Industry News

Winners of TheTicketingBusiness Awards 2018 are announced

The winners of TheTicketingBusiness Awards 2018 were announced last night (Tuesday), during a private ceremony at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.

Now in their third year, TheTicketingBusiness Awards (previously the Ticketing Technology Awards) are the only awards to recognise a whole spectrum of achievements from across the global entertainment ticketing industry.

The awards ceremony took place during TheTicketingBusiness Forum, in front of an audience of senior industry figures.

“Our congratulations go to everyone who reached the podium,” said Ian Nuttall, founder of TheTicketingBusiness. “Winners included our industry’s leaders, achievers and stand-out innovators, who should all be very proud of their achievements.”

Hundreds of nominations were whittled down to create the shortlist, which was judged by an independent panel of industry figures including:

  • David Andrews, Senior Vice President, The Shubert Organization, USA
  • Tim Chambers, Director, TJChambers Consultancy, UK
  • Helen Enright, CFO and Business Development Director, Trafalgar Entertainment Group, UK
  • Daniel Gidney, CEO, Lancashire County Cricket Club/Emirates Old Trafford, UK
  • Joseph Lee, CEO (HK & Macau), Cityline, Hong Kong
  • Holly Limpkin, Head of Ticketing, The O2, UK
  • Ben Milsom, Chief Ticketing Officer, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, USA
  • Ian Nuttall, Founder, TheTicketingBusiness, UK
  • Patti-Anne Tarlton, COO, Ticketmaster, Canada

ABOUT THETICKETINGBUSINESS AWARDS

TheTicketingBusiness Awards recognise leadership, innovation and achievement in the application of ticketing across sports, performing arts, music, cinema, live entertainment and visitor attractions.

The Awards aim to increase the standards and best practice of ticketing, drive awareness and adoption of future ticketing technology, and improve the customer experience for ticket-buyers across all sectors.

“As Europe’s leading gathering of entertainment ticketing professionals, each year TheTicketingBusiness Forum brings together the very best of the industry to showcase what’s new, explore the challenges we face and debate the future trends,” says Ian Nuttall, Founder of the TheTicketingBusiness.

“Alongside the conference and workshops, each year we also celebrate and recognise those people and organisations which are really changing the way we service the ticketing needs of our customers.

THE WINNERS AND SHORTLISTED NOMINEES IN EACH CATEGORY ARE AS FOLLOWS:

CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR AWARD

Winner:  Vasco Rossi at Modena Park – Big Bang/VivaTicket/Best Union (Italy)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Vasco Rossi at Modena Park – Big Bang/VivaTicket/Best Union (Italy)

•     #CheersTo18Years – London Theatre Direct (UK)•     10 Festivals, 48 hours – Skiddle (UK)

•     Ticketmaster Presence debut at Orlando City Stadium – Orlando City Soccer & Ticketmaster (USA)

•     #WeAreTogether – Bolton Wanderers FC (UK)

UNSUNG HERO AWARD

Winner:  Sue Beaumont, Ticket Office Manager, Huddersfield Town FC (UK)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Ekaterina Kameneva, Head of Project Department, Kassir (Russia)

•     Sue Beaumont, Ticket Office Manager, Huddersfield Town FC (UK)

•     Chris Sheap, VP, Ticket Operations, Monumental Sports and Entertainment (USA)

•     Daniel Hunt, Ticketing Manager, WhatsOnStage (UK)

•     Sarah Goodson, Director, Fine Arts Ticket Office, Florida State University (USA)

•     Sally Rennie, Operations Manager, Ayr Gaiety Theatre Partnership (UK)

IMPACT AWARD

Winner:  Nimax Theatres’ new ecommerce website – Nimax Theatres (UK) & TixTrack (USA)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Danish Superleague migration to Roboticket – Roboticket (Poland) & Danish Superleague (Denmark)

•     Hertford Theatre new ticketing implementation – Hertford Theatre (UK) & Ticketsolve (Ireland)

•     TicketWeb Backline for independent music venues – Music Venue Trust and TicketWeb (UK)

•     University of Vermont move to MyTickets – University of Vermont and Tickets.com (USA)

•     Nimax Theatres’ new ecommerce website – Nimax Theatres (UK) & TixTrack (USA)

•     Ecommerce platform for Amsterdam Dance Event – Paylogic (The Netherlands)

DISRUPTOR AWARD

Winner:  Ticketfrog (Switzerland)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     GUTS Tickets (The Netherlands)

•     Ticketrunner (Germany)

•     Upgraded Inc. (USA)

•     Ticketfrog (Switzerland)

•     TickX (UK)

GUEST EXPERIENCE AWARD

Winner:  Fan-to-Fan resale platform – See Tickets (UK)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Alfred NFC Ticketing at Oakland A’s – Tickets.com/Apple/Infinite Peripherals (USA)

•     Fan to Fan resale platform – See Tickets (UK)

•     Ticketmaster Verified Fan – Ticketmaster (USA)

•     Outsourced Telephone Ticketing Services – TicketSource (UK)

•     Reinventing cinema ticketing experience – Everyman Cinemas (UK)

PRODUCT INNOVATION AWARD

Winner:  Cashless event solution – Event Genius (UK)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Machine learning, ecommerce Fraud prevention SaaS – Riskified (Israel)

•     ReCreateX reseller platform – Syx Ticketing (Belgium)

•     Ticketmaster’s presence & LISNR’s Data-Over-Sound Technology – LISNR & Ticketmaster (USA)

•     Nliven VR mobile preview – TixTrack (USA)

•     Cashless Event Solution – Event Genius (UK)

INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS AWARD

Winner:  Arenametrix data analytics tools – Tech4Team (France)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Arenametrix data analytics tools – Tech4Team (France)

•     Etix Analytics and Etix Community – Etix USA)

•     Smart Gift Finder / Event Affinity Engine – Ents24 (UK)

•     C-Feed customer review feeds – Jewel Labs (The Netherlands)

•     Ticketmaster presence debut at Orlando City Stadium – Orlando City Soccer & Ticketmaster (USA)

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Winner:  Ashish Hemrajani, Co-Founder & CEO, BookMyShow (India)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     Russell D’Souza, Co-Founder, SeatGeek Enterprise (USA)

•     Helge Hollander, CEO, Reservix/AdTicket (Germany)

•     Ashish Hemrajani, Co-Founder & CEO, BookMyShow (India)

•     Sean Hanly, CEO, Ticketsolve (Ireland)

•     Luuc Elzinga CEO & Co-founder, Tiqets.com (The Netherlands)

•     Travis Janovich, CEO, Etix (USA)

THE TICKETING BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

Winner:  Tiqets (The Netherlands)

Shortlisted nominees:

•     London Theatre Direct (UK)

•     SeatGeek Enterprise (USA)

•     SecuTix (Switzerland)

•     Tiqets (The Netherlands)

•     Etix (USA)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Winner:  Paul Williamson, MD, Sports Ink Associates

“The ticketing industry has been fortunate to have someone with the wealth of experience and ability that Paul Williamson has provided over the past two decades,” commented TheTicketingBusiness Awards 2018 Judging Panel.

“Ticketing is one of the most visible, most discussed and most emotional topics around sports and live entertainment: headline news when it goes wrong, but a forgotten aspect if all goes well.

“Teams, venues and sports event organisers can rest assured that when Paul is at the wheel, they have done their best to mitigate risks, maximise revenues and reach their target audience. With this Award, we recognise Paul’s achievements and success to date. Long may they continue.”

To read more about TheTicketingBusiness Award winners, click here for our full winners brochure.