The UK division of Ticketmaster this week launched the new discount ticketing Web site, tmDeals.co.uk. The site offers a wide range of ticket deals for events in London and throughout Britain.
Fans register on the Web site with their e-mail address and location, and they receive free weekly messages with various ticket deals for events near them. Virtually all aspects of live entertainment are covered, such as concerts, sporting events, comedy, family shows and theatrical productions.
“Given our leading position in the live entertainment industry, we are in the ideal position to be able to offer consumers great deals on tickets to a wide range of events,” Chris Edmonds, managing director of Ticketmaster UK, said in a statement.
tmDeals offers an array of deals, from two-for-one and percent-off tickets, to specific low prices for all seats at certain events. The site also features contests to win tickets for some popular events, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Cirque du Soleil: Alegria.
“Further, given the strength of our digital infrastructure and consumer database resources, we can tailor our service to match each and every fan’s needs, setting us apart from the competition,” Edmonds added.
Discount ticket deal sites have gained popularity over the past year as teams, promoters, venues and others look for ways to move distressed ticket inventory.
In the United States earlier this year, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation teamed up with online deals site Groupon to create GrouponLive. Similar to tmDeals, GrouponLive also offers discount ticket deals.
GrouponLive and tmDeals do not hide where the inventory is coming from, but competing deal site ScoreBig protects the identity of the ticket providers and allows fans to make offers on tickets that the provider can either accept or reject.
According to Ticketmaster, roughly 40 percent of tickets go unsold annually, so the company has aggressively looked for ways to move more of those seats. In addition to GrouponLive and tmDeals in the UK, the company also has expanded its presence on Facebook and launched a new ticket sale initiative with its secondary ticket subsidiary TicketsNow.
