Ticket resale marketplaces helped more than 10 million fans save a combined $414 million on live-event tickets last year, according to a new report released Tuesday by consumer advocacy group Protect Ticket Rights.
Analyzing 186,113 transactions tracked by data-analytics firm Automatiq, researchers found that 62 percent of events in 2024 featured tickets resold for less than their initial box-office cost. On average, secondary-market prices fell $29 from the original on-sale period to the final month before the show, translating to roughly $40 in savings per ticket.
“Transferability is the safeguard that lets fans comparison-shop,” the report argues, noting that staggered primary on-sales and increasingly common dynamic pricing make it difficult—or prohibitively expensive—for consumers to buy early. “Because tickets can change hands freely, they don’t go to waste, venues fill seats, and fans keep cash in their pockets.”
Concerts Lead the Way
- Concerts accounted for the lion’s share of bargains, with 5.6 million below-cost tickets saving fans $202 million.
- Sports events generated $202 million in reduced prices across 5.6 million discounted seats.
- Theater performances delivered $15 million in fan savings on roughly 345,000 tickets, while “other” events—including comedy and family shows—added another $2.8 million.
At the state level, California topped all markets with $50.2 million in consumer savings on 1.3 million discounted tickets, followed by Texas ($32.4 million) and New York ($36.8 million). Even sparsely populated Wyoming saw fans save nearly $175,000.
Report Comes Amid Serious Scrutiny of Ticketing Markets
PTR’s report comes as lawmakers and consumers both look for significant reform to the live event ticketing marketpace as a whole. Spiraling prices have caused public outcry to a point where both state and federal authorities have taken notice. President Biden put in place new rules for price transparency that went live earlier this year, and also had his Department of Justice pursue a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster seeking to split those companies as an unlawful monopoly.
President Trump’s DOJ has continued that lawsuit, and he recently called for action by the DOJ and FTC to develop a better ticketing experience – gathering thousands of responses from the public and interested organizations to a request for feedback on the problems in the industry today.
| READ: Public Comments: Live Nation Says Price Caps; Everyone Else Pushes Breakup |
A massive percentage of those comments focused on Live Nation and Ticketmaster themselves – but many also offered support for the open ticket resale ecosystem that exists today as an invaluable asset to consumers who purchase tickets.
- Alden Abbott, former FTC general counsel and now a senior scholar at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, wrote that “secondary markets, while imperfect, enable price discovery and allow tickets to reach those who value them most.”
- Sal Nuzzo, executive director of Consumers Defense, warned against transfer restriction schemes that only benefit existing entrenched companies with massive market share against their competition – not consumers.
“Purchasing a ticket should guarantee the purchaser the right to do what they please with it. Restricting transfer only benefits one company while undermining basic components of our economic system. While the popular sell-outs drive headlines, out of the tens of thousands of live events each year, data show that more than half offer lower cost comparable tickets on the secondary resale market compared to the box office or its primary ticketer.” - Tom Giovanetti of the Texas-based Institute for Policy Innovation labeled the current system “Ticketmaster/Live Nation tyranny.”
“Those who buy tickets to live events are generally pretty unhappy with the fact that they are held hostage to Ticketmaster\Live Nation tyranny. In retrospect, this is a merger that has harmed consumers. But beyond their control of the first sale of tickets for live events, the Ticketmaster/Live Nation colossus does everything it can do prevent ticket purchasers from reselling their tickets, or to make it prohibitively troublesome or expensive.
This was an emerging issue twelve years ago, when IPI wrote a paper on the issues of the importance of secondary markets for tickets. If anything, the problem has only gotten worse.
Secondary markets are an important component of a free market, and if you buy a legitimate ticket to a live event, you should be able to transfer it to whomever you choose, however you choose. But the Ticketmaster/Live Nation demogorgon wants to control that as well.” - The National Consumers League has praised resale as “a hedge for consumers” stuck with non-refundable season or advance-purchase tickets, and a place to “get bargains when supply outpaces demand.”
Despite this enormous pressure from consumers and economic experts, Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster have continued to push forward in their efforts to re-brand all troubles as driven by the existence of ticket resale that they do not themselves directly control or profit from. They have also made no secrets of a coordinated campaign to curry favor with President Trump and others within his orbit.
FURTHER READING | Live Nation misleading venue PR blitz raises eyebrows amid antitrust fight
A Push for Policy Protections
Protect Ticket Rights is urging lawmakers to enshrine free transferability in any future ticketing reforms. In nationwide polling cited in the report, 81.6 percent of respondents supported the right to resell or give away tickets they purchase.
With dynamic pricing pushing many face values higher—and top tours still commanding premiums even on resale—advocates say the latest data reinforce why open, competitive markets matter.
“Tickets may be sold out, but that doesn’t mean fans are out of luck,” the report concludes. “When resale is allowed, smart shoppers can still get through the turnstiles—and often for a lot less.”
The full report is available below:
