Battle at the box office in a 90 million market
MMM Group throw down the gauntlet a Vivaticket e TicketOne. Objective to conquer 10% of the Italian online ticket market within a couple of years thanks to the acquisition of Ticket.it by the subsidiary Mticket. The goal is ambitious, but certainly within the group’s reach thanks to the contribution of Ticket.it which, in the last six months of activity, has sold over 200,000 tickets for cultural events and exhibitions throughout Italy, with over 3 million euros in transactions carried out. The final prize is a piece of a business, which last year was worth around 60 million euros, but which pre-Covid could count on a cake of around 90 million euros in tickets issued overall for theatres, sporting and musical events, fairs .
The strategy passes through a new business model
Large operators earn from commissions and services such as after-sales via call center. MMMGroup focuses entirely on innovation which through theartificial intelligence is able to offer quality assistance, at low costs and capable of responding in real time to the needs of buyers in multiple languages. “We intend to offer theaters and sector operators in general a dedicated domain on ticket.it” he explains Roberto Silva ColonelCEO and founder of MMM Group.
Initially the offer will be free and will constitute a sort of web showcase to promote events of all kinds. “It is something more that enriches our offer designed to be flexible on the basis of the needs of small Italian companies such as cinemas, theaters and institutions” specifies the number one of a group that invoices ten million a year. And which aims to reach a turnover of 15 million by 2025.
By now 85-90% of tickets are transacted online
But it is concentrated in the hands of a few. “In these hours there is talk of errors on the Superbonus, but the Battelli law (the one that introduced the nominal ticket in 2019, ed) has not done better in our sector” explains Silva Coronel. Pioneer of the digital sector, already at the time of Fullsix (today Beewize) and the launch of digital marketing in Italy of the dot.coms in 2000, the number one of the MMM group has no problem openly criticizing a regulation that has not solved the problem of secondary ticketing ( digital scalping, ed.). And as if that weren’t enough, it has also led to a concentration of operators.
An old story that of the laces and snares of bureaucracy
But which, even in a child sector of digitization, thanks to the application distortions of the law, has ended up reducing the companies in the sector to about twenty, concentrating two thirds of the market in the hands of the two largest players. “We hope that any new interventions can instead facilitate the presence of more subjects in the online ticketing segment” he continues.
In particular, according to him, there would be a need for a modernization of the Italian system with the introduction of the dinamic pricing, a single event pricing mechanism based on actual demand. “Bruce Springsteen has chosen this mode for his concerts in the United States. In Italy it would be impossible also due to problems with Siae” explains Silva Coronel whose group also organizes hybrid events, in person and digital. “The utmost inclusiveness that is also needed in digital voting. Imagine if this possibility had been given with the primaries of the Democratic Party ”he adds.
Innovation is upon us
“We have been in the digital sector for thirty years” explains the founder of MMMgroup, who, among others, manages the digital ticket office of the Arcimboldi Theater in Milan. “But in the world of events, online ticket offices, and not only them, there is so much to do” he concludes. In other words, the digital transformation has just begun. Digital dressing rooms will arrive tomorrow, the possibility of remote dialogue with the actors and who knows how many other virtual options. “Our goal is to accompany the companies that ask us with a service close to their needs”. Taylor Made.
To grow, of course, investments are needed, especially when there is innovation and the profiles of the workers are in great demand. Is it possible then to imagine a landing in Piazza Affari? “If costs were to come down, tomorrow why not” concludes Silva Coronel who for now has 87% of MMMgroup firmly in his hands. The rest is from CTO (7%) and Art directory (6%).