AudienceView, a Canadian ticket software company, had bid for business at a major college athletic program roughly four to five times a year over the last decade.
The answer mostly was thanks, but no thanks.
“We felt like we were a bit of a sleeping giant, but we found the college space very difficult to break into,” said Mike Evenson, vice president of marketing and product development for the Toronto-based business.
That changed last month when AudienceView submitted a proposal for the University of Tennessee’s ticketing business and won. It marked the first time that AudienceView, a company whose clients include theaters, film festivals and arts centers, had taken business away from Spectra Ticketing (formerly Paciolan) in a head-to-head bid for a major college program.
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AudienceView’s system can combine ticketing with other lines of business like e-commerce.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The Volunteers had been with Spectra, a company that works with nearly 120 of the top athletic departments nationally, for more than 20 years.
So what changed this time?
“We finally found a school looking to do things differently,” Evenson said.
The ticketing software business traditionally has been the domain of Spectra and Ticketmaster for years. And it still is. There’s no way to know if AudienceView’s breakthrough will trigger any kind of shift in the marketplace, especially when most schools have deals that go out five to 10 years.
But Evenson believes that by combining ticketing with other lines of business like e-commerce and merchandise sales, AudienceView can create a level of fan engagement that will drive increased revenue for the schools.
And, it never hurts to come in a little cheaper than the competition. While Tennessee didn’t release financial specifics, Evenson said AudienceView’s pricing model and Web-based product makes the company’s approach more economically appealing to schools. AudienceView offers both revenue-share and fixed pricing models.
Brett Huebner, Tennessee’s chief financial officer who ran point on the process to hire AudienceView, called the company’s approach to ticketing “a fresh perspective whereby the technology not only serves as a core ticketing system, but also as a broader e-commerce platform.”
For example, Evenson said, when a fan buys a Tennessee season ticket, included in the purchase will be the opportunity to buy specific Vols gear that’s available only for season-ticket holders. It’s a model AudienceView has used with its only other major college client, Minnesota, which has been with AudienceView for nearly 10 years. AudienceView won the Gophers from Paciolan, but it was part of a campuswide decision to aggregate ticketing, not just athletics.
“We can integrate tickets, donations, merchandise, photos, kids club, all into one shopping cart,” Evenson said. “You can upsell, you can add on, all at the time when the fan is buying tickets. It really delivers a membership-style experience for the fan.”
Across its more than 500 clients, which include Wembley Stadium and Opry Entertainment, AudienceView does $2 billion in e-commerce business annually.
“The platform is customizable, real time and highly automated,” said Huebner, on what sold Tennessee to make the switch. “It gives Tennessee customers a single sign-on access to donations, tickets and other items, so you can build a more meaningful experience.”
