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‘We Can Adapt And Operate On Any Capacity’: Q’s With Rob Wilmshurst, CEO, See Tickets Group
To gage the state of play in the UK, Pollstar reached out to several ticketing operators to find out what currently shapes their day-to-day business; to talk about major onsales of the year; and get their wider perspective on the health of the UK’s live biz. Rob Wilmshurst, CEO of the See Tickets Group, responded.
Pollstar: What are the three most important questions, the operator of a ticket business in 2024 needs to ask himself from a business standpoint?
Staying one step ahead or more of the competition, keeping costs under control, and ultimately making an appropriate return for the investment made. That spins off into the management of resources, and especially the people across business development, operations, tech, and finance. And then we have to maintain relationships with our clients by tighter commercial deals, developing faultless operations, and defend what we have built from competitors. Never easy!
How does the overall UKsales volume at See Tickets compare to 2023, and, indeed, 2022?
Our business has been ticking upwards since the pandemic, but prior to that the trend has always been positive.
Any presales/onsales you’d like to highlight as particular success stories this year?
We do Glastonbury…
Have overall price levels increased across the board in the UK?
Prices rise, they always rise. The point-in-time mix can distort things from time to time, but, generally, they only go up.
See: CTS Eventim To Purchase Vivendi’s See Tickets, Festival Business
What does the CTS Eventim deal mean for your business?
The Eventim deal is exciting, and I think at our stage of development they are the right buyers for the business. We, and I, look forward to the adventure when the deal finally closes over the coming weeks. It’s hard not to admire the size and scale of their business across Europe, and from a UK perspective we fill an important gap for them. That said, Vivendi were great shareholders and very supportive – we entered 10 countries in 12 years.
You operate both in Europe/UK and the U.S.,two vastly different markets, when it comes to ticketing, one difference being that most buildings in the U.S. work with one ticketing company exclusively, while, in the UK/Europe, there’s an allocation amongst all ticketing companies. What are advantages and disadvantages of each system?
Both models are optional, it is not law that things operate like that. Exclusivity allows a venue or promoter possibly a greater degree of efficiency, but possibly at the expense of market coverage and reach. As we say, it’s swings and roundabouts.
It is no secret that U.S. fees are far greater than say in the UK or Europe, and it is these fees that are used to buy the exclusive rights of course.
Consumers, however, accept the fees, otherwise they wouldn’t buy, and maybe the sign-on fees help renovate the venues or attract greater talent. Hard to say. It will be interesting to see what if any U.S. legislation or anti-trust action will impact on that model.
There is no better or best, we can adapt, and operate in any capacity.
Anything you’d like to add about the upcoming year(s) for See Tickets UK?
It won’t come as a surprise that the upcoming year will focus on our integration with Eventim, and the attention towards maintaining clients, who have been loyal, and to whom we are forever grateful for their support. We plan to get better and better.