FanSnap Launches Ticket Search Engine
Live event tickets is a $25+ billion industry. Much of the innovation in the space over the last 5-10 years has been in the secondary market ($5 - $10 billion), building “marketplaces” of buyers and sellers and then efficiently monetizing the transactions. Companies like eBay, StubHub, TicketExchange and others have been tremendously successful at this — so much so that the number of players in the space is huge and growing.
Since eBay’s acquistion of StubHub for north of $300 million in January of 2007, the secondary tickets industry has contined to quietly grow.
This is good and bad for consumers. THE GOOD: Access to tickets is easier than ever. THE BAD: Fans are forced to go to several sites to compare pricing and availability – much like what travelers and job seekers used to face prior to quality vertical search sites entering those spaces. Sites like Kayak (travel) and Indeed (jobs) have figured out how to present consumers with data from sites across the web in an efficient and user-friendly way. FanSnap launched its ticket search engine to do the same for concert tickets, broadway shows, and sports events.
“We are on a quest to make it fast and easy for fans find sports, concert and theater tickets,” said Mike Janes, CEO of FanSnap. ”The number of ticket providers has exploded, particularly with the growth of the resale market, and fans have an overwhelming number of choices. FanSnap is helping fans find their “perfect” tickets by offering comprehensive, accurate ticket search results and new fan-focused search features.”
FanSnap’s mission is to help fans search comprehensive ticket data from sites across the web then present ticket information in dynamic venue maps.
Unlike other sites that have attempted to aggregate tickets, FanSnap is taking a Kayak-like approach to the business model. Instead of scraping content from other sites and then monitizing traffic through advertising, FanSnap is building business relationships with the originating sites and charging those sites for the leads FanSnap provides.
MEDIAdeluge
- GigaOm, Meet FanSnap, Search Engine For Live Event Tickets
- Salon.com/Machinist, Need a ticket to a game tonight? Check out FanSnap
- AltSearchEngines, Searching for tickets is a snap with FanSnap
- Inquisitr, New Ticket Search Engine Launches
In an environment in which monitizaiton models are bound to be much more integral to securing funding, it will be intersting to see if more sites take on more of a direct monitization model and steer clear of trying to monitize eyeballs.
Providing one-stop shopping for online tickets is long overdue. FanSnap has an experienced leadership team and a solid idea. THE QUESTION: Can it continue to innovate and stay ahead of what is sure to be a flood of competitors into the space.
(Disclaimer: I joined FanSnap in January 2009)
