The days of waking up early to stake a claim on Ticketmaster may soon be a thing of the past. Digonex Technologies, an Indianapolis-based company, has just launched its Sports & Entertainment Analytical Ticketing System (SEATS), which uses algorithms, economic models, and other buzzwords to determine prices for tickets. SEATS analyzes variables including weather patterns, competing events, historic demand, and location, ideally allowing venues to determine the optimal price at which to sell tickets while undercutting scalpers and secondary brokers. StubHub and exploitative Craigslist ads, be warned: Your days are numbered. [TicketNews]
I dont get your thesis sentence or conclusion. How is the venue setting different or more complicated prices going to change the onsale scramble? For popular shows, everyone will try to get tickets right away any way. Also how does this impact StubHub or Craiglist? People who are willing to sell their tickets can still ask for any price they want. Just like now, there will be only be actual transactions if there is a willing buyer. Since this is a billion dollar market it shows there a lots of willing buyers who dont mind being "exploited" Or are you saying the venue will hide behind "algorithms" to just jack up the prices to start with? It seems to me the fans are who should be warned here.
What?
Those are good points. It seems as though this will actually increase the scramble, since the cost of tickets for a high-demand show will only rise with time, right?
Ticket economics is one of my favorite topics, and this blog post offers a better explanation than I could possibly hope to give: http://www.ticketeconomist.com/2009/02/24/ticketmasters-selling-method-is-the-real-problem/
Basically, the first-come, first-serve system of selling (whether we want to admit it or not) woefully underpriced tickets makes the system susceptible to abuse by brokers. Not everyone has the resources to hire swarms of ticket buyers to overload the Ticketmaster website, and scalpers make their profit exploiting this fact. Variable pricing will allow the venue to exploit differences in consumer demand without using the inefficient system of first-come, first-serve (how would you feel if you had to buy stocks that way?). This won't work for General Admission standing room tickets, but it does offer a better solution for the venues.
Hell, I'd be all in favor of keeping the current system but requiring that names be printed on tickets and verified with a valid ID at the venue, essentially destroying any resale value on the ticket.
I think your point is valid--ticket buyers might just wind up paying higher prices, but that's because (whether we want to admit it or not) most tickets are woefully underpriced and a first-come, first-serve system is too susceptible to abuse. I love the economic theory of ticket pricing, so here's a good explanation of why more variable pricing would be ideal: http://www.ticketeconomist.com/2009/02/24/ticketmasters-selling-method-is-the-real-problem/
Naturally, this doesn't work for GA seating. But it does offer an alternative that offers more value to the venue rather than secondary brokers. Pick your poison.
Hell, I'd be happier if they just printed tickets with the buyer's name on them and required a valid ID in order to gain entry, essentially destroying the resale market.
doubledoubles