Chart of the Week (Apr. 24) - Changing Consumer Behavior for Ticket Purchases

A few weeks ago, we touched upon some of the trends in growing in-venue spend. This week, we wanted to dive into one specific trend that is forcing franchises to adapt – changing consumer behavior for ticket purchasing.

Ticketing data from our partner Elevate Marketplace ( Jonathan Marks ) shows increasing bifurcation among consumer decisions when it comes to purchasing tickets for sporting events. For marquee events, consumers plan their attendance with 55%+ of total tickets purchased more than a week in advance. In addition to a ticket, they are purchasing the option value of attending or re-sale. In contrast, for non-marquee events fans are spontaneous with 60%+ of ticket purchases occurring within the week prior to gameday.

For marquee events, consumers plan their attendance with 55%+ of total tickets purchased more than a week in advance... In contrast, for non-marquee events fans are spontaneous with 60%+ of ticket purchases occurring within the week prior to gameday.

In addition, many franchises face a decay of ticket prices on the secondary marketplace within the 24 hours leading up to the start of an event. This is particularly pronounced for non-marquee games as consumers and brokers discount tickets aggressively to offload inventory, which can impair primary ticketing sell-through for the franchises as well as the value for full and partial season ticket holders.

Deliberate cultivation of scarcity value within a dynamic ticket marketplace is a tricky task. It is a function of team performance, game-to-game demand dynamics (driven by opponent, weather, promotions or activations, etc.), season ticket holder base and liquidity/exchange options, and fan base expectations and habits. There is constant push and pull: a large season ticket holder base is great, but it can result in high secondary market inventory for non-marquee games; high individual game tickets allow a team to capture upside waves or monetize promotions, but team performance is naturally cyclical.

The model we’ve seen work involves using:

1. Data and analytics to forecast game-by-game demand and optimize locked-in vs. variable ticketing sell-through and pricing to provide the best risk/return portfolio throughout an entire season and long term;
2. A single, consolidated, and aligned ticket broker partner for a portion of non-season inventory who can support pricing;
3. A marketing strategy and tech that drives constant engagement with fans via a strong promo pipeline and early, targeted marketing across email, SMS, and social.