Copyright The New York Times
Ariel Emanuel, the superagent turned entertainment industry mogul, has added the theater ticketing company TodayTix to his growing portfolio. His new company, Mari, which earlier this year bought Frieze, the prestigious art fair, completed the acquisition on Friday. The purchase price has not been disclosed. TodayTix, founded in 2013 as a mobile app that aggregated discounts for theater tickets, has successfully sought to disrupt the hidebound business of Broadway ticket sales, which is dominated by companies associated with theater owners. With dual headquarters in New York and London, TodayTix has over the years expanded significantly. It now sells tickets, mostly at full price, for shows at venues in the United States, Britain and Australia, and although its core offerings are still theater, it also sells tickets to other performing arts events and attractions. One sign of its transformation: In its early years, most Broadway box offices declined to collaborate with the company, leading it to employ a small army of workers, dressed in red, to hand out tickets to buyers on the sidewalks outside shows. Those days are long gone, and now the company says it works with more than 10,000 theaters, producers and cultural institutions. TodayTix Group, as the company is now called, says it sells about 10 million tickets a year, and accounts for more than 15 percent of all ticket sales on Broadway, and more than 20 percent of all ticket sales in the West End. A survey by the Broadway League found that about 20 percent of patrons look at TodayTix for theater information; the company says its technology not only expedites ticketing transactions, but also helps producers find potential ticket buyers and helps consumers find shows. “In addition to just TodayTix, it’s a loyalty business and it’s also a pretty sophisticated, A.I.-driven, audience insights business, trying to bring more intuitive ways to reach audiences,” said Brian Fenty, the company’s chief executive. “We’ve really tried to stretch the bounds of what’s possible with bringing technology to theater.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
