LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Ticketmaster celebrated 25 years in the UK on September 25. The London event was hosted by Managing Director Chris Edmonds, and guests included key clients Live Nation, The FA, AEG, Disney, Cameron Mackintosh, Marshall Arts, Metropolis Music, Nordoff-Robbins, Tottenham Hotspurs and Millwall FC. Jules Boardman, who first established Ticketmaster in the UK in 1981, also attended.
With offices in London, Manchester and Glasgow, and employing over 700 personnel in the UK, Ticketmaster has two retail brands Ticketmaster and Ticketweb. Key milestones over the past 25 years include:
**Launching the UK's first real-time ticketing web sites (Ticketmaster.uk) in 1998, now currently rated as the UK's No. 1 Shopping & Classifieds – Ticketing website by share of visits (Hitwise UK August 2006);
**The opening of a new 26,000 sq foot, state of the art call center in Manchester in 2002, now the most up to date in the worldwide Ticketmaster network;
**The installation of access control and ticket authentication system AccessManager at client venues including The Apollo Hammersmith, The Lyceum Theatre and the Bristol Hippodrome for Live Nation; The Brighton Centre; T in the Park Festival for DF Concerts; The Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, as well as further sites across the UK and Europe;
*The introduction of e-ticketing to the UK live entertainment industry with TicketFast;
**The introduction of Ticketmaster Auctions to the UK Market with recent auctions for The Eagles, Avenue Q and the Guinness Rugby Premiership;
**The successful launch of mobile ticketing with MobileTicket at the O2 Wireless Festival in 2006; and
**The launch of its own gift card program in the UK, the first of its kind by a UK ticketing agency: The Ticketmaster Gift Card.
"I am delighted to be able to celebrate 25 years of Ticketmaster in the UK," said Edmonds, "and we are proud that during that time Ticketmaster has established itself as the UK's No.1 ticketing company. Looking to the future we aim to continue to support the live entertainment industry, to provide the best service and widest choice for our customers, and to continue our commitment to deliver the next step in ticketing technology for the UK." — Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
