AEG’s AXS teams with ScoreBig to sell cheaper concert tickets
Staples Center and the L.A. Live entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles.
ScoreBig, a start-up that helps consumers find cheaper tickets for concerts and sporting events, is expanding its reach and helping venues fill more seats.
Los Angeles-based ScoreBig has partnered with AXS, the ticket seller owned by the nation’s second-biggest live events company, AEG, the companies announced Friday.
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ScoreBig, which bills itself as the Priceline of the live entertainment industry, lets users bid what they want for a ticket online. The company says that more than one-third of event tickets -- worth an estimated $16 billion -- go unsold every year in the U.S.
Venues hope ScoreBig’s so-called reverse scalping scheme can help them increase sales by getting more people to attend their shows, but without the stigma of offering fire-sale prices for less popular events.
The new deal with Los Angeles-based AXS gives the company the ability to offer tickets from more venues.
“It completes the picture for us in North America in terms of ticketing companies,” said ScoreBig’s chief commercial officer, David Marcus. “AXS was the final piece in the puzzle for us.”
Founded in 2009 by former NBA executive Adam Kanner, ScoreBig has grown quickly by signing up big ticketing companies, including market leader Ticketmaster in 2015. Ticketmaster is owned by AEG’s competitor, Live Nation.
In 2014, ScoreBig completed a $18-million financing round led by Hearst Corp. Its sales more than doubled last year.
Now AXS venues, including Staples Center in downtown L.A., will have the option of offering tickets on ScoreBig’s site. Blaine LeGere, senior vice president of AXS Digital, said his company chose to use the service because its venue clients were asking for it.
Another key aspect that interests LeGere is the data that ScoreBig can generate to gauge consumer demand for certain shows. That can help venues set pricing for similar shows in the future, LeGere said.
“The aggregated information is pretty powerful,” LeGere said.
Follow Ryan FaughnderFaughnder on Twitter for more entertainment business coverage: @rfaughnder
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