Last-minute ticketing platform Gametime is launching a feature that allows users the chance to purchase tickets up to 90 minutes after an event starts. The new feature, LastCall, gives fan even more flexibility when it comes to live events and up to 80% off on ticket prices.
“We just did this survey and the survey told us that 27 percent of fans have bought after start for a lot of live events,” Gametime CEO Brad Griffith tells Billboard. “That matches Gametime’s data which has 60 percent of fans buying within 36 hours of the event.”
“For us, it all adds up to this new behavior that is really what Gametime is all about. It is really helping fans own the last minute and be more in their lives and in their cities,” Griffith adds.
Established in 2013, the mobile-purposed company caters to the last-minute and fan enables people to buy and sell tickets to sports, concerts, theater and more on the go.
“It tends to appeal to a younger demographic. We would characterize it as millennials and Gen Z who tend to have this penchant for spontaneity,” says Griffith. “Maybe they are rallying their friends with a text message after work to see what is happening tonight and really getting some buy-in around doing something quite fun.”
Gametime sees LastCall as an answer to its fans' spontaneous lifestyle which in recent years has moved from material things to live experiences.
“There is still a really strong onsale, but everything that was sort of in the middle and a month before is now migrating to that last minute, day of, hour before, hour after. I think the middle is totally cratering,” explains Griffith.
In addition to appealing to the spontaneity of fans, Gametime’s last minute ticketing can also significantly reduce the price of admission to sporting events and concerts.
“Prices tend to fall over time. It is an expiring asset. Prices sometimes fall as much as 80% in the last 36 hours,” says Griffith.
According to Gametime data, the median Major League Baseball ticket price 48 hours prior to the game is $48. Ninety minutes after the first pitch, that price decreases to $13. The National Basketball Association sees median prices of $127 48-hours before an event, which falls to $40 90-minutes after tipoff. For music fans, data shows that prices fall from $114 48-hours pre-start to $55 90-minutes into a concert.
“Time is our most precious asset and we built Gametime for the most demanding time period, those last couple of hours,” says Griffith. “By doing that, we are giving time back to the user to do something else.”
