According to the most recent report from Comscore, ticketing is now the most popular category of website in the United States, ahead of fashion, toys and consumer goods. And New York is home to one of the fastest growing ticket sites, SeatGeek, which this week announced a major partnership with Yahoo Sports.
Yahoo is the second largest internet destination, ranking only behind Google in terms of traffic to its network of sites. So how did a small, two year old start-up score prime position on one of the web’s biggest networks in the web’s largest and fastest growing market?
“The credit goes to Yahoo for taking a chance and working with a relatively unknown start-up,” says SeatGeek co-founder Russell D’Souza. “They saw we had a great user experience and analytics that helped fans to find the best seats at the best prices. And the result has been great for both us. Our traffic has certainly grown as a result.”
SeatGeek’s has seen it’s traffic double in the last nine months, and attracts more visitors than its older, better funded rival in Palo Alto, FanSnap, which is two years older, and has raised roughly six times more capital. “We are getting very close to profitablity, and I don’t really think I see the advantage of raising another round,” says Mr. D’Souza. “I think a lot of our success comes from having the mentality of an underdog.”
SeatGeek gets a commission every time it sends a user to a secondary market where they purchase a ticket. It also recently rolled out a self serve ad platform. Right now revenue is about 75-25 between tickets and ads. “We would like to see that get a little closer to the Kayak model, which is 50-50,” says Mr. D’Souza.
