Ticketmaster is a major ticket sales and distribution company that sells tickets for various live entertainment events around the world. Here is a quick overview of Ticketmaster’s usage in Germany:
Quick Answer
Yes, Ticketmaster does have a presence in Germany and sells tickets for events in the country. However, it is not the dominant ticketing company in Germany.
Ticketmaster’s Presence in Germany
Ticketmaster entered the German market in 2010 when it acquired T.O.S.C. GmbH, which operated the German ticketing sites TicketOnline and TicketOnSale. This allowed Ticketmaster to start selling tickets in Germany for shows and events.
According to Ticketmaster’s website, they currently sell tickets in Germany for various concerts, festivals, theater performances, and sporting events. Some of the major venues and events Ticketmaster sells tickets for in Germany include:
- Lanxess Arena in Cologne
- Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin
- Rock am Ring Festival
- Rock im Park Festival
- Berlin Philharmonic concerts
So Ticketmaster does have a presence selling tickets for live events in major cities across Germany. However, it is not the only or dominant ticketing company in the country.
CTS Eventim is the Leading Ticketing Company in Germany
While Ticketmaster operates in Germany, the dominant leader in ticketing in Germany is CTS Eventim. CTS Eventim was formed in 2000 from a merger between Ticket Corner in Switzerland and the German ticketing firm CTS. Other major acquisitions have grown CTS Eventim to become the market leader in ticketing in Germany and much of Europe.
Key facts about CTS Eventim’s strong position in Germany:
- It is estimated CTS Eventim sells over 250 million tickets per year across Europe, with Germany being their largest market.
- CTS Eventim has contracts for ticket sales with 70% of the largest concert and event promoters in Germany.
- It has exclusive ticketing deals with major venues like the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
- CTS Eventim operates hundreds of box office outlets across Germany for in-person ticket sales.
- It sells tickets for events across Germany through major German ticketing websites like eventim.de, ticketonline.de, and myticket.de.
As the established German ticketing leader with strong venue partnerships and high online ticket sales, CTS Eventim is estimated to have 70-80% market share of primary ticket sales in Germany.
Other Ticketing Companies in Germany
While CTS Eventim is the dominant leader, there are some other players in the German ticketing market as well. These include:
- ADticket – A German ticketing company with ticket sales in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. They sell 4-5 million tickets per year.
- Eventbrite – Global ticketing platform also used by some event organizers in Germany.
- Reservix – Ticket sales platform used by event promoters in Germany to sell directly to consumers.
- PayPal Tickets – PayPal’s ticketing platform also has a presence in Germany.
However, none of these other players come close to CTS Eventim in terms of market share and dominance in German ticketing.
Conclusion
In summary, while Ticketmaster does operate in Germany, it is not the leading ticketing company in the country. CTS Eventim holds the dominant position in the German market with estimated 70-80% market share of primary ticket sales. Ticketmaster has a minor presence, but most major concerts, venues, and events partner with CTS Eventim for ticketing in Germany.
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More Background on Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California. It sells tickets for various live entertainment events in the United States and other countries around the world. Ticketmaster provides ticketing services for many large venues, sports leagues, concert promoters, and event organizers.
Ticketmaster was founded in 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona by two computer programmers, Albert Leffler and Gordon Gunn. It initially focused on selling tickets for events in Arizona, but quickly expanded into other markets. By the late 1970s and into the 1980s, Ticketmaster was making exclusive deals with major venues and promoters around the US. It developed new technology platforms for ticket sales as well.
Some key milestones and facts about Ticketmaster’s growth and ticketing technology developments include:
- In 1981, Ticketmaster introduced computerized ticketing to replace physical tickets with ticket records in databases.
- By 1987, they had expanded from their initial market in Arizona to sell tickets across the entire United States.
- In the 1990s, Ticketmaster developed websites and phone systems for online and phone ticket sales.
- They later created mobile apps and tools to enhance ticket buying through those digital channels.
- Ticketmaster has made several major acquisitions over the years to expand into new markets globally, including their 2010 acquisition of T.O.S.C. GmbH that brought them into the German ticketing market.
Currently, Ticketmaster sells tickets through online sales, phone sales, mobile app sales, and retail outlet locations. Consumers can buy tickets directly from Ticketmaster for events or from official event venue and promoter websites that outsource their ticketing to Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster’s Entry into Germany
As noted previously, Ticketmaster did not start selling tickets in Germany until 2010 when it acquired T.O.S.C. GmbH, one of Germany’s leading ticketing companies at the time. T.O.S.C. operated two major German ticketing websites – TicketOnline and TicketOnSale.
Buying T.O.S.C. gave Ticketmaster an instant footprint in Germany by inheriting those two established German ticketing sites along with T.O.S.C’s existing venue partnerships and ticket sales operations. Ticketmaster likely paid somewhere between $150-250 million to acquire T.O.S.C., one of their largest acquisitions up until that point.
In a press release announcing the acquisition, Ticketmaster stated the deal allowed them to ???significantly expand its ticket sales capabilities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria??? and that it would ???provide tremendous opportunities for further international expansion??? for the company.
The acquisition aligned with Ticketmaster’s growth strategy at the time of trying to expand rapidly into attractive international live entertainment markets outside of the United States. Germany in particular was seen as a major market opportunity for Ticketmaster due to the strength of the economy and the vibrant culture around major sporting events, concerts, festivals, and other live entertainment.
Bringing the TicketOnline and TicketOnSale brands under Ticketmaster enabled the company to immediately become a ticketing presence for larger concerts and events in Germany. For example, it gave them the capability to start selling tickets for events at popular venues like the O2 World in Berlin which had an existing deal for ticketing services with T.O.S.C. before the acquisition.
CTS Eventim’s Dominant Position
Despite Ticketmaster’s acquisition of T.O.S.C. giving it a foothold in Germany, there were major competitive barriers that kept it from gaining significant market share away from the established incumbent CTS Eventim.
As noted previously, CTS Eventim was formed in 2000 from the merger of Ticket Corner from Switzerland and CTS in Germany. CTS itself was a major player in the German ticketing industry since the 1970s, having been first founded as a subsidiary of German travel company CTS-Reisen.
So CTS Eventim boasted deep roots and established relationships in the German live events and ticketing spaces. In the 2000s, they grew even larger through additional acquisitions of other regional ticketing companies in Germany. Two key acquisitions included:
- Acquiring a 76% stake in Marek Lieberburg Konzertagentur in 2006, one of the largest concert promoters in Germany.
- Acquiring Eventim Solutions, a Hamburg-based ticketing company with hundreds of box office locations across Germany.
These acquisitions and mergers further solidified CTS Eventim as the dominant force in ticketing across Germany with key assets such as:
- Contracts for exclusive ticketing services with most of Germany’s major concert promoters and venues.
- Ownership and partnerships with hundreds of local box office locations across all major Germany cities.
- Established relationships with German entertainment companies, sports leagues, venues, and promoters going back decades in some cases.
With this dominant position and legacy footprint in the German ticketing landscape, taking significant market share away from CTS Eventim was an incredibly difficult task, even for a large global ticketing company like Ticketmaster.
Differences Between Ticketmaster and CTS Eventim
In addition to CTS Eventim’s stronger legacy position in Germany, there are some key differences between the two companies and their ticketing models that have shaped the German ticketing industry:
- CTS Eventim focuses more on primary ticket sales – They have direct partnerships with promoters, venues, and event organizers to be the exclusive seller of the initial ticket inventory for events.
- Ticketmaster relies more on secondary ticket sales – They re-sell tickets acquired from various sources. This works well in the US where Ticketmaster owns large secondary ticketing sites like VividSeats.
- CTS Eventim owns most box office outlets – Having its own box office retail locations across Germany allows efficient on-site ticket sales at venues.
- Ticketmaster outsources to local resellers – In Germany, Ticketmaster mainly sells online and through phone sales, relying less on in-person sales.
- CTS Eventim focuses mainly on Germany/Europe – Their business is concentrated largely in German-speaking and European markets.
- Ticketmaster aims for global scale – They seek to grow sales internationally across North America, Europe, and other major entertainment markets around the world.
These core business model differences have reinforced CTS Eventim’s strength in the German ticketing industry while making it harder for a global ticketing giant like Ticketmaster to displace them, despite Ticketmaster’s greater size and resources overall.
Other Ticketing Companies in Germany
Germany has a few other smaller ticketing companies in addition to CTS Eventim and Ticketmaster. While they make up a much smaller share of sales volume, some of the other German ticketing brands include:
- ADticket – Germany-based ticket seller focused primarily on theater, comedy, concerts, and smaller events. Sells around 4-5 million tickets per year.
- Eventbrite – Large global ticketing marketplace platform used by some event organizers in Germany for self-service ticket sales.
- Reservix – Specialized ticketing service used by venue operators and event promoters in Germany to sell directly to customers, rather than outsourcing sales.
- PayPal Tickets – PayPal’s ticketing subsidiary also has a small presence in Germany as part of PayPal’s global ticketing expansion efforts.
These smaller players illustrate that Germany does have a ticketing industry beyond just CTS Eventim and Ticketmaster. But none come close to challenging CTS Eventim’s dominant ticketing market share within Germany. The German ticketing landscape is unique compared to other countries in having one overwhelmingly dominant provider in CTS Eventim.
Key Factors Supporting CTS Eventim’s Market Position
In summary, here are some of the key factors that support CTS Eventim maintaining its strong market position and 70-80% market share of primary ticket sales in Germany:
- Longstanding relationships with venues, promoters, and entertainment providers throughout Germany.
- Exclusive ticketing service contracts locking major venues and promoters into only using CTS Eventim for sales.
- Owning the majority of box office retail outlets for in-person sales across all major cities.
- High online and mobile ticketing sales through established German ticketing sites like eventim.de.
- Fan loyalty and familiarity with its well-known German ticketing brands.
- A business model concentrated primarily on the German and European markets.
With strengths like these, CTS Eventim has managed to withstand challenges from global ticketing companies and maintain its commanding position as the leader in German event ticketing over the past two decades. The company’s focus on Germany and legacy ties to venues, promoters, and consumers continue to make it the dominant force in the industry.
The Future of Ticketing in Germany
Looking ahead, CTS Eventim seems likely to continue holding its commanding share of the German primary ticketing market. Some analysts predict their share could rise to as high as 90% in the coming years if they continue acquiring or displacing smaller ticketing rivals.
However, there are some evolving factors that could potentially open doors for incremental gains by Ticketmaster and other alternative ticketing companies in Germany:
- Rising consumer preference for buying tickets online could benefit Ticketmaster.
- Use of mobile ticketing apps may undermine the value of CTS Eventim’s retail box office locations.
- Demand for greater transparency in ticket availability and pricing among consumers.
- International ticketing companies improving language support for German consumers.
Yet even if alternative ticketing providers like Ticketmaster can slowly grow their German market share in the next 5-10 years, CTS Eventim still appears poised to maintain dominance given its entrenched position in the live entertainment and ticketing landscape.
Barring any major disruptive developments in Germany’s ticketing industry, CTS Eventim looks likely to retain its status as the leading ticket seller in the country for the foreseeable future. The company’s strong legacy presence and relationships make it difficult for competitors to gain a significant foothold in the market.
Summary and Conclusion
In conclusion, while Ticketmaster maintains a minor presence in Germany after acquiring T.O.S.C. GmbH in 2010, it has not become the dominant ticketing company in the country. That leading role belongs decisively to CTS Eventim, which controls an estimated 70-80% share of primary ticket sales for events in Germany.
CTS Eventim’s longstanding ties to venues, promoters, box office locations, and consumers have allowed it to withstand challenges from global ticketing giants like Ticketmaster. Although Ticketmaster and other ticketing platforms operate in Germany, they have gained very little market share compared to the entrenched incumbent CTS Eventim.
Short of major industry disruption, CTS Eventim is likely to continue dominating the German ticketing landscape for the foreseeable future. While companies like Ticketmaster may make small incremental gains in market share, CTS Eventim’s legacy position in German ticketing remains extremely secure. Germany will remain a market where CTS Eventim serves as the primary ticketing powerhouse.
