Eventbrite, an online service where users create, share, and sell tickets for all types of events, announced June 18 that they have issued tickets and registrations equaling $1 billion in sales for its clients.
Eventbrite users have issued over 60 million tickets worldwide to date. According to CEO and co-founder Kevin Hartz, in January 2009 Eventbrite helped its event organizers issue $100 million in tickets, in December 2010 that number grew to $400 million, and now the company has reached $1 billion.
Launched in 2006 as an easy-to-use, self-service platform, the service enables users to create, market, and sell tickets to events of all sizes and types like conferences, classes, fundraisers, concerts, and social events. Eventbrite makes it easy for users to customize their event page, manage tickets and registration, setup payment processing, customize the checkout process, refund an order, and view a report of processed orders, among other services. Event organizers can also use Eventbrite to promote their event by sending out an email invitation, selling tickets on their website, or publishing the event to social networking sites.
Vanessa Hope Schneider, senior public relations manager for Eventbrite, told TicketNews in a recent email that the company utilized social media integration from a very early stage, allowing event organizers and ticketbuyers to share event information and ticket purchases on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Based on a social commerce study conducted by Eventbrite, when an attendee shares event information on Facebook, it results in an additional $2.52 in ticket sales.
In addition to their all-in-one platform and social media integration, Eventbrite’s CEO Hartz attributes the company’s growth to several international launches and additions such as their mobile box office At The Door. According to the June 18 press release, the company’s top markets are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands.
Eventbrite’s mobile box office At The Door allows organizers to sell tickets and merchandise the day of the event using an iPad interface. Users can also accept major credit cards by attaching a card reader and print tickets right on the spot using a mobile printer. Eventbrite’s Entry Manager is a free app that organizers can use to scan tickets.
The online ticketing platform has also developed an app geared toward the ticketbuyer. The Eventbrite Mobile App is a free app that attendees can use to pull up their ticket on their phone, view event information and directions, and share event details with friends to encourage them to attend.
Eventbrite is free for organizers who are creating a free event. If tickets are being sold online, users are charged 2.5 percent plus $0.99 per ticket in addition to processing fees. For users who wish to sell tickets at the door using Eventbrite’s At The Door service, only 3 percent of the ticket value is charged when using credit card processing.
Eventbrite events were created in over 170 countries in 2011 alone and that number continues to grow. The online ticketing platform strives to deliver their service to a global audience in places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Spain, and France. “We are always excited to watch the gross ticket sales figures, because really these numbers measure the achievements of our customers,” said president and co-founder Julia Hartz. “When Kevin and I founded Eventbrite with our CTO Renaud Visage, we focused on making payments easy to collect for anyone hosting an event. We believe in the importance of offline gatherings, and we’re thrilled to help bring communities of people together who share an interest or passion.”
