The live events space is about to explode. What lessons can BookMyShow and Zomato learn from this past month? A few weeks ago, we asked whether Zomato overpaid for Paytm Insider and the ticketing business in the INR 2,048 Cr deal. Since then, we may have seen the first signs of why the acquisition was such a big deal, and why Zomato is looking to take on BookMyShow.
First, Zomato was in the spotlight for Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Dil-luminati Tour – India’, which was sold out in a matter of minutes, resulting in the tickets being resold on scalping websites. This was followed by Zomato’s only major rival in the ticketing space now, BookMyShow coming under fire for a similar incident involving ‘Coldplay: Music Of The Spheres World Tour’. Thanks to these incidents, the online ticketing space is getting unprecedented attention from all corners.
Many blame BookMyShow and Zomato for not conducting sales in a more transparent manner, and now there’s a legal mess that both companies have to wade through. Is this a new dawn in the Indian live events space? Let’s find out, but first, a look at the top stories from our newsroom this month. It’s important to understand the sequence of events before we look at how Zomato and BookMyShow could tackle the rush for live events going forward.
On September 24, two days after tickets for the Coldplay concerts went live on BookMyShow, the platform filed a police complaint about unauthorised resale of tickets or scalping for its exclu.
