Demand Based Pricing

One of the leading online ticket sales sites, Ticketmaster, announced recently that it would be adopting the model of “demand based pricing” which is traditionally associated with hotels and flights. The company said it was implementing this new policy to try to reduce the profits being made by reseller sites such as Viagogo, which allow people to buy a large number of tickets and resell them at prices much higher than the original price of the ticket.

Implementation of the new policy 

Instead, the additional profits will go to Ticketmaster directly and to the artists themselves. There have been mixed feelings from the industry as some artists, like Tom Grennan, have refused to allow the new policy to be implemented for ticket sales to his shows. However, others, such as Harry Styles and the Arctic Monkeys, have jumped on board. Some fans have already reported a 3 fold increase in the cost of the same ticket compared to last year, so many tickets will be unaffordable for a lot of people.

There has also been a knock-on effect on prices for hotel rooms near venues during events, which have also skyrocketed. Some have more than doubled in price so that even “budget” hotels are now costing hundreds of pounds a night on event nights.

This, in particular, has been felt in Liverpool following the recent announcement that it will be the proxy host for Ukraine at next year’s Eurovision song contest. There have been reports of Airbnb hosts cancelling pre-existing bookings only to re-advertise their properties at exorbitant prices once Liverpool was confirmed as the host city for Eurovision.

These huge price increases come at a time when there are daily news headlines about the cost of living crisis and the struggles many people are facing with managing their finances amongst soaring energy bills and inflation.