The growth of the ticket resale segment in the Russian Federation for nine months year-on-year amounted to 50%

The growth of the ticket resale segment in the Russian Federation over the nine months year-on-year amounted, according to industry participants, to 50%. The market began to recover from the failure of 2022, when, due to military operations in Ukraine, concerts of foreign and domestic musicians were canceled en masse in Russia. Now they have been replaced by performances by artists remaining in the country, stand-ups and theatrical performances, explain the owners of the services. At the same time, the industry still faces a serious problem of private speculators who resell tickets on marketplaces at inflated prices.

The ticket resale market in the Russian Federation has begun to recover after the virtual shutdown last year, players and analysts interviewed by Kommersant told Kommersant. Thus, according to Sergei Babich, organizer of the Colisium international music industry forum, over the nine months, ticket resale increased by 7–8% year on year. The owner of the ticket service Portalbilet.ru Vitaly Podlinnov talks about an increase of 15–20%. CEO of the Eticket4 platform Daniil Kruchinin claims that the growth of the segment reaches 50–60%, “since it dropped significantly last year.”

Last year, due to the massive cancellation of concerts by foreign groups and a number of Russian artists after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, official resellers practically ceased their activities: the number of such businesses operating as individual entrepreneurs or LLCs did not exceed 20 by the end of July 2022, while before the pandemic, there were more than 300 of them, RBC reported in July 2022.

Now the segment has begun to revive, but still “there are no such mass events that would be of great interest to resellers,” such as performances by foreign performers, European football championships, foreign hockey leagues, notes Vitaly Podlinnov. As a result, many brokers have left the market or changed their profile, he says. However, in conditions of limited supply, the demand for popular events is very high, Mr. Kruchinin clarifies: “Sold out (full ticket sales) occurs very quickly.” This is used by both official brokers and speculators.

Interest in theatrical productions is growing, Mr. Podlinnov adds: “We see that the Bolshoi Theater is actively fighting against speculators and is doing it quite successfully.” Thus, a serious struggle developed over the purchase of tickets for the New Year’s production of “The Nutcracker.” The Bolshoi press service reported the arrest of resellers of ballet tickets, and the general director of the theater Vladimir Urin announced trials involving illegal websites of resellers, RIA Novosti wrote.

At the same time, it is not clear how marketplaces monitor the legality of ticket sales, notes Kommersant’s interlocutor in the media market. According to him, five different people can be sold the same ticket, and marketplaces still do not validate the API with ticket platforms (a contract between two services that allows the exchange of information about tickets available for sale in real time).

Ozon did not answer Kommersant. Yula declined to comment. Avito stated that they only allow the resale of tickets that can be freely purchased without violating the law and the rules of the organizers: “If we see the need or risks, we can decide to block it, as we did, for example, with tickets to The Nutcracker at the Bolshoi theater, comparing the terms of sale through the theater box office and through private hands.”

Yulia Yurasova