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TodayTix

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TodayTix
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Theater ticketing platform
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Area served
  • New York City
  • London, UK
  • , Toronto in Canada, San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, Seattle, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Melbourne and Sydney in Australia
Founder(s)Brian Fenty
(CEO)
Merritt Baer (Head of Europe)
Key peopleDarius Suyama
(VP of Geographic Expansion)[1]
Sarah Bidnick
(Senior VP of Global Marketing)[1]
Park Denning
(VP of Revenue)[1]
Ishan Gammampila
(VP of Data)
Brian Groark
(VP of Strategic Finance)[1]
Emily Hammerman
(VP of Account Services)[1]
Briana Severson
(VP of Growth Marketing)[1]
Erik Bengtsson
(Senior VP of Engineering)[1]
URLhttps://www.todaytix.com
LaunchedDecember 2013[2]
Current statusActive

TodayTix is a digital ticketing platform for theatrical and cultural events. Founded by two Broadway producers, TodayTix's free mobile apps for iOS and Android provide access to theater shows in New York City, London's West End, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.

History

Headquartered in New York City, the arts-meets-technology startup was founded in March 2013, by Broadway producers Brian M. Fenty (CEO & Co-Founder) and Merritt Baer (Chairman & Co-Founder).[3] As of 2013, fewer than .1% of tickets for Broadway shows were being bought via smartphone apps or otherwise using mobile devices, according to The Broadway League[4] - presenting a large opportunity for TodayTix to better make theater accessible to millennials.

In July 2013, TodayTix received $582.5K in seed funding from Jeremy Zimmer and Link Ventures.[5] A beta version of the app was released in September 2013 for customers with iPhones to test.[6] Within three months the app had been used to buy tickets 50,000 times.[6] The TodayTix app was officially launched in December 2013.[2]

In May 2014, the company received $1 million in an additional seed funding round from Rubicon Venture Capital, Ryan Rockefeller, Nicolas Jammet, and Jessica Verrilli. In November 2014, TodayTix announced its $5 million Series A financing from investors including Rubicon Venture Capital (again), TYLT Lab, Scott Birnbaum and SF Capital Group.[7][8]

As of mid-2015, TodayTix began "selling roughly 3 percent of all the tickets on Broadway".[3] In June 2015, TodayTix launched in London's West End and began offering the first paperless tickets for shows in London's West End theatre district in August 2015.[9][10] As of September 2015, 650,000 people had used TodayTix.[11]

In September 2018, TodayTix celebrated 5 years with a milestone of reaching $250 million in tickets sold. Following this anniversary, TodayTix launched an original content venture called "TodayTix Presents," that offers audiences first-look access to performances from their favorite artists debuting new work.[12]

In May 2019, TodayTix announced a growth equity investment of $73 million, led by Great Hill Partners, that allows the company to enter its next stage of growth that will focus utilizing the company's proprietary data-driven audience feedback to offer new shows, arts and cultural experiences and double down on expanding its technologies in discovery and personalization for both consumers and partners.[13]

Operations and products

TodayTix launched the first-ever mobile lotteries for theater tickets, both on Broadway and in London's West End, selling discounted same-day tickets via lotteries conducted through its apps.[14][15] Entrants can win up to two tickets for popular shows.

In New York City, customers can either meet a red-shirted TodayTix concierge outside the theater or collect their tickets at the theater's box office on the same day as the show.

Using the app, customers can select from a range of shows in Broadway, Off-Broadway, California, Chicago, Washington D.C., Connecticut, Boston, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, or West End, and purchase tickets up to several months in advance or as close as a few hours before the show. For NYC tickets, TodayTix charges a reasonable[promotion?] fee for Off-Broadway and Broadway shows.[16] Depending on the production and city, customers can either meet a TodayTix agent outside the theater who will give them their tickets until 30 minutes before the show's start time for an extra $5,[17] or collect their tickets at the theater's box office on the same day as the show.[3]

Since launch, the company has built partnerships [3][4][18] with more than 1,300 theater institutions globally. TodayTix's partners in the U.S. and worldwide include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Public Theater, MSG Entertainment, Roundabout Theatre Company, American Museum of Natural History, Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, The Metropolitan Opera, BAM, The Shed, English National Opera, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, LW Theatres, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Young Vic, SHN, Curran, National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, The Second City, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Center Theatre Group, LA Opera, Geffen Playhouse, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Opera Philadelphia, American Repertory Theater, AT&T Performing Arts Center, the Alley Theatre, Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet and Sydney Theatre Company.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "About Us". TodayTix.com. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b Karl, Sara (24 April 2014). "TodayTix offers Broadway tickets on your phone". AM New York. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Tweedie, Steven (1 June 2015). "How two former Broadway producers created an app that solves the biggest annoyance with buying theater tickets". Business Insider. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Tran, Diep (17 October 2014). "New York Ticket Sales Go Mobile with TodayTix". American Theatre. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Jul 15, 2013: TodayTix – Funding RoundSeed". Crunchbase. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  6. ^ a b Kennedy, Mark (20 December 2013). "One-stop mobile app offers Broadway ticket ease". Phys.org. Associated Press. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  7. ^ Constine, Josh (15 December 2014). "TodayTix Stages A Mobile Coup Of The $50 Billion Theater Ticket Business". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  8. ^ "TodayTix Secures $4,981,377 New Funding Round". Xconomy. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  9. ^ Ha, Anthony. "TodayTix Brings Its Last-Minute Ticketing Service To London's West End". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  10. ^ Snow, Georgia (13 August 2015). "West End to use paperless ticketing for the first time". The Stage. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  11. ^ Kennedy, Mark (29 September 2015). "Mobile ticket app TodayTix broadens its US reach with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  12. ^ Seymour, Lee (11 October 2018). "Ticketing App TodayTix alunches original content venture". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  13. ^ Spangler, Todd (2019-05-16). "TodayTix Banks $73 Million to Boost Theater and Arts Ticketing App". Variety. Retrieved 2021-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Gans, Andrew (23 September 2014). "Broadway Revival of On the Town Offering Mobile Lottery System". Playbill. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  15. ^ "West End's Kinky Boots to Launch Mobile Lottery". Broadway World. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  16. ^ Agovino, Theresa (1 May 2014). "Broadway theatergoers applaud TodayTix app". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  17. ^ Kennedy, Mark (20 December 2013). "One-stop mobile app offers Broadway ticket ease". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  18. ^ "New App TodayTix Lets People Get Discounted Tix to Broadway Shows". Jewish Business News. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.