Ticketmaster has agreed to make changes to its website after being informed it was not in compliance with privacy best practices by a watchdog organization aligned with the Better Business Bureau. The agreement from the California-based ticketing giant came in response to a complaint that triggered a review by the BBB’s National Programs’ Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP) which determined it was not in compliance with their recommendations.
“DAAP monitors the digital marketplace for compliance with digital advertising best practices related to interest-based advertising (IBA) across websites and mobile apps,” reads the announcement of the agreement for changes to be made. “Following a consumer complaint, DAAP conducted a review of Ticketmaster’s website privacy practices and found the website Ticketmaster.com, which engaged in third-party data collection by companies known to engage in IBA, was not compliant with the DAA’s Transparency Principle.”
Ticketmaster has increasingly relied on massive data harvesting capabilities as a core aspect of its business, most notably through the forced shift to intrusive mobile-only ticketing systems. These systems, which are required for access to tickets at an ever-increasing number of venues for both concerts and sports events, require consumers to opt-in for a huge amount of data access through the mobile devices on which they are installed.
This information is enormously valuable for Ticketmaster and its parent, Live Nation Entertainment. It allows them to use this consumer data for marketing purposes of its own, as well as shared out to partners at venues and teams, or even sold to third parties, based on the terms and conditions that consumers are required to agree to when accessing the Ticketmaster website or mobile device systems.
In this instance, the DAAP compliance upgrade involves Ticketmaster agreeing to strengthen its compliance protocols, taking steps that include:
- Updating its primary website footer to include a prominent and conspicuous link directing users to the Ad Choices page, providing enhanced notice, opt-out tools, and a statement of adherence to DAA Principles.
- Incorporating changes to reflect enhanced notice through its Consent Management Platform (CMP) by providing additional links to third-party opt-out tools and disclosure of third-party interest-based advertising. The link to the CMP is accessible from all web pages on the Ticketmaster domain.
- To meet first-party enhanced notice requirements, committing to updating its secondary website footer by changing the existing “Manage My Cookies” link to read “Manage My Cookies and Ad Choices.” DAAP will continue to monitor this change until it is made.
It is unlikely that these changes will result in a significant decrease in the company’s access to user data across the millions of tickets it sells that are required to be tied to a specific user account through mobile-only ticketing systems.
“Ticketmaster’s goal is to maintain the trust and confidence of its consumers by complying with global data protection laws to the highest standard and being transparent when it comes to the processing of our consumer’s data,” the company said in a statement. “We commend the Digital Advertising Accountability Program’s similar mission and dedication to compliance with the DAA self-regulatory requirements.”
