Ticketmaster Delivers Social Connectivity Into Interactive Seat Maps

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ticketmaster, a Live Nation Entertainment company, today unveiled interactive seat maps integrated with Facebook.  Fans can instantly share their live event plans by tagging themselves into their seats, enabling people on Facebook to see where they are sitting and which seats are available for purchase.  More than 9,000 interactive seat maps are available on Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.  

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110823/LA56683-a)

"Ticketmaster is taking an important step toward making every stage of the live event experience as social online as it is in real life," said David Fisch of Facebook. "Ticketmaster's interactive seat map shows the promise of using social technologies to improve the event experience."

Adding social connectivity into interactive seat maps begins to realize Ticketmaster's vision to integrate social into every fan touch point, extending the fun and excitement of the live entertainment experience far beyond the walls of the venue.  Ticketmaster first revolutionized the search and selection process of tickets with the roll out of interactive seat maps, which began last year.  Integrating Facebook into these interactive seat maps will create a community around each live event that will begin with the onsale and build through the live event.  Fans have the ability to select who they want to share their plans with: they can choose to share with everyone, with their friends or they can opt to not share.  

"Live events are inherently social and leveraging social media to enhance them allows the passion to exist in the digital space before, during and after live events," said Nathan Hubbard, CEO of Ticketmaster.  "Our team is fanatical about leading the industry forward and we will continue to innovate the live experience."

When purchasing event tickets on either Ticketmaster.com or LiveNation.com, fans can use the interactive seat maps to see where their friends are sitting.  Fans can then select available seats, complete the purchase and tag themselves.  If the purchaser tags friends, notifications are then sent through Facebook so individuals tagged can choose to share.  For fans that have already purchased tickets, or purchased tickets elsewhere, they can also add themselves directly into the interactive seat map and share with their network of friends.  

For more information about the interactive seat maps integrated with Facebook, please visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxZ8h-z3rk

About Ticketmaster:

With operations spanning 19 countries, Ticketmaster is the world leader in event ticketing and ranks among the top five eCommerce sites globally.  Ticketmaster is a division of Live Nation Entertainment. Live Nation Entertainment is the world's leading live entertainment and eCommerce company, comprised of four market leaders: Ticketmaster.com, Live Nation Concerts, Front Line Management Group and Live Nation Network. Ticketmaster.com is the global event ticketing leader and one of the world's top five eCommerce sites, with over 26 million monthly unique visitors. Live Nation Concerts produces over 20,000 shows annually for more than 2,000 artists globally. Front Line is the world's top artist management company, representing over 250 artists. These businesses power Live Nation Network, the leading provider of entertainment marketing solutions, enabling over 800 advertisers to tap into the 200 million consumers Live Nation delivers annually through its live event and digital platforms. For additional information, visit www.livenation.com/investors.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

SOURCE Ticketmaster