TTF in the Press: Could ‘dynamic ticketing’ transform our industry?

As the inaugural Ticketing Technology Forum begins to take shape, Forum Co-Founder and Advisory Panel Chair John Pinchbeck today features in The Independent’s look at dynamic ticketing…

‘Is it fair for music or football fans to pay twice as much as the person sitting right next to them?’ asks The Independent’s Simon Usborne in his article ‘The price is (really) right’.

Usborne writes:

“It’s a grating quirk of travel we’ve come to accept — that the guy across the aisle with the cough may have paid tens if not hundreds of pounds less for his ticket (or we’re the smug ones with the crazy deal). But in the theatre, concert hall or sports arena, we rest assured, touts notwithstanding, that we’ve paid the same as our neighbours. Stalls? That’ll be £70, please. Dress circle? £55. Balcony, restricted view? Don’t bother. It’s simple.

“Not for long. Dynamic pricing, a system used widely by airlines, is revolutionising the British box office. It’s already happening in sport. When Derby County play Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, the price of thousands of tickets will have been determined by computer servers in Indiana, and may go up or down in the days before the game according to demand — or even the weather forecast (not great, as it happens).

“The system, which is being touted in Britain this week by one of the biggest players in a booming US market, also promises to transform ticketing in music and theatreland. There, drama offstage concerns diminishing returns and online “legalised touting”, or the secondary market.

““Dynamic pricing in real time is ‘the Holy Grail’”, comments Howard Panter, Chief Executive of The Ambassador Theatre Group, Britain’s largest theatre owner….

Read the full article here (The Independent)

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is dynamic pricing ‘the holy grail’ for rights holders and venues? Will it transform the live entertainment ticketing industry? Join our LinkedIn Group to add your viewpoint.

NB: John Pinchbeck discusses dynamic pricing in ‘The Promise of Convergence’; the first of our pre-Forum Discussion Papers. //Read more