Ticketmaster Unveil Technology To Safely Bring Back Fans To Shows

Ticketing behemoth Ticketmaster have announced new technology to help fans return to live events safely. SmartEvent will help to balance considerations like social distancing in venues and entry times to help bands and organisers put on shows, albeit at reduced capacity.

“We know that fans around the world are eager to return to live events and SmartEvent gives event organizers an array of solutions to help make that possible,” said Mark Yovich, President of Ticketmaster. “SmartEvent brings together our advanced technology platform and industry-leading venue and seating insights, putting Ticketmaster in the unique position to facilitate paths back to live.”

One thing SmartEvent’s algorithms will do is help create seating arrangements for events to max out space within venues effectively. It will also help make transactions touch-free, and calculate movement into and out of venues to reduce congestion.

It’s the latest innovation in trying to bring events back. In August, scientists from Germany’s Halle University carried out tests at three shows by German artist Tim Bendzko across three days, with different safety measures in place (roughly: none, some, loads). The conclusion by Dr Michael Gekle was: “There is no argument for not having such a concert. The risk of getting infected is very low.”

In Taiwan, meanwhile, effective testing, tracking and strict early lockdowns meant that August saw 10,000 people head to Taipei Arena for a gig by Eric Chou.

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