Ticketfly VP Kristina Wallander On What Google Search Changes Mean For Live Concerts

[UPDATED] Yesterday, Google announced changes that could help artist and promoters at every level to sell more concert tickets. From now on, a Google Search for an artist or venue will highlight show and ticketing info drawn directly from Ticketfly, Ticketmaster, AXS and other major ticketers. To find out how this might effect the concert business and ticket sales, we turned to Kristina Wallander, VP of Marketing at Ticketfly.

Q: What have Ticketfly's own studies shown regarding unsold inventory?

Kristina Wallander: Ticketfly’s partners see varying inventory sell-through rates depending on the size of the room, location, and type of event. However, even for promoters who consistently sell all their inventory, not every show sells out. That's why Ticketfly Pulse has been so game-changing; by providing access to real-time ticket sales data for each event, we help our partners know which shows to spend their time and marketing dollars on. The new artist and venue search experiences will help make all events easier to find upfront, which will help reduce unsold inventory and allow promoters to focus more of their time on what they do best – creating great live event experiences for fans. We’re all here to make live entertainment a bigger part of people’s lives, so it’s great to have Google as a partner in that endeavor.

Q: How much does Ticketfly expect Google's new feature to increase sales?

Kristina Wallander: Google search is the #1 traffic channel to ticketfly.com and our network of 500 Ticketfly-powered venue, promoter, and festival websites, accounting for over a third of all orders placed. Given the importance of Google as a discovery channel, even small improvements to the search experience will have an impact on ticket sales. This is especially true since Google’s artist and venue search experiences are optimized for any device, including mobile, and over 45% of our search traffic now comes from mobile devices.

Q: Does Google's new feature put Ticketfly and other indie ticketers on a more equal footing with Ticketmaster?

Kristina Wallander: In the past few years, technology has enabled entirely new ways for artists, promoters, and ticketers to reach consumers, while at the same time offering more data to better understand consumer needs. Google and Facebook (which recently launched new discovery experiences for events), are certainly playing an increasingly large role in improving the event discovery experience for fans, but the way people buy tickets, experience music, and connect with artists and venues has also evolved with the ubiquity of the phone. This is where we think Ticketfly can lead; incorporating mobile technology to improve each and every aspect of the live event experience. We've got some exciting things coming down the pike on that front this year.