Features
DEAG Acquires Irish Ticketing Platform
Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) acquired a majority stake in the Irish company Oshi Software Limited (Oshi), operator of the ticketing platform tickets.ie., through DEAG’s UK subsidiary MyTicket Services Ltd.
John O’Neill, founder and managing director of Oshi, will remain a shareholder in the company and will continue to manage the company in the long term.
The tickets.ie acquisition is part of DEAG’s plan to increase the share of third-party content in ticketing. What it more, “DEAG is significantly expanding its business activities in Ireland with this investment,” according to the press release announcing of the acquisition.
See: DEAG Reports ‘Excellent First Half Of 2022’
DEAG expects synergy effects amongst others from the distribution of tickets for events by Irish promoter Singular Artists, which had more than 200 shows on sale at the time of writing.
Headquartered in Dublin, Singular Artists organizes around 300 live events in Ireland and Northern Ireland per year. DEAG aims to distribute more than eight million tickets per year via its own ticketing platforms in the coming years, “and to further expand its position as an established distribution channel in its core markets Germany and the UK, not only in the area of concerts and events, but also in sports and exhibitions,” according to the press release.
Tickets.ie was founded in 2004. It covers the entire ticketing spectrum from the largest events in Ireland to small intimate shows in clubs. “Since inception the company has worked with over 1,000 event promoters and venues and has extensive experience in the live entertainment industry and an international network of event promoters and artists,” by DEAG’s own admission, making tickets.ie “an excellent complement to DEAG’s own ticketing platforms myticket and gigantic.com.”
Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO of DEAG, commented, “Ticketing is DEAG’s fastest growing business area and an important earnings driver. Especially after the corona pandemic has subsided, we are experiencing a massive increase in demand for tickets for physical events. We already have a strong international market position with our own platforms and are now expanding our position further. The ticketing market in Ireland is also showing strong growth rates. With myticket.ie and tickets.ie, we have strong independent third-party content platforms here that are an excellent complement to our ticketing portfolio.”
Founder and CEO of Oshi, John O’Neill, is looking forward to collaborating with one of Europe’s largest events’ companies: “We see this deal with DEAG, Kilimanjaro and Singular Artists as bringing our relationship to the next level, of partnership and collaboration. That, to us, is very appealing and exhilarating as we’ll be working closely with them to ensure that all their great artists reach the maximum audience possible.”