Trying to get a read on the state of the ticketing industry by analyzing exhibitors at the VenueConnect trade show for the International Assn. of Venue Managers is tough, but still an interesting exercise. VenueConnect exhibitors in general at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans were clearly down. And the number of ticketing companies exhibiting at VenueConnect, by far the largest trade show for the global venue industry, was way down. By Billboard’s count, only four ticketing companies-Extreme Tix, TicketForce, PrimeTix and Ticket-e-Split-bought booth space on the exhibit hall floor, all of them relatively new to the business and all of them Web-based.
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This bucks a trend of an increasing number of ticketers during the past few years, a cycle that paralleled the digital and, more recently, cloud-driven lowering of the barriers to entry into the ticketing business. The past couple of years, more than a dozen ticketing companies had exhibited at VenueConnect. Most conspicuous in their absence was industry leader Ticketmaster, which had for decades held a massive, white-carpeted presence on the trade show floor. Like the five-figure pre-Live Nation merger Ticketmaster dinners and parties of yore, Ticketmaster was a no-show at the IAVM trade show, which counts scores of Ticketmaster clients among IAVM’s 4,100 members. Also absent were such well-known names as Tickets.com, Paciolan, New Era, AXS, Front Gate, Vendini, Veritix, Ticketfly, eTix, ShowClix, StubHub and others that had been exhibitors in the past.
The big guys are opting to focus their marketing efforts at this trade show by showcasing platform developments that address the present and future needs of existing clients, maintaining relationships with those whose contracts are winding down and/or aggressively courting new business, in suites and restaurants, away from the distractions of the trade show noise. Interestingly, the big evolution in ticketing these days is in targeted digital/mobile marketing initiatives, and companies like Ticketmaster are taking this same drone approach in the physical realm at VenueConnect.
Several of these companies still had a visible presence at the convention. Ticketmaster, a VenueConnect corporate partner, sponsored coffee outside the exhibit hall. Tickets.com branded the room keys at at least one of the host hotels. AXS, along with parent AEG, was a corporate sponsor, with its logo slapped on attendees’ lanyards. Paciolan and New Era were linked with parent Global Spectrum, the Philadelphia-based venue management firm, in a sponsored suite.
But the ticketing presence on the trade show floor was minimal and populated by relative newbies, like Ticket-e-Split, a cloud-based system that’s not even 6 months old. VP/CFO Scott Shultz says his company exhibited at VenueConnect because venues urged it to. “It was all spurred by the bigger venues telling us, ‘You’ve got something. You need to be there,'” he says. “That’s why we decided to bite the bullet and come.”
Mesa, Ariz.-based TicketForce has been exhibiting at IAVM for about nine years, according to founder Brad Smith, who concurs that ticketing company presence at VenueConnect was “way down.” As such, the ones that did exhibit got a lot of attention from venues. “Activity yesterday was great,” Smith said on the show’s second day. “We had several people walk up and say, ‘We’re looking for a ticketing company,’ and by the time we’re done telling them about our product, they say, ‘That’s fantastic, it’s a great fit, here’s my card, give me a call.'”
PrimeTix, the primary ticketing subsidiary of secondary-market aggregator TicketNetwork, was exhibiting at VenueConnect for the first time. While arena executives are the largest contingent of conference attendees, PrimeTix director of product development Ryan Cunningham correctly noted that performing arts centers and smaller amphitheaters were also well-represented, and those 3,000- to 5,000-capacity venues are a target right now for his company.