Ticketing and Payment Platform TicketCo Launching in US

TicketCo, a Norway-based ticketing, payment and live-streaming platform for venues, is coming to America.

“Bringing a comprehensive solution to venues that boosts access to audiences, greatly simplifies all sales tracking, and increases opportunities to generate more revenue, TicketCo expects to challenge many established competitors,” the company said in a news release Thursday (Dec. 16). “It has experienced great success in Europe since its 2013 founding.”

As the event industry deals with another COVID-19 wave, TicketCo says it will focus its American launch on TicketCo Media Services, which it bills as “the world’s only” pay-per-view (PPV), live streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) solution made for and integrated with an omnichannel, event-payments platform.

“Every organizer is still threatened by the pandemic,” CEO and co-founder Kåre Bottolfsen said. “We see a huge opportunity to help them build audiences and revenue with in-person, hybrid, and fully virtual events via TicketCo’s platform.”

Read more: With The Summer Event Season ‘Roaring,’ Consumers See Ticket Prices Soaring

The uncertainty caused by omicron presents a sharp contrast to August, when LiveNation’s Ticketmaster reported one of its best months ever as consumers headed back to in-person events, with revenues increasing 677% year-over year to $575.9 million.

“The momentum for the return to live events has been building every month, with ticket sales and concert attendance pacing faster than expected, underscoring the strength and resiliency of the concert business and live events in general,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino told investors at the time.

TicketCo says its North American operations will be led by Ticketmaster veteran Lauren Pye, who will serve as TicketCo’s vice president of sales in the firm’s new U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

TicketCo’s first client in North America will be the newly-launched North American Rugby League, with teams from the U.S. and Canada.

“TicketCo is exactly the organizer-focused, all-in-one solution NA Rugby and our teams need to easily sell and engage with our growing fan base,” the League’s CEO, Robert Curtis, said in the release.

TicketCo will be looking to grow its North American team quickly, with immediate plans to add business development and partnership professionals to the team, followed by filling additional operations and marketing positions.