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Arsenal targets bots
Premier League football club Arsenal cancelled almost 2,000 memberships in early April, after announcing that it was attempting to crack down on ticket touts. The club increased the level of bot protection on its ticketing platform, with the move resulting in up to 500,000 IP addresses being blocked due to suspected bot activity.
Google loses appeal
Google failed in its appeal against an order prohibiting the purchasing of ads promoting tickets sold by unauthorised secondary ticketing platforms in France. The search engine and internet giant was attempting to reverse a decision made in favour of Prodiss in 2020. The French live music organisation had brought a lawsuit against Google France and Google Ireland (home of Google’s European headquarters) to ban the hosting of adverts in France from resale marketplaces such as Viagogo and StubHub that do not have authorisation from event organisers.
TheTicketingBusiness Forum
April saw the hosting of this year’s TheTicketingBusiness Forum at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester. TheTicketingBusiness Awards 2023 were held simultaneously, with AXS Europe named Ticketing Business of the Year.
You can read our review of TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2023, here.
Competition
Following January’s Senate Judiciary Committee on promoting competition in the live entertainment industry, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, introduced legislation to improve competition within the live event ticketing markets.
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