‘First hybrid festival’ debuts in Arctic Norway
The world’s northernmost jazz festival is hosting what it believes is Europe’s first ‘hybrid’ festival event – combining a traditional in-person component with a paid-for live stream – in order to reach a larger audience while coronavirus restrictions are in place.
Varanger Festival has been held in Vadsø, in northern Norway, since 1982, with some 12,000 festivalgoers making the pilgrimage north annually to see top jazz artists perform against the unique backdrop of the midnight sun.
“Unfortunately Covid-19 is something event organisers will have to deal with for some time, and we believe the hybrid solution we have chosen is the long-term answer,” explains festival director André Kvernhaug.
“Normally we sell 12,000 tickets during the festival, but with social distancing rules we have scaled down sharply. We have moved the festival to a different venue which only has a normal capacity of 250 – which has itself been reduced to 86 per concert. With 13 concerts in all, this gives us a total capacity of 1,118 tickets for the entire festival.”
“Livestreaming significantly expands our capacity”
Small socially distanced events have been permitted in Norway since May, though promoters’ association NKA is clear that socially distanced shows are not financially viable for its members.
In order to expand its reach, Varanger Festival is selling tickets for live streams of the festival performances via TicketCo, which launched its pay-per-view livestreaming platform, TicketCo TV, earlier this year.
The streams are priced at 100 kr (€9.40), compared to 200 kr (€18.80) or 375 kr (€35.20) for tickets for the physical shows.
“Livestreaming significantly expands our capacity and makes the concerts available to those who cannot or will not be able to physically attend,” adds Kvernhaug.
Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg, chief sales officer of TicketCo TV, comments: “We are proud to be supporting Varanger Festival and its team, who are embracing technology to ensure it can keep performing and reach new audiences.
“We are confident this approach will fast become the new normal”
“We believe they are the first organisers in Europe to be producing a hybrid festival and are confident this approach will fast become the new normal in the events industry.”
Varanger Festival takes place from 5 to 8 August 2020, headlined by Norwegian jazz legend Nils Petter Molvaer.
While Varanger is the first hybrid festival, hybrid concerts have existed for some time – though the limitations imposed by Covid-19 have focused attention on the format. brought Read IQ’s interview with singer-songwriter Emma McGann, who has been selling virtual tickets since 2014, here:
“Go live and go live often”: Livestream pioneer chats ‘hybrid’ touring
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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Third of TicketCo customers in UK, Norway opt for vouchers
New data obtained by event payment platform TicketCo has shown that over third of consumers that bought tickets via its platform in the UK and Norway chose to be reimbursed with credit or to forgo their money in place of a refund.
TicketCo has developed a functionality to allow event organisers to offer vouchers worth the value of original spend and payment waiver options as an alternative to cash refunds.
The TicketCo feature comes as the German government today (8 April) introduced legislation allowing promoters to offer credit in place of refunds for cancelled events, joining authorities in countries including Poland and Italy to implement a voucher scheme.
Following the first full week of data collection, results show that 32% of customers in the UK chose the voucher, with just over 2% forgoing their money in support of the event organiser.
In Norway, a similar percentage of ticketholders passed on refunds, with a much higher proportion (15%) waiving any form of compensation and 20% choosing vouchers.
“We hoped our waiver and voucher features would be chosen in support of event organisers and the response from the market so far has been positive”
“We sincerely hoped our waiver and voucher features would be chosen by some in support of event organisers and the response from the market so far has been positive,” comments TicketCo co-founder Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg.
“One week of data is not much to build solid statistics on, but encouragingly it demonstrates the strength of goodwill that exists in the event industry that we had to share. It’s a truly uplifting show of support.
“The impact will make a real difference to event organisers,” continues Moberg. “This proves organisers and ticket buyers are close and the connections are strong. It’s clear ticket buyers where they can want to help their favoured organisers through this crisis.”
In addition to the refund alternative features, TicketCo has also created new functions to help event organisers manage high volumes of postponements and cancellations, as well as launching pay-per-view streaming service, TicketCo TV. The platform allows promoters to broadcast virtual events and sell tickets for them via the TicketCo app.
TicketCo has offices in Norway, the UK, Poland and Sweden.
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TicketCo receives £4.6m invesment
Event payment start-up TicketCo has received £4.6 million in private investment, as the company looks to increase its presence across Europe.
Founded in Norway in 2013, TicketCo has since launched in the UK, Poland and Sweden. Its technology is compatible with Android and iOS devices and enables organisers to promote offers on food, drink and merchandise in advance of events.
The investment will enable the Bergen-based company to continue its growth across Europe, as well as supporting increased sales and operational teams and establishing the company as a licensed European Payment Institution.
“This private investment will enable TicketCo to continue to invest in the innovation that has made our product so appealing”
“This private investment will enable TicketCo to continue to invest in the innovation that has made our product so appealing and further support continued strategic growth across Europe,” says TicketCo co-founder Carl-Erik Michalesen Moberg.
“This is another big step forward for TicketCo, we believe we’ve designed the perfect sales tool for the events industry and this funding will enable us to take it to the next level.”
TicketCo provides payment services for a number of football clubs in the UK and Norway, and has partnered with London-based Tobacco Dock, Coalition Agency, Ministry of Sound and Junkyard Golf Club in the events space.
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Rewind’s Paul Carey joins TicketCo
Cloud-based events payment platform TicketCo has appointed Paul Carey, formerly general manager of ’80s festival Rewind, as key account manager in the UK.
Carey, who has also worked as a publicist for artists including Elton John, David Bowie and the Who, is charged with driving growth in Norway-based TicketCo’s UK festival division.
TicketCo launched in the UK last year and has since secured clients including Coalition Agency, Ministry of Sound, Tobacco Dock, Junkyard Golf and several sports teams. The company also has offices in Poland and Sweden.
Carey comments: “I’m joining TicketCo at an exciting time; the company is making excellent progress in taking the UK ticketing and event payments market into the new digital world.
“There is so much scope to drive positive change in the festival industry”
“There is so much scope to drive positive change in the festival industry and TicketCo will continue to be one of the frontrunners of the digital disruption in the coming years.”
TicketCo’s technology is compatible with Android and iOS devices and enables organisers to push offers on food, drink and merchandise in advance of events. The system can also send QR codes to eventgoers’ smartphones, which are then scanned at entry points to gain access.
David Kenny, TicketCo UK country manager, says: “Paul is a fantastic addition to our growing team of industry experts. His track record in the festival and music industries is incredible and we believe he will make a real impact in this space with TicketCo.”
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TicketCo continues European expansion
Norwegian events payment platform TicketCo has continued its expansion in Europe, opening offices in Poland and Sweden, following its UK launch last year.
The event payment platform has signed a five-year contract with Polish football club Legia Warsaw. The company also operates with Kilmarnock, Solihull Moors, Woking, Eastleigh and Oxford City football clubs in the UK.
The signing with Legia Warsaw follows another partnership, with Polish sport events organiser SpeedWayEvents.
“As part of our strategy to expand the TicketCo product across Europe, we have opened offices in two more countries, where we see real growth opportunity,” says Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg, co-founder of TicketCo.
“Poland and Sweden are both countries with a vibrant event industry and we’re already making great progress in both. We believe we’ve designed the perfect sales tool for event organisers and are committed to taking it into more territories.”
“We believe we’ve designed the perfect sales tool for event organisers and are committed to taking it into more territories”
According to the International Ticketing Yearbook 2018, eBilet remains as Poland’s biggest ticketing operator, followed by Eventim. Ticketmaster Poland and Ticketportal have an equal presence in the country.
TicketCo works with many venues throughout Norway, as well as partnering with London-based Tobacco Dock, Coalition Agency, Ministry of Sound and Junkyard Golf Club in the UK.
The mobile platform aims to optimise ease of use for customers. When buying a ticket, each fan is assigned a QR code which serves as the only ‘ticket’ they will need for any event booked through TicketCo.
TicketCo also enables organisers to promote offers on food, drink and merchandise in advance of events.
The TicketCo platform is compatible with Android and iOS devices.
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Event space Tobacco Dock partners with Norway’s TicketCo
Attendees of events held in Tobacco Dock, a grade-one listed building and premier events venue in London, can now buy tickets and make event payments using TicketCo technology.
TicketCo’s mobile platform offers users an easy-to-use ticketing solution, as well as giving venues the opportunity to promote offers on food, drink and merchandise.
The Norwegian ticketing and events payment company launched in the UK early last year. Tobacco Dock is the latest addition to the company’s UK partners, which include Junkyard Golf Club and Woking Football Club.
“It’s a great step forward for TicketCo in the UK to be affiliated with such a massive player,” says TicketCo UK country manager, David Kenny. “We are very confident that the organisers Tobacco Dock attract will see the upside of utilising our future-proof ticketing and payments solution.”
“It’s a great step forward for TicketCo in the UK to be affiliated with such a massive player”
The TicketCo system issues users a single QR code which serves as the only ticket needed for any event attended through the platform. This simple, unified approach is especially compatible with Tobacco Dock, a venue which hosts over 190 events annually across 50+ event spaces, says TicketCo.
The commercial director of Tobacco Dock, Jonathan Read, highlights this compatibility: “We’re very much looking forward to working with TicketCo. Their entrepreneurial and innovative outlook mirrors our own, making them the perfect fit for Tobacco Dock and its clients.”
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Norway’s TicketCo launches in the UK
Norwegian events payment platform TicketCo has launched in the UK with partners Junkyard Golf Club and Woking Football Club.
Bergen-based TicketCo, described in the International Ticketing Yearbook 2017 as a “ticketing start-up with both domestic and international ambitions”, has processed more than £70m in transactions for some of Norway’s leading music, entertainment and sports events since its launch five years ago.
The mobile platform aims to provide both event promoters and consumers with “the same level of service and ease as booking a taxi with Uber or ordering a takeaway with Deliveroo”, says the company. Consumers are assigned a QR code when they purchase a ticket online or in the app, which then serves as the only ‘ticket’ they will ever need for any event booked through TicketCo.
Event organisers, meanwhile, benefit from being able to advertise special deals on food, drinks, merchandise and transport through the app, with no need to purchase any additional equipment, as the platform is compatible with all Android and iOS devices.
“We’ve created what we consider the perfect sales tool for event organisers and very excited to be bringing this to the UK”
Since introducing TicketCo systems into their venues in January, Junkyard Golf Club has processed more than 10,000 tickets a week and reports a 46% increase in ticket sales, along with a 63% in revenue, compared to the same period last year.
“TicketCo started out as a simple self-service ticketing system five years ago, and since then we’ve developed a completely unique platform for absolutely any type of event payment,” says TicketCo co-founder Carl-Erik Moberg. “All of this is down to customer-driven innovation – put simply, we’ve listened and delivered on the needs of our customers.
“We’ve created what we consider the perfect sales tool for event organisers and very excited to be bringing this to the UK.”
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