E-ticketing goes mainstream

Tickets are the pay cheque of showbiz. They are major revenue stream for artistes and all sub-sectors involved in concerts. Next to endorsements, royalties and merchandising, ticket sales are what keep showbiz running.

The 2009-11 world concert by rock band U2, dubbed “360 degrees”, holds the record for the highest ticket sales, grossing over $700 million (about Sh70 billion) in over 110 shows. It was followed closely by a Rolling Stone’s concert, which grossed over $500 million (about Sh50 billion).

As traditional sources of revenue dip, more and more artistes are focusing on live concerts to make a living. But concerts are expensive and risky. Many things can go wrong — from bad weather, to crowd control, terrorist threats to artiste cancellations. The smallest setback can cost millions.

Essential as it is, ticketing has been one of the major headaches for promoters. Traditionally they would print advance tickets and hire sales people to distribute them. This is not only tedious but risky, both for event organisers and the target audience.

Sales people have been known to disappear with ticket money, or work at their own convenience, limiting access to tickets and sales volume. Selling tickets at the gate is equally risky as it means handling large sums of liquid cash in a sometimes volatile environment. 

Hardcopy tickets are also easy to fake and expensive to authenticate, both for the concert-goer and the organiser. The City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and Get Safe Online show that incidents of online ticket fraud rose by 55 per cent in 2015, costing the UK public £5.2 million (about Sh780 million) .

Fraudsters target high-value events and sell fake tickets online or at concert entrances. Reported crimes between November 2014 and October 2015 show that major sporting events like the Rugby World Cup and the Premier League football matches accounted for over a quarter of all ticket scams, followed by gigs and festivals (15 per cent).

To overcome these issues, industry players locally and internationally are fast turning to e-ticketing. An electronic ticket is a digital voucher that confirms purchase and bears one’s personal details. Airlines and public transport systems have been using these systems for a while now. The entertainment industry is now adopting this platform.

Although local players were tight-lipped about the figures made, estimates place the amount in the millions. Most ticket prices range between Sh500 and Sh5,000, with the attendance ranging from 500 to 7,000 people. E-ticketing companies charge between nine per cent and 20 per cent of the ticket price.

Mr Brian Bogonko, chief executive of Mi-Ticket Kenya, says they are offering this service to event organisers and that they have handled ticketing for Colour Festival, Masinga TT and the Obina all-star concert. 

TICKETING CHALLENGES

He says: “This service is a response to the ticketing challenges that I faced as an event organiser. Initially, we used to just print tickets, then we added security features such as bar codes, but the whole process was expensive. With mobile tickets, you pay via mobile money or credit card and you get your ticket on your phone as an SMS or email.

It cuts down on printing costs and enables the event organiser to track ticket sales through the back-end. The system also provides details of the attendees for use in future marketing events. We charge them (event organisers) 10-15 per cent fees, and have done up to 5,000 tickets for a single event.”  

Promoter and industry player Dj Incredible says he now relies on e-ticketing. “Ticket sales can come to about Sh10-Sh20 million per gig. That’s not the kind of money you want to be carrying around. The gate people can really mess you up; some can steal from you while others can sneak in friends. But with e-ticketing, it’s easy to monitor the process.

Some e-ticketing companies even man the gate and authenticate every ticket. Purchase information comes straight from mobile money providers, with the event organiser receiving immediate notification when tickets are bought. But you have to pick a provider with a simple system that doesn’t hang — that can be very frustrating,” he says.        

Mr Sebastian Ngida, chief executive of events company CBS Media, which also runs Tatianna Bridal and Nairobi Wine, Cake and Chocolate festival, says; “some e-ticketing systems have hidden costs, so you have to be very careful. I have used Mi-Ticket Kenya and they are very professional. I can track ticket sales and get my money 24 hours after the event. I still have to do my own marketing because they haven’t started doing that aggressively, but it makes accounting so much easier.”

Ticketsasa was one of the pioneers of e-ticketing in Kenya. It now offers all-round solutions that include holiday packages, airline tickets and event tickets. It has handled e-ticketing for the Koroga Festival and the Tinga Tinga Tales concert.

The firm’s events and marketing communication officer, Ms Jannette Ronoh, says industry players and revellers are changing their concert habits. “Kenyans are beginning to embrace the idea of buying tickets in advance, and this helps event organisers plan better,” she explains.

“Beside selling tickets, we also help organisers market their events through various platforms, but some event organisers have not totally understood our services. We also have had a few cases of attempted fraud, where people try to enter with fake tickets or use other people’s tickets, but our systems are solid; we always catch them.

Sporting events are little harder to handle because of the spectre of rowdy crowds. We put a pause on them after some unfortunate cases, but we learnt our lessons and are getting back on track. I can’t go into the details about figures, but our system has handled concerts with 5,000 to 7,000 tickets. The ticket buyer may incur a service charge from their mobile money or credit card providers, but we don’t charge them for the service; we only charge the event organiser 10 per cent of the ticket price. It doesn’t matter whether you are selling 50 or 50,000 tickets, we offer the same services, although we can negotiate the rates as volumes increase.” 

As the sector grows, players are having to work harder to attract clients and ward off stiff competition. To this end, MyMookh provides a platform for artistes to not only sell concert tickets but merchandise and digital content.   

FULL ACCESS

“We have a self-utilisation tool that attaches itself to your website, social media account or any other platform that you may have,” CEO Eric Thimba explains.

“Some of our clients have sold tickets on their Instagram accounts and Facebook pages. Additionally, we promote events on our platforms and offer our clients digital marketing. It is your event, at the end of the day, why should you direct people to other platforms to buy tickets when you could be benefiting from the traffic? Once you register, you get full access. The system gives you lots of flexibility.

You decide how the promotion material will look like and even set up the ticketing details — with “early bird” discounts, complementary tickets, and advance tickets closure periods. You don’t even have to call us to find out how much you have made; you just log in and check. We also have an Android app that can verify tickets at the gate, so people carry tickets on their phones which are scanned as they come in. That way, fans don’t have to worry about losing hardcopy tickets.”  

Already, e-ticketing is effectively dealing with ticket fraud and putting money in the pockets of hardworking entertainment professionals. As the competition heats up, it will be interesting to see what new solutions are on offer.

The skeptics are still many, especially on the system’s authenticity, but e-ticketing is undoubtedly the way to the future.