Access All AreasTickets For Good is a platform that provides free and heavily discounted tickets for major live events to NHS, charity sector workers and recipients of Cost of Living benefits. Founder and CEO Stephen Rimmer outlines how the initiative benefits both the industry and show attendees.
Two decades in the events industry and charity sector has provided me with a deep understanding of the economic and social advantages inherent in these fields. When I first delved into ticketing around a decade ago, I quickly saw that traditional models could be adapted, creating increased revenue for promoters and social value for charity partners.
A recent study from the DCMS has shown that regular sporting event attendance is equal to employment in regard to tackling feelings of loneliness and life satisfaction. This is one of many studies that confirm something we all feel in the industry, that event participation has intrinsic social value.
When considering the economic value of the sector, the UK sits at the nexus of the worldwide events industry and is worth at least £42 billion. Despite this huge impact and the less tangible but equally important cultural value we produce, we are still looking at an industry in crisis. 2022/23 produced the biggest drop in living standards since records began, with reduced spending power being a huge factor in declining revenue.
We’re now faced with a situation in which venues, promoters and event organisers are faced with rising costs and an audience with less disposable income than ever. Young people are especially vulnerable to this and we’re also seeing a new generation of adults who missed out on events during their formative, late teenage years. It was this issue that led the AIF to launch their ‘First Festival’ campaign over the summer, powered by Tickets for Good, which gave festival tickets to 18 year-olds for £18.
“Our mission is to encourage people to discover local gems and midweek favourites.”
People with limited disposable income often stick to familiar, reliable entertainment rather than exploring new options, this impacts middle and grassroots events. Despite occasional attendance at major events, financial constraints pose a significant barrier to attendance. Our mission is to encourage people to discover local gems and midweek favourites, fostering habits of family event attendance.
This is why Tickets for Good aims to help tackle both the social need for events and the economic constraints of the industry through our key aims of filling venues, increasing revenues and growing audiences.
This September we launched our ‘Ticket Bank’ platform. This project gives face-value free and heavily discounted tickets to anyone in receipt of a UK Government Cost of Living payment. This was driven by the huge success of our NHS and subsequent charity staff platforms which has led to over 265,000 registered users.
With around three million charity and NHS workers in total, and more than eight million families receiving cost of living payments there’s still many people yet to access the benefits of what we do. We’re determined to reach these people!
We’re also immensely proud to have saved our members over £10 million in face value ticket costs and vitally, we have done this in a way that also provides value to our event partners. We help event organisers increase their onsite revenue, develop new audiences, create long-lasting goodwill and genuine social impact. Our recent addition to the SportsTech Accelerator programme from Comcast NBCUniversal is aiding us to also explore the US market, where the events industry is facing similar challenges to the UK.
Although many barriers to event attendance are still very much at the forefront of audiences’ decision-making, I’m upbeat for the future. More than ever, there is a conversation about these issues and we feel able to offer some solutions.
THIS ARTICLE IS INCLUDED IN THE WINTER EDITION OF ACCESS ALL AREAS.
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