts to squeeze fans out of the primary sale and highlights the need to set the cap on resales at or near the original price.
The secondary ticketing industry is expected to lobby strongly against new resale curbs. A spokesperson for viagogo told IQ: “We will continue to constructively engage with the Government and look forward to responding in full to the consultation and call for evidence on improving consumer protections in the ticketing market.”
The government had initially said the consultation would be published in the Autumn of 2024 but the timing was pushed back, with industry sources fearful it had been derailed by the furore surrounding the Oasis ticket onsale. Last August, millions of fans found themselves in an hours-long queue, with some then served tickets priced much higher than originally expected, leading to a media and political outcry.
In response to that, alongside the formal consultation the government has launched a “call for evidence into pricing practices in the live events sector, such as dynamic pricing”.
The government says it is looking for views “on how the ticketing system in the live events sector is working for fans and whether the current system provides sufficient protection from unfair practices”.
It will also consider “whether there is potential for new harms to consumers to arise from emerging business trends including the use of new technologies and dynamic pricing”.
The consultation will be open until 4 April 2025, with full details here.
IQ will be publishing a deep dive on secondary ticketing regulation across Europe in the next issue of the magazine.
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Report: Vivid Seats fields acquisition offers
Online ticket reseller Vivid Seats is reportedly fielding acquisition offers from several private equity firms hoping to take the company private.
The Chicago-based company, which competes with SeatGeek and StubHub, has enlisted an advisory firm to help gauge interest in a potential sale, according to Bloomberg.
The news sent Vivid Seats’ stock surging 20% on 30 December, marking its largest single-day gain since going public. The hike brought the company’s market capitalisation to USD $943 million. As of Friday (3 January), Vivid Seats’ market cap stood at $955 million.
However, the company’s shares have faced considerable pressure over the past year, declining by 40% before this recent uptick.
In the third quarter of 2024, Vivid Seats’ net income plunged 43% to $9.2 million from $16 million the prior year. Revenue inched down 1% YoY to $186.6 million from $188.1 million.
The news sent Vivid Seats’ stock surging 20% on 30 December, marking its largest single-day gain since going public
CEO Stan Chia in November said, “Demand remained robust in the third quarter, although we experienced a headwind from concert supply, including from venue and artist mix, that we believe to be temporary.”
Vivid Seats was launched in 2001 by Jerry Bednyak and Eric Vassilatos as a competitor to resale platform StubHub and later Seat Geek – both of which have been sizing up a potential initial public offering.
In 2017, private equity firm GTCR acquired a majority stake in Vivid Seats. A year later, Bednyak and Vassilatos left the company and went on to launch venture group Skybox Capital.
In 2021, the company went public via a merger with Horizon Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). That transaction valued Vivid Seats at approximately $1.95 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Vivid Seats’ current ownership includes a substantial stake held by Eldridge Industries, led by Todd Boehly, which controls roughly 41% of the company’s Class A shares. GTCR also maintains a minority position in the business.
IQ has reached out to Vivid Seats for comment.
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Live Nation ‘hopeful’ on Trump antitrust impact
Live Nation has said it is “hopeful” the imminent administration change in the US will have a positive impact on its antitrust battle with the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ has accused the promoter and Ticketmaster, who merged in 2010, of using their “power and influence” to “insert themselves at the centre and the edges of virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem” in the suit, filed in New York in May.
The defendants vigorously contest the claims, with the case set to go to trial in 2026.
Speaking during Live Nation’s Q3 2024 earnings call yesterday (11 November), the company’s president and CFO Joe Berchtold responded to a shareholder query regarding American president-elect Donald Trump‘s approach to “antitrust and the associated remedies”.
“It’s still very early in the transition process, so we’re hesitant to say too much, but absolutely, we are hopeful that we’ll see a return to the more traditional antitrust approach where the agencies have generally tried to find ways to solve problems they see with targeted remedies that minimise government intervention in the marketplace,” said Berchtold. “And without getting into the specifics, at least some parts of the case, we think believe reflect a much more interventionist philosophy today than you’d expect of a Republican administration.
“Obviously, the request to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster would be an example of that highly interventionist approach. So, we’ll obviously be ready to engage as soon as they are. They need to get through the appointments and get things settled on their end, but we’d certainly be hopeful that we could start engaging with them early in next year.”
“We wrapped up our most active summer concert season ever, our show pipeline has never been bigger, and brand sponsorships are accelerating”
Berchtold’s comments marked the firm’s first public statement on the matter since Trump’s stunning re-election last week.
Live Nation’s share price has continued to soar in the wake of its Q3 financial results, reaching a new all-time high of $130.76 in after hours trading. It stood at $129.40 at press time, giving the firm a $29.6 billion market cap.
The company posted a record adjusted operating income (AOI) for the period, up 4% from $871.2m to $909.8m, despite revenue being down 6% for the quarter, year-on-year, from $8.1bn to $7.7bn, with takings from its concerts and ticketing segments dipping 6% and 17% respectively. Sponsorship and advertising was up 6%.
“We wrapped up our most active summer concert season ever, our show pipeline has never been bigger, and brand sponsorships are accelerating,” said president and CEO Michael Rapino. “While operating income will be impacted by one-time accruals, we are pacing toward double-digit AOI growth this year.
“As we look toward an even bigger 2025, we have a larger lineup of stadium, arena and amphitheatre shows for fans to enjoy. Momentum continues to build, as we expand the industry’s infrastructure with music-focused venues to support artists and reach untapped fan demand across the globe.”
Live Nation attracted 112m fans globally to its events, as double-digit boost in arena and amphitheatre attendance more than offest a 30%+ decline in stadium attendance.
Growth was projected for 2025, with the concerts pipeline in stadiums, arenas, and amphitheatres up double-digits compared to the same point last year. More than 20 million tickets have already been sold for Live Nation concerts next year, also pacing up double-digits, with recent 2025 stadium onsales including Coldplay, Rüfüs Du Sol and Shakira delivering double-digit average growth in show grosses relative to past tours.
Sponsorship has continually been our star for the last decade or so
“Next week alone we have over 200 stadium and arena shows going on sale,” said Berchtold. “We’re in a period of unprecedented level of activity for Ticketmaster in Q4, and then that will continue into Q1 and through next year.”
Moreover, Rapino hailed LN’s sponsorship arm, which is also on track for a double-digit increase, as “our star for the last decade or so”.
“We look at this business still very, very strong, very different than maybe some of the advertising challenges other companies have,” he said. “We see overall companies spending more money on-site experiential and moving dollars into that segment and anytime that happens, that’s good for our business. We tend to rise with that.
“We look at ’25 and onward as continual AOI growth that we’ve been able to deliver in the past in sponsorship. One of the foundational drivers of that is our globalisation. And every time we do more shows around the world, we provide ourselves more opportunity and more sponsors. As our global pipe continues to grow, so will our sponsorship and we’ll see continued growth.”
Rapino also discussed the company’s strategy with regards to superfans, suggesting the premium/VIP “pie” was “still under-serviced” and represented an opportunity for substantial growth.
“We’ve been selling to the superfan for quite a while,” he said. “We’ve used percentages in the past: 2%, 4%, 6% of the show is premium. We think it can grow up to 20% and more. So, a lot of the refurbishments we’re doing at venues is about taking regular seats and turning them into better experiences for premium experiences at night.
“Premium experiences is a big underpin to our entire growth forward because it’s using the same customer base, but we always sell out of the boxes, sell out of the premium inventory first, we never have a problem selling that… When we’re building [venues], we’re starting with this mandate that they must have a certain higher percentage of premium seats and lounges and experiences, so those venues start with a much better return.”
Furthermore, Rapino expanded on his recent comments that he would “love” to see regulation of the secondary ticketing market in the form of a 20% price cap. He noted that legislation around resale practices “we’d like to clean up” such as bots and spec-selling “hasn’t really come to life yet”.
“We hope, over time, better regulations get put in place to help the consumer,” he added.
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Oasis tour promoters to cancel 50k resale tickets
Promoters of Oasis’ reunion concerts say they will cancel up to 50,000 tickets listed on unofficial resale sites for the tour’s UK leg.
Live Nation and SJM told BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 the invalidated tickets would be re-listed at face value on Ticketmaster.
Oasis Live ’25 was the biggest concert launch ever seen in UK and Ireland, with over 10 million fans from 158 countries attempting to buy tickets for the 1.4 million tickets available for the group’s first shows since 2009.
Strict anti-touting measures were put in place in a bid to ensure tickets are resold for no more than face value and booking fees, with Twickets selected as the tour’s official ticket resale platform.
“Ticket resale is permitted at no more than the price you paid (face value + booking fees),” read a message on the Oasis website prior to the 31 August on-sale. “Please only use the official resale partners www.twickets.live and Ticketmaster. Selling tickets through unauthorised resale platforms will breach these T&Cs and those tickets may be cancelled.”
The promoters said they would begin the process of voiding tickets deemed to have breached the terms and conditions shortly.
“Fans will be the beneficiaries of this action when any cancelled tickets go back on sale at face value”
“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against secondary ticketing companies reselling tickets for huge profit,” they say in a statement. “Only 4% of tickets have ended up on resale sites. Some major tours can see up to 20% of tickets appearing via the major unauthorised secondary platforms.
“All parties involved with the tour continue to urge fans not to purchase tickets from unauthorised websites as some of these may be fraudulent and others subject to cancellation.”
Speaking to IQ, FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb praises the move.
“It’s great to see Oasis take these measures to enforce their T&Cs,” he says. “To be clear, they are not cancelling tickets bought by fans – they are cancelling tickets unlawfully acquired by touts. That’s a very different thing. Some of these tickets might not even have been resold. And obviously fans will be the beneficiaries of this action when any cancelled tickets go back on sale at face value.”
Viagogo’s Matt Drew told File on 4 that “2%” of Oasis tickets had appeared on Viagogo and Stubhub, and indicated the secondary sites would not be deterred from offering them for resale.
“We will continue to sell them in the way the regulator says we can,” he said. “We are serving a clear consumer need, we will continue doing it on that basis.”
“For the upcoming Oasis world tour, the only shows for which tickets are not being touted on Viagogo, StubHub and Gigsberg are the two at Croke Park in Dublin”
In a previous high-profile case, organisers of Ed Sheeran’s 2018 ÷ Tour stadium run cancelled around 10,000 tickets after Viagogo refused a request from Sheeran’s team not to list the tickets for resale. Labour MP Sharon Hodgson referenced the singer during last week’s secondary ticketing hearing in parliament.
“I do not want this debate to end without mentioning Ed Sheeran and how much he has done to try to tackle the scourge of ticket touting,” said Hodgson. “Lots of other artists, such as Iron Maiden, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons and many others have tried, but Ed Sheeran went above and beyond by cancelling tickets when they had been resold. Taylor Swift never did that because she did not want to break the hearts of all her fans, but Ed Sheeran has been a real warrior in that regard.”
With the new Labour government preparing to launch a consultation into the resale market, Hodgson highlighted the impact of ticketing legislation introduced in Ireland in 2021.
“For the upcoming Oasis world tour, the only shows for which tickets are not being touted on Viagogo, StubHub and Gigsberg are the two at Croke Park in Dublin,” she said.
Cast were this week confirmed as the opening act for Oasis’ 19-date UK and Ireland tour leg, joining previously announced special guest Richard Ashcroft on the bill. The on-sale became marred by a dynamic ticketing row that triggered multiple inquiries in the UK and Ireland. In the wake of the backlash, the band’s team opted against utilising the pricing strategy for their subsequent North America and Australia sales to “hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues”.
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable,” they said in a statement. “But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.”
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UK culture minister: ‘Change is coming’ on resale
UK culture minister Chris Bryant has vowed that “change is coming” on secondary ticketing during a parliamentary debate.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale as part of the Labour Party manifesto, with the UK government set to launch a consultation into the market imminently.
The subject was discussed at Westminster Hall yesterday (24 October) in a hearing instigated by Labour and Co-operative MP Emma Foody.
“The issue profoundly affects music and sport fans, event-goers and the integrity of our live entertainment industry, but it appears to be inadequately addressed by current regulatory frameworks,” said Foody. “People understand that they will not always get a ticket to the show, gig or game, but they feel a real sense of injustice at the scale of secondary ticketing platforms, with tickets often appearing just moments after people have attempted to purchase them.
“While allowing a space for those tickets to be resold is important, it is also important that that is not to the detriment of consumers.”
“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them”
Bryant gave an idea of the timescale involved in any legislation, but stressed that a key matter going forward would be enforcement.
“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them,” he said. “We made manifesto commitments during the general election that we are absolutely determined to implement.
“As for when they will be implemented in legislation, we have had one King’s Speech; there will be another one coming along. I do not want to tell the Leader of the House precisely who will have what Bills at what time, because I might not stay in my post if I keep doing that, but if there is a Bill at some point, we will have to ensure that we sort out the enforcement issue. That is one element on which we will be consulting.
“We want to make sure that every single element of the legislation that we eventually bring forward works, does what it says on the tin and is able to be enforced.”
Bryant said a consultation would be launched “in the very near future”.
“I do not want to completely ban people from selling tickets,” he added. “If someone has bought four tickets but suddenly only two people can go, because somebody is ill or they have to change the dates, it is perfectly legitimate that they should be able to sell the tickets on.
“They might also want to be able to recoup not only the cost of the tickets themselves but some additional costs. That is one of the things we want to consult on, and what would be a suitable cap. I note the point that has been made about a level of 20%, which some people think is too high. Some people think that 10% would be too high; some people think that it would be too low. We need to make sure we get the level right.”
“I want openness in dynamic pricing. People should be able to understand from the very beginning if that is the process they are entering into”
Last month, the government responded to the Oasis reunion tour sale controversy by saying that it would be adding the use of dynamic pricing into the consultation.
“I want openness in dynamic pricing,” he said. “People should be able to understand from the very beginning if that is the process they are entering into.
“There are versions of dynamic pricing that do work, and we do not want to ban those. I would argue that the early-bird tickets… are a perfectly legitimate part of the whole equation. They sometimes bring money into venues early on, and we do not want to ban that.”
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, who has long campaigned for regulation of the secondary ticketing market, first introduced her private members’ bill on the topic back in 2010. She said the change in government had created a “watershed opportunity to create the change we desperately need”.
“Change is coming, so they should start getting ready for it, because that is what we are determined to deliver”
Recent research by O2 and YouGov indicated that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year. And referencing the successful prosecution of two internet ticket touts for fraudulent trading in 2020, Hodgson noted the resale platforms faced no such sanctions in relation to the case.
“They kept their cumulative 25% service fees from the illegal transactions – if we do the numbers, we see that means millions of pounds – and they continue to profit from further illicit trading,” she said. “Where are all the illegal proceeds of crime? Why have they never been recovered?”
Hodgson added that legislation to outlaw resale for profit or to cap resale prices had worked well in other countries.
“Ireland saw a large drop in fraud after it implemented a version of – guess what? My private members’ bill,” she said. “For the upcoming Oasis world tour, the only shows for which tickets are not being touted on Viagogo, StubHub and Gigsberg are the two at Croke Park in Dublin.
“This is a golden opportunity to ensure that UK audiences receive similar protections and enjoy a capped, consumer-friendly and ethical resale market that works in their interests.”
Bryant concluded: “I say to all the people that I have referred to – Gigsberg, Viagogo, StubHub, Ticketmaster and all the rest – that change is coming, so they should start getting ready for it, because that is what we are determined to deliver.”
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Coldplay India ticketing row heads to court
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in India calling for strict guidelines on the domestic resale market in the wake of ticket sale controversies for concerts by Coldplay and Diljit Dosanjh.
Police are investigating an alleged touting scam relating to Coldplay’s shows in Mumbai in January 2025 after tickets – priced between 2,500 rupees (€27) to 12,000 rupees (€129) – quickly reappeared on secondary ticketing platforms at eye-watering prices of up to 900,000 rupees (€10,000).
It followed a similar row over Punjabi singer’s Diljit Dosanjh’s upcoming concert in the country, whereby tickets sold via Zomato Live popped up on resale platforms at huge mark-ups soon after selling out.
The PIL, which has been lodged at Bombay High Court by lawyer Amit Vyas of Vertices Partners, alleges “several irregularities and illegalities” during the sale of tickets for large events and accuses resellers of violating consumer protection rules.
“The… facts and circumstances serve as a stark reminder of the challenges facing live events in the digital age”
He is requesting authorities create provisional regulations to “prevent ticket scalping, touting and black marketing until specific legislation is enacted”, reports Times of India.
“The… facts and circumstances serve as a stark reminder of the challenges facing live events in the digital age, where the joy of securing tickets to see your favourite artist can quickly turn into a frustrating and potentially costly ordeal,” reads Vyas’ complaint, as per CNBC. “It also highlights the need for a robust system to ensure fair access to tickets and prevent exploitation by ticket scalpers and bots.”
Vyas previously filed a criminal complaint against Indian ticketing giant BookMyShow (BMS) and others, accusing the company of colluding with resale sites to scalp tickets for the three Coldplay gigs – allegations the firm denies.
BMS, which partnered with the band on the shows, has threatened to void tickets sold on the black market and lodged a formal First Information Report (FIR) with Mumbai police urging authorities to investigate “the unauthorised resale of tickets by individuals and platforms”.
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FEAT: “Digital Services Act is still in teething”
Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) director Sam Shemtob has spoken to IQ about the “teething stages” of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
Introduced in February, the legislation outlined several measures that have major implications for ticket resale marketplaces, such as Viagogo and StubHub.
While the introduction of the DSA was hailed as “a landmark moment” for Europe’s live events sector, the implementation has been slow and steady.
“There’s usually a period of up to two years for a law to be transposed into member state legislation but that didn’t happen with the DSA – it came into force immediately,” Shemtob explains.
“So that requires quite a lot of enforcement and administration, and that has led to the need for Digital Services Coordinators (DSC) to be created in every member state. Having spoken to a number of them, we’ve found quite a lot of variation in terms of how well set up they are.”
While DSCs in some member states have been “very clearly on top of their brief” and setting the standard for working practice, others have only just become operational, he tells IQ.
“I think it’ll be mid-next year before we’re in a position where we have enough data to say how well the Digital Services Act is working,” he adds.
“There is still a clear need for specific ticket resale legislation beyond the DSA”
“It’s a vast regulation – across the entirety of e-commerce in Europe – so it will take time. But I have every faith that the member states will get there. On the positive side, it’s all there. It’s great that a system is being set up to monitor illegal activity online and make sure it isn’t just given a free pass.”
Meanwhile, at their Barcelona AGM last week, FEAT members have committed to engaging with the new law by dedicating a team member to help file reports – especially on search engines that direct consumers to illegal content online, which is a major focus for the alliance.
As Shemtob explains, “If you put ‘Oasis tickets’ into Google, one of the top listings will be Viagogo but the Google advert doesn’t connect to a single ticket, it connects to the Oasis ticketing page on the platform where there may be some illegal listings and then some legal listings,” he says. “Well, what’s Google’s liability there? We’ve got to clarify where the law stands on things like that.”
Though the DSA provides a solid mechanism to report illegally listed tickets, Shemtob warns that its effectiveness may be more limited in countries that don’t have strong, pre-existing legislation on ticket resale.
“The DSA is only a reporting tool – an enforcement structure if you like,” he explains. “If we’re talking about Spain, where there are no particular laws around online ticket resale, then it’s not going to create them for us. There is still a clear need for specific ticket resale legislation, and further to discussions at last week’s AGM, that is another area that FEAT is now actively beginning to engage with, beyond the DSA.”
Shemtob nods to the UK, where the new Labour government has pledged to introduce a ticket resale cap and is currently in the consultation stage.
“It’s really positive we’re seeing this kind of interest from politicians,” adds Shemtob. “It’s a really interesting time for this kind of legislation.”
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O2’s Gareth Griffiths on Priority Tickets & resale
O2’s Gareth Griffiths has spoken to IQ about the company’s Priority Tickets platform and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.
The telecoms giant sold 1.4 million tickets in 2023 via the customer reward scheme, which offers members early access to concert tickets up to 48 hours before general sale.
The company has sponsored London’s The O2 since the venue’s 2007 opening, and also runs the O2 Priority Gig series, featuring intimate one-off shows by acts such as Kylie Minogue, D-Block Europe, Raye, Sam Fender and Girls Aloud. Held across its entire O2 Academy venue network in the UK, tickets are given away for free to O2 and Virgin Media customers via a ballot.
“We’ve had three huge Priority Gigs this year,” says Griffiths, Virgin Media O2’s director, partnerships and sponsorship. “We did Girls Aloud at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, D-Block Europe at Indigo at The O2, and we just had Raye a couple of weeks ago, also at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as well.
“They’re free shows for our customers and demand is huge – they had 110,000 people applying for tickets for the Kylie show last year. We’ve got some fantastic artists coming to us now and asking to be involved, so next year will be our fourth year and they’re going from strength to strength.”
“We say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate to choose from”
The series launched in 2021 with a performance by Wizkid at O2 Forum Kentish Town.
“It’s massive artists doing intimate shows at an O2 venue,” adds Griffiths. “We basically say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play from our 21 venues?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate right around the country to choose from, so the potential is really exciting.
“We did an incredible show with Sam Fender in Newcastle and with Raye, she said, ‘I used to go to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as a kid. I’m from London and I love that venue,’ so that was her choice.”
Yesterday (16 October), Griffiths spoke as part of a panel discussion in London hosted by O2, which examined the pain points in the secondary ticketing market and explored what government and online businesses can do to protect consumers.
The conversation followed research by O2 and YouGov indicating that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year. Moreover, O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.
“I think it’s an even bigger problem than that YouGov survey highlights,” Griffiths tells IQ. “Only 5% of people said they would buy a ticket from a tout outside a venue, but two-thirds don’t understand what secondary ticketing is, so we’ve got a lot of customers we can help with awareness.
“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there is 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”
“Money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts. People won’t spend as much on merch or F&B because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket”
He continues: “We’re also huge supporters of artists and venues in this country. We’ve got 21 O2 venues – 20 O2 Academies and The O2 – and have invested massively. But money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts: people won’t spend as much on merch or F&B when they go, because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer included a pledge to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale as part of the Labour manifesto, with new the UK government currently preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. A debate is also due to take place in Westminster Hall next week.
“To get something in the manifesto is a huge deal for us because that’s the first time actually we’ve had any political support on it really. That’s a huge sign of positive intent,” adds Griffiths. “The Labour government has just got in and has a whole basket of stuff to get through first, but we are hoping that mid-term – in a couple of years time – there will be legislation, but it won’t stop there for us.”
As well as new laws to protect fans against profiteering, O2 is also calling for clearer information to be presented during the sale process on secondary ticketing platforms, plus clearer identification of resale sites on search engines.
“Hopefully legislation will happen. There’s a way to go on that, and we’ll keep the pressure on, but the other two areas are key for us as well,” concludes Griffiths. “It’s about making our customers aware – and then they can make an informed decision. What they want to do is up to them, but at least we’ll have made them aware and are trying to do right by our customers.”
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Panel examines secondary ticketing ‘pain points’
The battle against industrial-scale ticket touting in the UK came under the spotlight once more in a panel discussion in London hosted by O2.
The conversation, which featured Virgin Media O2’s Gareth Griffiths, FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb and Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, chair of the APPG on ticket abuse, examined the pain points in the secondary ticketing market and explored what government and online businesses can do to protect consumers.
Presented by broadcaster Sinead Garvan, it followed research by O2 and YouGov, which indicated that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year.
“Ticketing is a massive part of what we do,” explained Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2. “We sold 1.4m Priority Tickets last year, so this is a really big deal for us. We see our customers having a very hard time trying to buy tickets within the secondary market. It’s massively relevant to the core of our business, and we just want to make sure our customers get a fair deal.”
Based on a online survey of 2,044 adults, the data also revealed that approximately one in five tickets end up on a resale platform, while almost half (48%) of music fans who have attended live music events found it difficult to identify a secondary ticketing site.
O2’s UK venue sponsorship portfolio includes The O2 and 20 O2 Academy venues across the country. O2 stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority customer reward platform over a six-week period, and Griffiths observed that touting had become “more technically advanced” since the pandemic.
“Now we’ve got a Labour government, we’re going to do something about it”
“We see presales all the time where you see 50-60,000 people in the waiting room for a really hot show, and you know that two-thirds of those are probably bots,” he said. “The real challenge for us now is fighting technology with technology, and we’re really looking into that in terms of the way our ticketing platform works, in terms of where our mobile business works, but it’s ramped up massively off the back of the shows coming back from Covid.”
Hodgson, who has campaigned against abuses in the market for more than a decade, said she was not surprised by the findings.
“I think they’re the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “I think it’s a lot more than £145 million if we were able to properly quantify it, and the lack of awareness didn’t surprise me either.
“The Metropolitan Police had an operation called Operation Podium to ensure that the Olympic tickets weren’t totally abused. They wrote a report afterwards, and basically said secondary ticketing and ticketing in general in this country was rife with criminality, organised crime and money laundering. And we’ve known that since 2012 and here we are, 12 years later, and thankfully, now we’ve got a Labour government, we’re going to do something about it.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale, with the UK government preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. Hodgson offered an update on the likely timescale involved in terms of reform.
“Well, this parliament definitely, so that’s a long timescale,” she said. “There wasn’t a Bill in this King’s Speech… so it’s not going to be within the next year or so. Hopefully the consultation will happen over the next year, and then there’ll be a Bill brought forward in the next King’s Speech, so mid-term this parliament. I can’t wait.”
“The only two Oasis shows that weren’t listed on the secondaries were the two shows at Croke Park in Ireland… Legislation is a key part of solving this”
Webb discussed the lessons that could be learned from regulation introduced in other countries, such as Ireland, France and Australia.
“In Ireland, there was a Sale of Tickets Act introduced in 2021 basically outlawing resale,” he said. “The only two Oasis shows that weren’t listed on the secondaries were the two shows at Croke Park in Ireland. So it’s not the total solution, but you can see that legislation is a key part of solving this.
“The good thing now is that we’ve got the opportunity in the UK to look around the world, and actually design something better.”
Hodgson praised the anti-touting efforts of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Iron Maiden and Arctic Monkeys.
“Right from the start, they could see this was so unfair and didn’t want their fans being ripped off,” she said. “What is the true price, the fair price, the market price [of a ticket]? It should be the price that the artists with their management have decided is the price they want their fans to pay.”
“You’re never going to completely eradicate ticket touting, but you can minimise it”
Nevertheless, she noted that, unlike Sheeran, Taylor Swift’s team had not followed through on their threat to cancel tickets bought via non-official resale sites for her Eras Tour.
“The first concert in Edinburgh, we were waiting with bated breath, what’s she going to do?” said Hodgson. “And she didn’t cancel the tickets, because maybe her fans are so much younger… She was trying to protect her tickets, but when it came down to it, she wasn’t prepared to break the hearts of thousands.”
The influence of search engines in facilitating resale was also brought up. Viagogo was banned from advertising on Google globally in July 2019 after the latter came under fire from lawmakers for allegedly accepting advertising money from sites listing tickets fraudulently, but the ban was quietly lifted four months later.
“It’s been a bit of a journey with Google in that they’ve been receptive at certain points,” said Webb. “For three months, Google removed them from their advertising networks and in that period their traffic absolutely flatlined… If you take either the touts away or you take Google away, there’s no business.”
He added: “I’m pretty glass half full. The frustrating thing for me is that I don’t think it’s that hard to sort out. I think legislation is key to get Google to do the right thing. And again, clearly they need legislation for their lawyers to understand this, and then for the industry to make it easier to resell the ticket.
“You’re never going to completely eradicate ticket touting, but you can minimise it and reduce it to a level. And again, the music industry has been here before with things like piracy for the recorded sector, which was completely out of control. And now, obviously, you’ve got streaming services and a very buoyant recorded market. It’s a similar journey, I think.”
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China promises ‘severe punishment’ for scalpers
China’s police authority has launched a year-long campaign to stamp out ticket scalping in music, sports and other cultural events.
The Ministry of Public Security asked police authorities nationwide to comprehensively strengthen measures to crack down on violations, prevent and control further offences, and better regulate these sectors.
The ministry has encouraged severe punishment for organised criminal groups of “professional” scalpers. Efforts will focus on investigating and punishing criminal gangs that use cheating software to snatch tickets and disrupting the collusion between scalpers and business insiders. Additionally, there will be regulations implemented for online platforms used in ticket scalping.
Key measures include enhancing identity verification to prevent fraudulent bookings and blocking virtual phone numbers and high-frequency IP addresses.
The department will also coordinate with other organisations such as China’s cyberspace regulator and culture, tourism, sports, and cultural heritage agencies to achieve effective ticketing governance throughout the entire process including ticket sales, circulation, verification and consumer rights protection.
“Efforts should be made to thoroughly collect and examine information and tip-offs on scalping activities from various channels and to bust the developers of relevant cheating software,” reads a statement from the Chinese government.
“Business insiders who get involved in scalping, including those who work for the sponsors, ticketing platforms, and travel agencies, will also be strictly punished.”
“Due to high demand, some fans face difficulty in buying tickets legally, so they’re forced to seek alternative methods”
In the summer, Beijing police set up a special task force to tackle the illegal activities of scalpers who seize and resell tickets, detaining nearly 180 individuals on criminal and administrative charges respectively.
The Chinese government started its crackdown on scalping last year by implementing real-name verification for ticket purchases, which requires the ticket purchaser and the spectator to be the same person. The method also prevents one ID-card holder from booking more than one ticket.
Elsewhere, ticketing powerhouses such as Damai and Maoyan have incorporated blockchain technology to combat fraudsters and scalpers.
According to the 2024 International Ticketing Report, the sharp rise in scalping is a result of unstoppable growth in China’s live entertainment sector.
“Due to high demand, some fans face difficulty in buying tickets legally, so they’re forced to seek alternative methods in the form of secondary ticketing platforms,” Lesley Zhang, market expert and head of Creative China, told the publication.
Last year, the sector saw soaring ticket sales, multi-day artist shows in major cities, and a glut of new festivals across provincial regions.
According to an annual report published in June by the Communication University of China, the overall live entertainment market will reach $3.7bn by the year’s end – an increase of 31.8% compared to 2019, and an increase of 122.3% compared to 2022. Statista’s projections are that event ticket revenue will reach up to $10.4bn by 2027.
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