Posts filed under ‘News’
The Risk of Getting Tickets for the London Olympics
An interesting contradiction reported in How to get an Olympic seat.
THE ADVICE: Apply for lots of tickets, but beware if you get them – you will have to pay for all of them.
“The official advice is that to maximise your chances of getting tickets, you will need to apply for lots of things. But be warned: if you get everything you apply for, you are committed to buying all those tickets“
Won’t that just encourage a secondary market for scalpers?
“It will be illegal to sell tickets for a profit, unless you are an authorised partner, … So if you put tickets up on, say, eBay, you will be committing an offence. However, London 2012 is developing an online exchange through which people can resell them.“
I hope the online exchange is up and running and road tested well in advance of tickets going on sale.
10 January, 2011 at 11:11 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Which way are you leaning – Mobile Web or an App?
Technology in the Arts has an interesting post as part of the Arts Marketing Blog Salon hosted by Americans for the Arts on the topic of whether arts organisations should be developing mobile websites or mobile applications to take advantage of the explosive growth in mobile device use for Internet access.
There are two posts referrred to:
- Technology in the Arts on Facebook – Going Mobile – Websites vs Apps
- ARTSBlog - Going Mobile: Website vs. App
Dave Dombrowsky offers some valid points to consider:
- User base: Mobile phone penetration is approaching 100%, BUT 62% of mobiles can not download mobile apps.
- Connectivity: Mobile websites require a live Internet connection, many mobile apps do not.
- Platforms: Mobile websites are accessible from all types of mobile devices, Mobile apps are device specific.
- Price: Mobile websites are cheaper to build than mobile apps.
- Expectations: It all depends on what do your patrons want from a mobile experience?
I would suggest adding another consideration:
Does your organisation wish to facilitate customer transactions i.e. sell tickets etc.?
It appears that the Mobile Web fits the bill for commerce sites better as it is always online and ubiquitous and supports open payment methods.
According to the Taptu report ‘The State of the Mobile Touch Web’, “19% of the mobile sites measured were Shopping & Services sites; compared to 3.6% in the same category in the App Store.“
Read the FULL HOUSES post on this topic back in March – Will the iPhone and App be replaced by the more open Mobile Touch Web?
13 October, 2010 at 3:11 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
More than 1/2 online ticketing websites may breach consumer laws
More than half of online ticketing websites scrutinised in a sweep coordinated by the European Commission appeared to breach consumer laws. Common issues included: “missing, incomplete and misleading information about prices charged“, and “the imposition of unfair terms and conditions“.
“Regulators from the 27 European Union countries, Norway and Iceland investigated 414 sites, and 247 rang alarm-bells … These will now be probed further by enforcement authorities to verify whether they broke any laws.“
READ FULL ARTICLE ONLINE Ticket websites breaking EU laws>>
17 September, 2010 at 12:18 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Ticketmaster: Transparency or Attribution?
CEO of Ticketmaster Nathan Hubbard has launched a blog called Ticketology which appears to be part of the parent company Live Nation Entertainment’s efforts at greater transparency.
“We get it — you don’t like service fees. You don’t like them mostly because you don’t understand what the heck they are for.“
The mooted transparency appears to be more a case of attribution, however. Prices are not going down, fees are not being reduced and other than specifying some fees a little earlier in the sales process – the final price paid per ticket is still inflated by a diversity of fees and charges.
“Most of the parties in the live event value chain participate in these service fees either directly or indirectly — promoters, venues, teams, artists and, yes, ticketing companies.“
The promised “all-in-pricing” heralded by Live Nation Entertainment chief Irving Azoff still seems beyond his reach and the current sales process used by Ticketmaster gets in the way of that as suggested by Azoff on Twitter.
READ FULL ARTICLE Ticketmaster’s new blog: ‘We get it — you don’t like service fees’
25 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 2 comments
Is Loyalty the Opposite of Dissatisfaction?
“You can’t create a lot of loyal customers until you consistently eliminate areas of dissatisfaction, so start there.“ – Bruce Temkin of Customer Experience Matters.
via Customer Experience Matters
19 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Apple Adds to Future Ticketing Potential of the iPhone
Adding weight to a previous posting Apple is patently on the move into ticketing comes the announcement that Apple has hired an expert in NFC or described as “one of the big go-to guys if you’re interested in cell phone payment systems“.
Near-Field Communications (NFC) has been applied to public transport for contact free ticketing amongst other things. Qantas is trialling it at Perth Airport currently. “ NFC uses very short-range radio signals to send data between two system, typically with a flat spiral metal antenna–this is concealed inside those smart train tickets (or member card), since it’s both cheap and flexible.“
The difference is that developing this for iPhones may offer greater functionality and new service levels and services: “In high-tech NFC implementations, the antenna is hooked up to something much more powerful like a smartphone. When the phone is placed on or over an NFC sensor pad, much more complicated data can then be sent between the two systems, with data going to and from the phone.“
“NFC tech has been available for years, but it’s only really taken off in a few markets–like Japan–since the benefits have been pretty much limited to its contact-free nature. But now, with smartphones becoming the norm, the cleverer uses of NFC could mean the tech is about to explode into usefulness …“
Apple Hire Wireless Payment Guru, Prepare for iPhone Credit Cards
18 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 2 comments
Shakespeare Free For All-ish?
To avoid the problems of long queues in the heat of Summer, the Washington based Shakespeare Theatre Company is resorting to an online lottery this year to distribute the very popular “free” tickets to this year’s Free For All event Twelfth Night.
“the Shakespeare Theatre Company will distribute the majority of Free For All tickets through an online ticket lottery. Last year, high demand created long lines in the summer heat. We hope this will provide a safer and more pleasant experience for all our patrons. Lottery winners will be randomly selected and notified via email.“
FREE IS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT
Sounds like they have quite a balancing act servicing all the ‘constituent’ demands for seats and finally the GP wanting access to free seats.
“We host “Ward Nights,” where D.C. council members and their ward constituents are invited to specific performances. We also host large school groups for some performances through Students for Shakespeare. Because of these reserved groups, certain performances will have fewer seats available, so your patience is appreciated as we reach out to the D.C. community.“
“All 2010–2011 Season subscribers and Friends of Free For All may reserve Free For All tickets in advance for select performances. Anyone may join Friends of Free For All by making a tax-deductible contribution to support this important outreach program. Subscribers are eligible for two tickets, but the number of tickets that Friends of Free For All may reserve varies by level of giving.“
The different categories of Friends and the benefits are listed as follows:
- VIP Friend ($1,500+)
Reserve up to 25 tickets - Producing Friend ($500-$1499)
Reserve up to 10 tickets - Sustaining Friend ($500-$1499)
Reserve up to 8 tickets - Supporting Friend ($250-$349)
Reserve up to 6 tickets - Contributing Friend ($150-$249)
Reserve up to 4 tickets
12 August, 2010 at 1:27 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
moshtix Anti-Scalping Survey
Take the moshtix Anti-Scalping Survey – In response to the Government issues paper to investigate ticket on-selling.
1 July, 2010 at 1:03 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Government Review – Ticket Scalping: Ticket onselling and consumers
“The Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council (CCAAC) is conducting a review into ticket onselling and its impact on consumers.
Under its terms of reference CCAAC will examine the following matters as part of its review:
- whether there is consumer detriment and, if so, the level of detriment posed by ticket onselling practices;
- the views of stakeholders affected by ticket onselling practices, including consumer groups, ticketing organisations, auction/reselling websites, and peak sporting and live entertainment bodies;
- actions currently undertaken by industry that seek to limit ticket purchasing by scalpers for re sale;
- the identification of any non regulatory options that could address any harmful practices arising from ticket onselling practices;
- the effectiveness of consumer information to address any consumer detriment associated with ticket onselling practices;
- the effectiveness of current legislation related to ticket onselling practices;
- the impact of technology on ticket onselling practices; and
- the effectiveness of international approaches that address any consumer detriment related to ticket onselling and the appropriateness of these approaches for the Australian marketplace.
The Issues Paper examines current practices relating to ticket onselling and considers possible market responses, including both regulatory and non-regulatory options, and their cost and effectiveness.“
Interested parties are invited to comment on the paper and the closing date for submission is Friday 23 July 2010.
12 June, 2010 at 5:18 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
RT @davideedle “Have E-Commerce Your Wa
RT @davideedle “Have E-Commerce Your Way” http://bit.ly/ciT1Ky Nice parallels between ebay & online ticketing agents = do it yourself
8 June, 2010 at 1:01 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
