TicketSmarter has announced a major new deal, landing as the official ticket resale partner of Gannett Co, Inc. Gannett is the publisher of USA Today and some 250 local newspapers and media sites including the Arizona Republic, Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, The Tennessean, and the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The publisher also puts out nearly 70 sports-specific verticals, reaching a total readership of hundreds of millions across the United States.
The partnership will integrate TicketSmarter’s ticketing inventory “seamlessly” into Gannett and USA Today Network’s sports and entertainment content, providing readers the opportunity to purchase tickets in a safe and secure system for events they are already reading about.
“Across USA TODAY NETWORK’s hundreds of properties, we engage daily with audiences that are passionate about music, sports, theater and live events. The TicketSmarter partnership will provide us with the ability to better serve our audiences with opportunities to buy tickets to their favorite events,” said Chris Pirrone, General Manager of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. “We value TicketSmarter’s commitment to giving back to local communities by pledging to donate one dollar of every transaction to charitable partners.
For TicketSmarter, the deal was a great opportunity to engage an audience that is already consuming content about specific performers, teams and events, meeting them where they already were gathering, so to speak. Ticket finding opportunities for Gannett/USA Today Network readers will come from website navigation links, schedules, scoreboards, and in-story linkage to the ticket resale marketplace. “The reach of Gannett Media and USA Today was very attractive,” says TicketSmarter CEO Jeff Goodman. “Over 70 million people per month go to USA Today and the local sites receive over 150 million unique visitors every month.”
“This partnership is unique in that it is a vessel or mechanism for us to work with one of the largest media companies in North America as their exclusive ticket partner to get our message out and everything that we have done including our partnership with over 300 universities, 28 conferences, 26 bowl games, 40+ MiLB clubs, PBR, ESPN Events, etc.,” Goodman continued. “Furthermore, it lets fans experience live events without paying really high service fees. We are considerably cheaper than those other brands for the same tickets.”
TicketSmarter is a Kansas-based ticket resale marketplace providing seats for more than 125,000 live events and 48 million tickets for sale. TicketSmarter, a subsidiary of Digital Ally, Inc., was started in 2010 as GoodyTickets by Heather and Jeff Goodman. The company gives back to the community through its charitable partners, donating one dollar of every transaction to organizations including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, V Foundation, and Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation.
