Eventim Site Gets A Plug

Although Live Nation execs on both sides of the pond have criticized CTS Eventim’s ticket-selling Web site, the Bremen-based company hasn’t been slow to highlight the fact that it’s still considered “by far the best” platform in Germany.

A survey carried out by German-based computer magazine Computerbild rated it easily the best of the seven primary and secondary ticketing sites it investigated.

It judged each one on the range of tickets available for music, sports and cultural events. Also judged were prices, customer service including postal charges and the speed of delivery, user-friendliness, terms of business and the provider’s obligatory arrangements for data protection.

The best-selling global computer magazine considered Eventim to be providing a “good” service, while its two nearest rivals were felt to be delivering only a “satisfactory” service.

Of the other four sites in the Computerbild survey, one was considered no better than “passable” and the other three were “poor.”
Second place in the test was awarded to the www.getgo.de platform, which also belongs to Eventim.

The winning Eventim site was praised for its huge range of tickets and reasonable prices, which were almost 12 percent less than the average prices available from the other six providers.

A special mention went to the ticket alarm service Eventim uses to keep customers informed about when tickets for their favourite events go on sale.

Last year, the www.eventim.de and www.getgo.de sites logged 302 million visitors, almost 70 million more than the year before. About 13.4 million tickets were sold online – 3.8 million more than in 2008.

LN chief Michael Rapino was apparently so frustrated with Eventim’s performance in the US that LN has switched back to using the Ticketmaster platform.

In the UK, where Eventim has just started providing its ticket-selling services to Live Nation venues, the US company’s London-based execs also expressed disappointment with the results.

Eventim has successfully appealed the UK Competition Commission’s decision to approve the LN-Ticketmaster merger, fearing it might jeopardise its entry into the British market.

The CC is taking a second look at the deal and is expected to give its ruling within the next two months.