Live Nation’s ticketing division Ticketmaster has rolled out an expanded version of their “Verified Fan” program in an effort to combat ticket scalping.
Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan uses a combination of expert systems and customer data such as purchasing history in an effort to identify fans purchasing tickets and cut down on automated ticket buying systems or bots. Live Nation believes the program will cut down on ticket speculation, which they identify as an $8 billion dollar industry.
According to ReCode, the company has been dipping its toes in the water with the program, testing it over the past few months with smaller tours, but recently rolled it out the new system with pre-sales for Ed Sheeran’s new tour which went on sale this week.
David Marcus, Ticketmaster’s head of music in North America told ReCode that the program appears to be effective, noting that in tours that utilize the system have an estimated bot buy rate of about 1% compared with numbers that are typically in the double digits. Marcus added that if the program proves practical at scale, they will move it beyond the pre-sale window, which currently encompasses a minority of ticket purchases.