Viagogo to ‘double-down’ on UK in face of ticket resale crackdown

Secondary ticket platform Viagogo has pledged to “double-down” in the UK with plans to shake up the market dominated by the likes of Ticketmaster ahead of a ban in Britain on reselling tickets for profit.

The group, which operates under the StubHub brand in the US, is expanding an airline-style ticketing model into the UK that will see it compete with primary ticketing sellers and allow sports and live entertainment tickets to be sold through more than one firm.

Called “open distribution”, the model is already being rolled out by the firm for sports and events in the US, with the group now selling tickets for nine of America’s 32 Major League Baseball teams.

It is expanding this into other global markets, with the UK in its sights as it looks to disrupt a market that is led by a few key players.

Raj Beri, chief business officer of StubHub North America and Viagogo, told the Press Association the model is set to be a “major growth driver” for the UK and Europe.

He said: “We are looking to double-down and really expand in the UK, and that’s going to be a huge focus for us, especially on the open distribution side.

“We believe resale is very important. It plays a huge role in allowing fans to get tickets when they want, have access when they want.

“It allows rights holders to sell inventory that would not get sold otherwise.

“But we also believe that open distribution is the future of ticketing, and that’s really going to be the huge growth driver in markets like the UK.”

The move also comes as secondary ticket sites face a crackdown in Britain, with a proposed new law that will make it illegal for tickets to be resold above face value, plus unavoidable fees.

The law is expected to be confirmed in the upcoming King’s Speech and is designed to end large-scale touting that has caused misery for millions of fans.

But Viagogo said its “open distribution” plans are not being made in direct response to the new law in the UK and elsewhere globally, with New York and some states in the US also proposing resale price caps.

Mr Beri told PA: “We didn’t wait around for the legislation to tell us to go forward there.

“This has, for the last 18 months, been part of our strategy.”

He said it has been gaining traction in America, allowing sports teams, venues and artists to list tickets through StubHub instead of relying on one seller.

Mr Beri said: “We’re starting to see that take hold in the UK now too, where more and more teams, large music festivals, other players, are very interested in saying, ‘you know what, we don’t want to just work with Ticketmaster, we don’t believe that 100% of our inventory needs to be held captive by one player’, so they’re pushing back.”

It works similarly to that of the travel industry, with airlines selling tickets on their own sites, but also through global distribution networks such as Expedia and Kayak.

Viagogo believes it will help events reach bigger audiences and market unsold tickets, while also costing them less and giving them more control over pricing.

“They keep 100% of the ticket revenue, and we just keep the buyer fee, and that’s actually what’s resonating in the market here in the UK right now,” Mr Beri said.

He added it should help drive down costs for fans too, with the event organisers, venues and acts setting the pricing.

“We do believe this will lead to more competitive pricing and therefore be better for fans overall,” said Mr Beri.

In the UK, Viagogo is already working directly with football teams, such as Manchester City, and F1 teams.

The group’s push into open distribution comes after StubHub’s recent stock market debut in the US, which has seen it make a rocky start to life on the market.

Shares are down more than 50% already since listing in September, with some market experts citing regulatory pressures in a number of markets.

But Mr Beri insisted the regulation changes are not be a huge blow to the firm.

He said: “While I understand that the price caps are a hot issue, we’re a global company, we sell tickets in 200 countries, there’s no one market that will really impact our business in a way that will be a shock to our system overall.”

Lisa Webb, Which? consumer law expert, said Viagogo will need to “clean up its act” as the new price cap comes “within touching distance”.

She said: “It seems Viagogo is pivoting after years of enabling ticket touts to ruthlessly exploit fans.

“It has faced a series of investigations and legal action from regulators over the years for breaching consumer protection laws, and it will have to clean up its act if it wants to continue operating in the UK.”