New Brunswick Herald (12/07/17) by Carrie Brunner

StubHub's third annual Year in Live Experiences (YILE) report revealed a desire among consumers for new technologies such as social media, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to direct them to live events. The report also says theater attendance is continuing to expand, with the theater sector being StubHub's largest growth genre for the year. In addition, StubHub sees a continued tendency among consumers toward social media for experiential sharing, especially on Facebook, where 62 percent of poll respondents said they used social platforms to find live events. Instagram and Snapchat are rising in popularity for millennials and Gen Zers, while 66 percent of respondents said they still rely on word-of-mouth as the main channel for discovering events. However, when it comes to buying event tickets, 60 percent of respondents reflected an interest in using AI and machine learning for ticketing transactions. The third annual YILE study also found that although just 42 percent of event-goers are aware they can purchase tickets with a smart home device, 60 percent noted they would be willing to use one. Meanwhile, 63 percent exhibited a willingness to use chatbots for answering a customer service query, buying a ticket to a live event, or updating their personal or financial data. The study also found that 79 percent of event-goers said they post about live event experiences on social media.

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