Good afternoon, everyone.
Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you regarding the ticketing industry.
My name is Jonas Beallor. I am an executive from Vivid Seats, one of the leading ticket resale marketplaces in North America. I'm joined today by Ryan Fitts, our vice-president of legal affairs.
Prior to joining Vivid Seats, I was the chief operating officer of Fanxchange Limited, which Vivid Seats acquired just last month. Fanxchange was a Toronto-based ticket marketplace focused on enterprise and distribution, powering live event ticketing solutions for major loyalty programs, financial institutions, travel and hotel operators and e-commerce marketplaces. Our Toronto office currently employs 43 people, with plans to accelerate that growth over the next few years.
We are very excited to now be part of the Vivid Seats family. Their acquisition of us is a testament to the vision and commitment to invest in the Canadian market and thriving tech ecosystem.
It's a pleasure for us to be here today, because we are certainly proud of the work we do in ensuring that cultural enthusiasts and sports fans have access to the events they want to attend, even when box offices and venues are sold out.
Founded in 2001, and based in Chicago, Vivid Seats processes millions of tickets per year, sending thousands of fans to live sports, concerts and theatre events every day. Central to our philosophy is the fan experience. Sports, concerts and other live events provide memorable human experiences that inspire all of us.
Historically, access to in-demand, live events was limited to those lucky enough to be able to purchase tickets the moment they went on sale. Fans who were not lucky enough to score tickets had no safe, legal or reliable way to obtain tickets, and fans who could not use their tickets had no safe, legal and reliable way to sell their property. Vivid Seats was created to solve this problem and open the door to buyers and sellers, providing fans with a familiar, safe and secure resale market destination and best-in-class buying experience for a huge variety of events across North America, from sporting events, to concerts, theatres, festivals and everything in between.
Vivid Seats is a trusted provider of transparency, accountability and choice. We hold sellers to the highest standards and increase fan participation and satisfaction in live entertainment by providing highly personalized and exceptional experiences for consumers. We provide an in-house call centre of 300-plus representatives who are available to deliver premium customer support over extended business hours. We provide a 100% buyer guarantee for all tickets sold on our site. We guarantee that you will receive a valid ticket on time for your event, or your money back.
To continue providing fans with peace of mind to purchase tickets at a time and a place of their choosing, Vivid Seats is committed to two core principles: first, every fan should have a fair chance to purchase tickets on the primary and resale markets; and second, tickets should be treated as the consumer's property, with no undue restrictions on their freedom to dispose of their tickets when and how they see fit.
Regarding fair access to tickets, we have strongly favoured bans on bots in other jurisdictions, as we believe it protects consumers, improves transparency and helps eliminate black market ticket sales. Taking it a step further, we also encourage governments in all jurisdictions to enforce these bans. At the provincial level, both Ontario and British Columbia have taken actions to ban bots, which we fully support.
However, bots aren't the only issue to keep in mind when talking about ticketing techniques that limit access for the general public. The use of holdbacks by the primary market also needs to be discussed. While we understand that this hearing is part of a study on the online secondary ticketing industry, it is essential that the committee understand that ticketing is one ecosystem, and that ticketing strategies used by the primary marketplace play a significant role in causing the frustration that fans feel when events seem to sell out instantly.
Some primary ticketing providers use holdbacks as the initial on-sale, meaning tickets are often held back for artists, sponsors, fan clubs, etc., leaving only a limited number of tickets to be resold or released to the public. This practice leads to significant consumer frustration. I'm sure that you, as legislators, hear this complaint from your constituents. The Toronto Star published an article on September 18, 2018, which described this practice in great detail. We recommend that the committee review this article.
We believe there needs to be more transparency concerning initial ticket sales. In other jurisdictions, Vivid Seats has encouraged governments to require the disclosure of the number of tickets that are placed on sale from the primary ticket seller at any one time. Ontario has recently introduced legislation requiring the primary market to share this information and Vivid Seats is supportive.
Regarding ticket transferability, we believe that fans should have the right to use or sell their tickets as they see fit. As the ticket sale market is almost entirely online, consumers require choice and flexibility to manage their tickets, whether that's being able to easily email a PDF file of a ticket to a friend or family member or have the ability to print the ticket on a piece of paper for someone who wants that ticket in their hand. Vivid Seats fully supports efforts to ensure that consumers have this ability.
Ticket transferability upholds a consumer's right to transfer tickets to friends and family or sell extra tickets on the open market. It also prevents anti-competitive behaviour and fosters competition in the ticketing industry.
It is the competition that encourages companies to innovate and maintain high service standards. Consumers should be able to use the ticket platform of their choice and be protected from anti-competitive conduct and artificial restrictions that interfere with their ability to discover and sell tickets in an open, competitive market place. That's why Vivid Seats believes that ensuring ticket transferability is essential to any effective regulatory framework.
These are the kinds of issues that Vivid Seats is engaged with and this is why we are pleased to be here today to speak about them with you. Canadians have been engaged in these issues as well. The Government of Ontario has recently brought in amendments to the Ticket Sales Act in Ontario that strongly balance acting against bots and lack of transparency in the initial on-sale process with encouraging innovation and consumer protection.
We are committed to working with legislators like yourselves, government, regulators and industry to ensure a fair and safe online ticket marketplace.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak with you today about Vivid Seats and our approach to working responsibly in this industry. We would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.