Is Event Ticketing Next on Amazon’s To-Do List?
August 13, 2017 by Paul AusickSelling tickets to music concerts and other big events is a very lucrative business. Just ask Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV), parent of Ticketmaster, which has seen its stock price rise by more than 42% in the past year.
Live Nation’s stock posted a new 52-week high on Thursday after reporting quarterly results, but the stock dropped more than 3% on Friday on an exclusive report from Reuters that e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is considering getting into the ticketing business.
Amazon is reportedly talking to venue owners about selling event tickets after failing to reach a deal with Ticketmaster, the exclusive outlet for primary ticket sales at many top U.S. venues.
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Seattle-based Amazon has been selling event tickets in Britain since 2015 and has had some success with the program.
The talks with Ticketmaster broke off over a dispute about which company would control the customer data according to Reuters.
Ticketmaster reportedly generated $1.6 billion in 2016 revenues from primary ticket sales and some $250 million from resales. For Amazon to win a piece of that business would likely be an expensive proposition because Ticketmaster often pays venues for the rights to sell tickets and manage the box office. Venue owners would likely be unwilling to give up that revenue.
For ticket buyers, who generally dislike paying Ticketmaster fees, ticket sales from Amazon would likely be added as a feature to the company’s $99 annual Prime subscription. Amazon could even follow the lead of companies like American Express that off exclusive membership programs such as reserved blocks of seating and other benefits.
Neither Amazon nor Ticketmaster have commented on the report.
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