Mobile ticket marketplace app Gametime is introducing a new feature called LastCall that allows users to purchase tickets to live events up to 90 minutes after those events start. Gametime is a platform that allows users to buy and sell tickets to sporting events, concerts, and theatre shows.
The new in-app feature was created in response to company research that showed 27 percent of live event ticket buyers purchased tickets after an event’s start time. Gametime surveyed a small sample of 287 people in its research, including a combination of its own users and non-Gametime users. Of the 27 percent of people who bought tickets to an event after it had started, 62 percent of them were in the Generation Z or Millennial age groups, according to Gametime.
“Value is a major consideration for fans who want to attend an event, especially younger fans who make up Gametime’s core user base,” said Brad Griffith, Gametime’s CEO and founder, in a press release “LastCall helps fans efficiently use their limited time and take advantage of decreasing prices to enjoy the connection of the in-person atmosphere that only a live event can offer.”
Data from Gametime also claims that 60 percent of all Gametime ticket sales occur within 36 hours of an event. The company’s numbers additionally show that the median MLB ticket price 48 hours prior to a game is $48, but 90 minutes after the game’s first pitch, that decreases to $13. Gametime found a similar drop off with NBA ticket prices, where the median ticket value 48-hours before a game was $127, which falls to $40 by 90 minutes after tip off.
Gametime’s free app can be downloaded on the App store or the Google Play store. In its press release launching LastCall, the company also announced the hiring of Michael Kunde as its new CFO. Kunde has previously held executive roles at companies such as Electronics Arts, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Gap.
SportTechie Takeaway
Founded in 2012, Gametime raised $20 million in a Series B funding round in 2016. The company also announced a partnership with Ticketmaster in 2017. Gametime’s LastCall feature may create a marketplace where fans will wait on the sidelines for a game to get interesting, or prices to drop, before purchasing a ticket.