While sales from affiliate programs are plateauing for many e-retailers, such partnerships remain strong for online ticket sellers, some experts say. “The tickets category lends itself to an affiliate network because of how ideal it is to buy tickets online,” says Jim Okamura, senior partner at retail consulting firm J.C. Williams Group Ltd. “Affiliate traffic leads to better conversion than it does in other retail categories in which you can buy more easily offline.”
Affiliate sales make up 20% of revenue at TicketsNow, a secondary market ticket seller that buys tickets from licensed ticket brokers and sells them to consumers on the Internet. The company, which had $202 million in sales in 2006, has approximately 15,000 affiliate partners. Affiliates include ticket e-retailers, travel web sites and fan web sites.
About 90% of affiliates simply create links to TicketsNow.com. The other 10%, however, have fully populated their web sites with TicketsNow content and are driving the majority of the affiliate-based revenue for the company. “We can populate their web site with the data and present the inventory and even the order form on the affiliate’s site, and the order comes through to TicketsNow once it is complete,” says Mike Domek, TicketsNow CEO. The company uses software from Kowabunga Technologies to connect to its affiliates.
Unlike many other consumer goods sold online, the cost of tickets adds up quickly as individuals attempt to get the best seats possible for high-profile events, meaning affiliates are able to make substantial income. Only 13% of e-retailers with an affiliate program have paid a single affiliate more than $20,000 a month, according to the 2007 AffStat Affiliate Marketing Benchmark report, and TicketsNow is one of them.
Tim Manley, an affiliate who offers tickets to consumers through his BuyTickets247.com site, has had 30,000 confirmed sales for TicketsNow and has generated almost $12 million in revenue for the company since he became an affiliate in 2003. “What I like about affiliate programs is that tickets are not something people shop for online and then go buy somewhere else,” he says. “You can buy electronics at almost any store, but people are limited to where they can buy tickets. The Internet has opened up a way for people to get access to premium seats to what often are sold-out events.”
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