Subsidiary | |
Industry | Ticketing |
Founded | Australia (1979) |
Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
Parent | Affinity Equity Partners |
Subsidiaries | Softix, Eventopia |
Website | www.ticketek.com |
Ticketek is an Australian event ticketing company. Formed in 1979, the company is owned by Affinity Equity Partners with its head quarters in China and operates ticketing operations for entertainment and sporting events in Australia and New Zealand. There are companies using the name Ticketek in other countries however these are not a part of the Ticketek Australia/NZ operations but are a part of Ticketek Pty Ltd/Softix Pty Ltd.
Ticketek Pty Ltd sell the Softix premium ticketing software created by Softix Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Ticketek) to other countries. Ticketek Pty Ltd also own the simplified ticket management company Eventopia.
Ticketek was part of PBL's Consolidated Press Holdings until it was sold to PBL's internet arm ecorp, in 1999, two years after introducing online ticketing in Australia. Ticketek was ecorp's major source of profits.
Ticketek was originally called Best Available Seating Service (Queensland) Pty Ltd (BASS). It was one of at least three Australian Best Available Seating Service operations (which originated from the Bay Area Seating Service (BASS) of San Francisco, USA), the others being BASS (owned by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and still operating) and BASS Victoria (owned by the Victorian Government under the auspices of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust until it was partially, then completely, bought out by Ticketmaster.
In November 2000, Ticketek formed a Hong Kong company called Ticketek Hong Kong in a joint venture with the Hong Kong Ticketing Alliance. In early 2003, ecorp sold its 50% stake in the Hong Kong operation to HKTA, with the venture being renamed Hong Kong Ticketing Limited.
Ticketek sells around 18 million tickets to over 13,000 events annually. The company has ticketing contracts with certain venues such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Super Dome and the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It was the provider of ticketing services for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.