VK buys a cloud service for controlling ticket sales Intickets and the Kassir.ru aggregator

By the end of the year, VK will close the deal to purchase the ticket platform. Among the contenders, according to Kommersant, are the cloud service for monitoring and managing the sale of tickets Intickets and the aggregator Kassir.ru. The first platform will allow VK to connect to the management of the Pushkin Card state program, and Kassir.ru, among other things, is engaged in promotional activities that VK wants to develop. Experts note that in the near future the market for selling tickets and organizing concerts will be consolidated by large IT holdings, which will create new opportunities but reduce competition.

Kommersant’s sources in the market told that VK is negotiating the purchase of Intickets.ru (a cloud service for monitoring and managing the sale of tickets online and offline) and a stake in Kassir.ru. According to one of Kommersant’s interlocutors, Intickets.ru will be taken over 100% by VK, the deal should be closed by the end of the year. “Negotiations are still underway with Kassir.ru,” he clarified. Co-founder and executive director of Intickets Tatyana Kondratenko did not answer Kommersant. VK and Kassir.ru declined to comment.

A source close to VK confirmed that the holding is considering the possibility of “investing or purchasing assets available on the market.” Another Kommersant interlocutor says that VK plans to develop promotional activities: it is possible that an agency will appear to organize concerts and tours.

Purchasing Intickets.ru will allow VK to quickly connect to the “Pushkin Card” (a state program for Russians aged 14–22, launched in August 2021; from the card, to which the state credits 5 thousand rubles, you can pay for tickets to museums, theaters, exhibitions and concerts), says Kommersant’s interlocutor on the ticket aggregator market: “The platform is already used in a large number of theaters and museums throughout the country.” The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Digital Development proposed making VK a single operator of the state program (see Kommersant of June 26).

Since July, Kassir.ru LLC – National Ticket Operator has been 25% owned by the parent structure of Alfa Bank, AB Holding, 62.75% by founder Evgeny Finkelshtein, another 12.25% by Nadezhda Solovyova. The revenue of the Kassir.ru group for 2022, including Radario (ticket platform and marketing service, 60% from Kassir.ru), amounted to 1.4 billion rubles, turnover – 11.3 billion rubles. The group also includes the Radario ticket platform and the Parter.ru ticket aggregator. Evgeny Finkelstein owns the concert organizer St. Petersburg Music Industry (PMI).

Kassir.ru may be of interest to VK because it already has a large client base and organizes concerts and events, says one of Kommersant’s interlocutors. However, he doubts the prospects of the deal: “The companies have completely different teams in terms of process management and business development.”

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in one of the ticket platforms, Intickets as part of the deal could be valued at 1 billion rubles, and Kassir.ru, together with Radario, Parter.ru and PMI, at 6 billion rubles. Now, according to him, among the largest ticket operators are Yandex (at the end of the year the company can sell 12 million tickets, excluding movie tickets) and MTS Entertainment (owns aggregators Ticketland, MTS Live and the cloud ticket platform Ticketscloud), which by the end of the year can sell 13 million tickets. Sales of Kassir.ru by the end of the year could amount to 9.5 million tickets, the source estimates.

“The ticket market is moving toward consolidation and alliances, so VK’s steps in this direction are logical,” notes the head of the NCA concert agency, Mikhail Shurygin. “This is a dangerous trend for private concert companies, but it is unknown how viable major alliances will be in the long term. Therefore, I don’t think that ordinary organizers of public events should look for a new job.” According to one of Kommersant’s interlocutors in the market, its monopolization by large companies, including Yandex, MTS and VK, threatens the departure of small players, but at the same time will allow the segment to grow due to the influx of investments.

Yulia Tishina, Nikita Korolev