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Ticketing Business of the Year Award 2018 – Vote Now

Ticketing Business of the Year Award

TheTicketingBusiness of the Year award will go to the best ticketing business in the business – whether that be a ticketing platform, service supplier, box office, venue, team, promoter, visitor destination, festival or rightsholder.

Which organisation has really taken its ticketing to a new level in the past 12 months?

TheTicketingBusiness Awards are delighted to introduce our 2018 Ticketing Business of the Year Award finalists.

Voting is now closed. Thank you to the thousands of people who voted. Winners will be announced during the Awards ceremony at Emirates Old Trafford, 17 April.


London Theatre Direct (UK)

2017 London Theatre Direct’s Digital Transformation and Year of Innovation London Theatre Direct has continued to lead the way in ticketing technologies in 2017, not only as a primary ticket seller but also as a B2B ticketing solution.

2017 was also the year LTD celebrated their 18th birthday and hosted a range of special marketing campaigns and events to celebrate the journey from being one of the first websites to sell theatre tickets online to becoming one of the industry’s leading theatre ticket providers.

London Theatre Direct extended their API connectivity to the majority of the West End box offices and completed the last major West End theatre group integration with the Ambassador Theatre Group during 2017.

LTD was the first ticket distributor to complete the ATG Audience View integration giving partners live access to inventory at ATG theatres. LTD now consolidate and unify 8 different box office systems into one bookable API.

The LTD API has also enabled them to develop innovative B2B solutions such as the first West End ticketing Open-source Chat-bot and the first West End ticketing WordPress plugin that LTD developed in-house, enabling anyone to transform their WordPress website into a money-making ticket selling e-shop.

London Theatre Direct is always striving to innovate and took the step in 2017 to found Hack/Tixx – a brand new series of ticketing events around Europe to try and solve some of the biggest issues in the industry with forward-thinking solutions. The first hackathon took place in November in Prague and focused on Blockchain technology to tackle common issues with ticket resales, fraud and venue security.

Website here


SeatGeek Enterprise (USA)

In the past year, SeatGeek Enterprise claims to have “not just taken our ticketing to a new level, we have taken ticketing to an entirely different place. Tickets are a lifeblood and currency that power great, amazing live entertainment, and SeatGeek Enterprise is reinventing ticketing for the mobile, modern era. An era in which ticketing has not lived–until now.”

SeatGeek Enterprise’s launch in 2017 showed teams – and ultimately fans – that technology can change the world of ticketing much in the same way it has innovated travel, commerce and social discovery. Combining the stellar technology-first approach to ticketing of Israeli company TopTix and its best-in-class product SRO, with the fan-first and user experience-obsessive mentality of SeatGeek, SeatGeek Enterprise is “delivering a ticketing buying and selling experience like never before.”

In October 2017, SeatGeek partners became able to sell tickets directly through Facebook in a deal the operator said is illustrative of the industry’s “move toward openness”.

In November 2017, SeatGeek signed its first primary deals in North America’s NFL and NBA after partnering with the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans.

In December 2017 SeatGeek went on to secure the position as official ticketing provider of Major League Soccer (MLS) new boys Los Angeles FC.

Website here

TTB News report


SecuTix (Switzerland)

SecuTix, the global provider of a ticketing engagement platform, was a newcomer to the UK & Ireland when in Autumn 2016 it expanded its business into the market. A year later and the company ended 2017 with seven major UK clients, a growing team of experts and a firmly established reputation as leaders in ticketing technology.

Established in 2002 in Switzerland, SecuTix already had a strong foothold in mainland Europe when Frédéric Longatte, CEO of SecuTix, identified the UK and Irish markets as prime for a fresh, technology-driven alternative. Longatte recognised that the cloud-based SecuTix 360° ticketing engagement platform delivered as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) would appeal to those clients who found that the ‘one size fits all’ approach was no longer suitable for their business.

Secutix made a strategic decision to focus on one vertical – sport – and this has been a major driver for its immediate success on entering the UK market. The UK team worked hard to identify sports clubs at the leading edge of the business. They then developed strong partnerships with them, benefiting from their influence with other sporting organisations. They then went on to secure partnerships with Saracens who are leaders in commercial strategy, and Aviva Premiership Champions Exeter Chiefs.

The work SecuTix has done with European clients, particularly UEFA, opened doors, but it’s the work on turning new clients into brand advocates for SecuTix that has really accelerated the UK business growth. This unified effort to target sports clients has quickly established SecuTix as an expert in the sector and gives the company a strong platform on which to grow the business.

Website here

TTB News report


Tiqets (The Netherlands)

In December 2013 four Dutch entrepreneurs realised that a change was needed in the way visitors get into museums and cultural attractions. Customers were waiting in line, waiting to show printed tickets to get in; why not use the smartphone travelers have in their pocket to speed up the process? They found a clear demand for easy-to-use mobile ticketing; travelers love the ease of use of our system.

Tiqets claims to be the fastest-growing tech company in the Netherlands and one of the fastest in Europe, according to data reviewed this spring by TNW and Adyen. 

The start-up provides last-minute tickets for museums, tours and activities through its online platform and mobile application, which is available in seven languages. It then presents customers with a scannable barcode for their reservations.

According to the Skift website, chief executive Luuc Elzinga said that simplifying his business to providing mobile ticketing to venues at popular locales was a key moment for the company.

The firm has focused its reach on the most popular tourism markets across Europe and North America, though it has a presence in 150 countries.

In May 2017, the platform secured $17m (€15.2m/£13.1m) in an investment round led by HPE Growth Capital.

Website Here

TTB News report


Etix (USA)

Founded in 2000, Etix is an international, web-based ticketing service provider for the entertainment industry, processing more than 50 million tickets per year in 40 countries.

Their mission is to provide superior ticketing, marketing and service solutions for their clients and customers. As the largest independent ticketing company in North America, Etix has been providing flexible and secure ticketing solutions, digital marketing services, and robust e-commerce fulfillment for over 15 years.

In July 2017 Etix paid $16.5m for the acquisition of ExtremeTix, and in October 2017, Etix further expanded its portfolio through the acquisition of TicketBiscuit.

Etix concluded its 2017 spending spree with the acquisition of software developer Interactive Ticketing in December 2017. Interactive Ticketing CEO and president David Arevalo told the press: “We’re excited to end the year with Travis and Paxton and their great team… The ticketing industry has changed a lot since 1999 and Etix has been leading the way, continuously adding and updating features.”

Website here

TTB News report


 

TheTicketingBusiness Awards 2018 winners will be announced on 17 April at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, and are set to be the highlight of TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2018 – Europe’s biggest B2B ticketing meeting.

Tickets for the Forum are still available. Take a look at who is attending here.

Any questions about the Awards, please email awards@theticketingbusiness.com

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