CMA seeks changes to the way Ticketmaster labels tickets and provides pricing information

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provided a progress update on its investigation into Ticketmaster following widespread complaints about the sale of Oasis’ concert tickets.

Following a formal investigation, the CMA is now consulting with the ticketing platform on changes to ensure fans receive the right information, at the right time.  

The concerns 

The CMA is concerned that Ticketmaster, which sold more than 900,000 tickets during the Oasis ticket sale, may have breached consumer protection law by:

• Labelling certain seated tickets as ‘platinum’ and selling them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium. This risked giving consumers the misleading impression that platinum tickets were better.
• Not informing consumers that there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, with all of the cheaper standing tickets sold first before the more expensive standing tickets were released, resulting in many fans waiting in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected.

Many fans were under the impression that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model during the Oasis sale, with ticket prices adjusted in real time according to changing conditions like high demand. The CMA has not found evidence that this was the case. Instead, Ticketmaster released a number of standing tickets at a lower price and, once they had sold out, then released the remaining standing tickets at a much higher price. 

Although prices were not adjusted in real time using an algorithm, the CMA is concerned that consumers were not given clear and timely information about how the pricing of standing tickets would work, particularly where many customers had to wait in lengthy queues to see what tickets were available.

Next steps 

Since the opening of the investigation, Ticketmaster has made changes to some aspects of its ticket sales process, but the CMA does not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns.  

The CMA has provided Ticketmaster with details of the further steps required to address its concerns and is seeking changes to Ticketmaster’s processes – including to the information it provides to customers, when it provides that information, and how it labels some of its tickets. The CMA is now consulting on these changes with Ticketmaster. 

Hayley Fletcher, Interim Senior Director of Consumer Protection, says:   

Fans reported problems when buying Oasis tickets from Ticketmaster and we decided those concerns warranted investigation. 

We’re concerned that Oasis fans didn’t get the information they needed or may have been misled into buying tickets they thought were better than they were.  We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns so, in future, fans can make well-informed decisions when buying tickets.  

All ticketing websites should check they are complying with the law and treating their customers fairly. When businesses get it right, consumers benefit – and that’s the best outcome for everyone.

For more information visit the Ticketmaster investigation case page.