Trippe’s Ticketing Trends

Germany, and increasingly Europe, is dominated by Eventim, This, according to Trippe, has consequences for promoters, “who cannot get around this distribution network anymore. The market penetration and reach is simply too great.

“The promoter sees Eventim making money off of their content. Good money,” he explains. In an effort to keep more of the ticket revenues, promoters are employing a variety of alternative distribution platforms or run their own offerings via white label solutions, such as Hamburg-based White Label eCommerce, headed up by Arndt Scheffler.

Eventim is also active in the lower-priced self-service ticketing market, which was pioneered by Amiando in 2006 and is being tackled by Eventbrite.

What makes Eventim.Light, as the market leader’s offering is called, so compelling is the fact that all events are listed in the Eventim distribution network. Trippe refers to the company as “Germany’s event calendar.”

He says that 80 percent of Germans don’t Google. They Eventim where they want to go for entertainment.

The horizontal market dominance Eventim enjoys today is a result of the vertical market dominance it attained by bogarting leading promoters in early 2000, giving it control of “60 to 70 percent of the lucrative content.” It is unlikely that the company will continue buying up promoters and venues, it is under scrutiny by Germany’s antitrust division after all. To achieve growth, it will rather increase the number of tickets sold on proprietary sites. According to Trippe, the company was open about that in its earnings statement.

Another topic bound to be discussed at this year’s expert forum is Germany’s secondary market. To Trippe, it is more than a dodgy, digital black market; more than just “gamblers trying to make a quick dime. I’m assuming that the promoters are going to equip this market increasingly going forward. “It’s the chance for promoters to make the most out of every single ticket. What is referred to as yield management or dynamic pricing elsewhere, is covertly achieved through the secondary market,” he said.

To Trippe, it’s all about the free market, where supply and demand determine the price: “If there are customers willing to pay much more than the ticket’s face value, the promoter won’t say no.”

According to the expert, it only becomes a problem the instant the secondary market goes on sale at the same time as the primary channels, thus capitalizing on their marketing efforts and at the same time undermining them by suggesting that there weren’t anymore regular tickets available. Some platforms go as far as to put up tickets for sale that aren’t even available yet. It’s called spec selling. Still others suggest to resellers at which price to sell, and are therefore engaging in pricing.

Regulations are necessary in order to discipline secondary sites, Trippe thinks. Personalized tickets aren’t an option. According to Trippe, Wacken, which is promoted by ICS, had made serious efforts in that regard, but gave up the practice pretty fast. “The only ones earning money were the lawyers.”