Industry News

Eventbrite pays $200m for Ticketfly

Eventbrite has continued its M&A spree by purchasing Ticketfly from Pandora in a $200m (£155m/€180m) deal described as “game-changing”.

The price of the ticketing platform is less than half the $450m Pandora paid for it little more than 18 months ago, despite Ticketfly consistently recording double-digit surges in revenue.

Under the terms of the deal, Eventbrite and Pandora said they plan to enter into a future distribution agreement to extend the service already provided by the Pandora and Ticketfly integration.

Eventbrite has already bought Nvite and Ticketscript during the first half of 2017, while also illustrating its potential through a partnership with social media giant Facebook.

Ticketfly chief executive Andrew Dreskin will now lead Eventbrite’s music efforts, with the company having seen its presence in the sector grow since the launch of Eventbrite Venue earlier this year.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and we see immense alignment and opportunity with this union, especially as we continue to expand Eventbrite’s global footprint in music,” said Julia Hartz, chief executive and co-founder of Eventbrite.

“Together with Ticketfly, we will focus our collective energy on further developing our unparalleled solution and superior services for indie music venues and promoters around the world.”

Track record of success in music

The deal was announced late on Friday, and coincided with Pandora announcing it had raised $480m in cash from SiriusXM, giving the satellite radio station controlled by Liberty Media a 16 per cent stake in Pandora.

Earlier on Friday, reports had suggested Ticketfly was likely to remain part of Pandora in the short-term at least because SiriusXM had decided not to pursue a full takeover.

Ticketfly and Eventbrite said the deal “brings together Eventbrite’s momentum in music, global scale, and expertise in event technology with Ticketfly’s marketing excellence and strong track record of success in music”.

Ticketfly currently works with over 1,800 of the top music promoters and venues across North America, supporting 100,000 events per year which generate $600 million in gross ticket sales.

Eventbrite has ticketed more than 175,000 concerts and music festivals helping them sell more than $1bn in tickets since inception. It said it is on track to process close to 200 million tickets worth $3bn in gross ticket sales in 180 countries in 2017.

Ticketfly’s Dreskin said: “We are happy to be joining forces with our friends at Eventbrite.

“Ticketfly and Eventbrite are the two most progressive live events technology companies out there, and together we will create a platform that will be game-changing for independent venues and promoters.

“We plan to build on the great work that Ticketfly and Pandora have done and offer the benefits of that partnership to Eventbrite’s customers, delivering even more live event notifications to Pandora listeners.”