Gametime United Inc.
TypePrivate
Industry
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderBrad Griffith
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
US
Area served
  • United States
  • Canada
Websitegametime.co

Gametime is a mobile ticket marketplace app developed by San Francisco-based Gametime United Inc., which was founded by Brad Griffith in late 2012. The app was released for iOS in May 2013, with an Android version released in March 2014. In multiple funding rounds following the app's initial release, Gametime has raised a total of US$71.5 million from various investors. The app received an award from each SportsBusiness Daily and the Appy Awards in 2017, and Gametime United was named among the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. in various categories by Deloitte, Inc. and Accel Partners.

Features

Gametime allows users to purchase tickets for sports events, including MLB, NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL and MLS games and WrestleMania, AMA Supercross Championship and PGA Tour events, as well as music events, such as concerts, and other performances, including comedy and theater.[1] The app compiles data of unsold tickets from various suppliers and displays the 50 best results for the selected venue, determined by price and location through a proprietary algorithm.[2] To do so, Gametime curates available tickets from suppliers that include teams, primary and secondary ticket outlets, and users of the app itself.[3] Seat options are accompanied by photographs of the view from the seat and the seat's location in the form of a map pin on a map of the venue, where possible.[4]

As time draws closer to an event's start, Gametime strategically reduces ticket prices for last-minute customers, as those tickets generally lose value during this timeframe.[5] Tickets for each event are available until 90 minutes after the event started.[6] Gametime recorded that around 80% of transactions take place up to seven days before an event, 50% of those on the day of the event, and more than 10% after that event's start.[7] Tickets purchased through the app are made available digitally through the customer's phone, with a barcode that would be scanned by the venues' scanners or entrance personnel, removing the need to print the tickets.[8] Griffith, who uses the app himself, considered this to be the app's best feature.[9] Payment transactions are handled using Apple Pay and Google Pay, respective to the user's platform; additional integrations for PayPal's Venmo service were added on the day of the service's third-party support introduction.[10][11]

Gametime High Fives, a rewards program introduced in August 2015, rewarded people who bought tickets to three or more MLB events in which the home team won, a US$5 voucher for use within the app.[12] In April 2016, Gametime was updated with the Snap and Sell feature, which added a user-side ticket resale functionality to the app.[13] Using Snap and Sell, users can take pictures of sports tickets, which are then analyzed using optical character recognition for validity and placed onto the app's marketplace if they apply to its venue lineup.[14] Griffith stated that the feature sought to make selling tickets as easy and accessible as possible, claiming that it only required three taps to bring the ticket to the market, when compared to competitors' "75 taps' worth of data entry" for the same functionality.[15][16]

Gametime Connect, released in June 2016, saw the integration of two friends-based features; users could see whether friends were presently selling tickets, and were given the ability to directly buy those specific tickets, and whether friends were going to attend an event, enabling users to buy tickets for it so they could attend it together.[17] Gametime FanViews, introduced in April 2017, allows Gametime customers to share their feedback on the quality and atmosphere of the seating they had acquired through the app, and share photos of the event they attended.[18] Information collected through FanViews is aggregated and presented to future customers at checkout.[19]

Development

Inception and expansion

Founder Brad Griffith, formerly a senior financial analyst for Google,[20] developed the idea of a digital instant-ticketing system for mobile devices when he missed the first inning of an October 2012 National League Championship Series game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.[21] Griffith had realized too late that, in order to validate the tickets, he had to print them out.[21] He was convinced that there had to be a simpler way to purchase event tickets, and eventually decided to start developing an app that would fit this purpose, and founded San Francisco-based Gametime United to go with it.[22] The resulting product was launched for smartphones running iOS in May 2013.[23] An Android version of the app followed in March 2014,[24] and one for Apple Watch devices was released in May 2015.[25]

Initially, Gametime only offered tickets for select stadiums in San Francisco,[23] but soon expanded to Los Angeles.[26] The number of available venues rose to 35 cities the U.S. and Canada by July 2015,[5][27] and covered 48 cities by February 2016, with over 500 teams featured.[1] Presently, Gametime offers tickets in 60 cities in North America.[28] In August 2015, Gametime advanced into offering tickets for college football, adding 50 of the U.S.' top programs to their catalog.[29] In December 2015, Gametime announced that they would expand into tickets from the music industry, such as those for concerts, to broaden their market availability.[30] In addition to last-minute sales, as is with the case with their sports tickets, admissions to music venues would also be available for purchase several months in advance.[31]

In March 2017, Gametime United employed 80 staff members in its San Francisco offices.[32] According to Griffith, the average Gametime user is a 31-year old white male with a household income of US$67,000, younger than average customers of other companies in the market,[33] and said to be "nearly an inverse" of MLB's demographic.[34] By focusing on the mobile market, Gametime aims at targeting millennials, which comprise 75% of the app's user base.[35]

Funding

Initial funding for Gametime covered US$900,000 backed by the founders of HotelTonight, the owners of sports clubs like those of the San Francisco Giants, and Xobni co-founder Matt Brezina.[26][36] In a September 2014 seed funding round led by Accel Partners, Gametime received a total of US$4 million.[37] Investors included executives of HotelTonight, Box, the San Francisco Giants, the Vancouver Whitecaps, Yahoo!, TIBCO Software, the Sacramento Kings and StubHub.[38][39] Following the investment, StubHub's founder and investment partner, Colin Evans, moved to Gametime United as chief revenue officer.[3] A series A round, again led by Accel Partners,[40] was held in May 2015, adding US$13.3 million.[41][42] Top investors included key people of the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and Trunk Club, among multiple partners from previous rounds.[43][44] An independently hosted series B round attracted new investors, such as GV, Evolution Media Partners and StartX.[7][45] The round, held in September 2016,[46][47] raised another US$20 million for Gametime.[48][49] In May 2022, Gametime raised US$30 million from such investors as Nimble Partners (including Golden State Warriors owner John Burbank), Maven Ventures, Accel, GV, and more.[50]

Partnerships

In September 2015, Gametime signed a partnership with digital fan destination Bleacher Report for integration within the latter's Team Stream app.[51] As part of the deal, Team Stream would show its users advertisements of inexpensive tickets for upcoming games of their sports teams of interest, which then directly linked to the venues' pages within Gametime.[52] In May 2017, Ticketmaster entered an agreement with Gametime which allowed them to distribute their tickets over the app, with proceeds shared between the two companies and the tickets' respective teams.[53] With the partnership, Ticketmaster sought to better reach Gametime's young target audience and "fish where the fish are".[54] According to Ticketmaster's chief commercial officer, Greg Economou, 12,000 teams and venues that used Ticketmaster would receive a secondary purchase option through Gametime.[55] Financials of the deal were not disclosed.[34]

Recognition

With revenue growth of 3,856% between 2013 and 2016, Gametime United was named the "fastest growing digital content/media/entertainment company" in Deloitte's 2017 Technology Fast 500.[56] Inc. observed a 34,021% overall three-year growth for the company, as well as US$49 million revenue in 2016, judging them the third-fastest growing company in America in their 2017 Inc. 5000.[57] At the same time, Inc. further revealed Gametime United as the fastest-growing consumer products company in the U.S.[58] According to Brian O'Malley of Accel Partners, Gametime reached US$50 million in gross sales in their 2016 fiscal year, because of which it was "the fastest growing ticketing company ever".[59] Also in 2017, Gametime was named "Best in Mobile Fan Experience" by SportsBusiness Daily,[60] and was given an award in the "Events" category at the Appy Awards.[61]

References

  1. 1 2 Patko, Brittany (February 11, 2016). "Gametime Sports Ticket App Makes Significant Strides". SportTechie. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  2. ↑ Bellar, Jordan (November 4, 2014). "Teams and the Mobile Fan Are United with Gametime". SportTechie. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Soper, Taylor (September 23, 2014). "Sports ticketing app Gametime raises $4M from Accel Partners, hires StubHub founder". GeekWire. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ Armstrong, Mario (August 10, 2014). "Download these! Mario Armstrong's 3 must-have apps". Today. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Scully, Sarah (July 29, 2015). "Gametime app offers last minute ticket deals". Chron.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ Sponsor (October 23, 2017). "Here's How To Get The Best Deal On Dodgers World Series Tickets". LAist. Archived from the original on December 19, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  7. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (September 21, 2016). "Gametime raises $20 million for last-minute sports tickets". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  8. ↑ Antoniacci, Mandy (August 18, 2015). "How a San Francisco Giants Fan Built a Business to Take on StubHub". Inc. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ McGee, Jamie (April 17, 2015). "Gametime app for sports tickets reaches Nashville". The Tennessean. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ Dent, Steve (January 28, 2016). "PayPal's Venmo adds third-party app payment support". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ Del Rey, Jason (January 27, 2016). "Venmo to Take On Apple Pay and Android Pay With In-App Purchases". Recode. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  12. ↑ Pate, Sean; Mangahis, Jade (August 31, 2015). "Gametime "High Fives" Fans With $5 When Their MLB Team Wins". Marketwired. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  13. ↑ Prasad, Karthik (April 29, 2016). "You Can Now Sell Printed Tickets Through Gametime, Here's How". Morning News USA. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  14. ↑ Williams, Chris (May 31, 2016). "New Feature On Gametime App Lets Fans "Snap And Sell" Tickets". SportTechie. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  15. ↑ Goyal, Heena (April 30, 2016). "Gametime app gets a new update". SoftwareVilla. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  16. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (April 28, 2016). "Gametime now lets users "snap and sell" printed tickets". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  17. ↑ Shanes, Josh (June 21, 2016). "Gametime Launches Fan Social Network Built On Its Mobile App". SportTechie. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
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  19. ↑ TheTicketingBusiness (April 13, 2017). "Gametime launches new event feedback feature". TheTicketingBusiness. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  20. ↑ Wauters, Robin (July 17, 2011). "Zappedy Acquired By Groupon. What's Zappedy?". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  21. 1 2 Gonzalez, Guadalupe (August 16, 2017). "This $48 Million Company Helps Millennials Buy Last-Minute 'Experiences'". Inc. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  22. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (May 14, 2015). "Gametime raises $13M for its app to snap up last-minute sports tickets". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  23. 1 2 Channick, Robert (March 25, 2015). "Gametime ticket exchange targets last-minute buyers". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 21, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  24. ↑ Crider, Michael (March 22, 2014). "[New App] Gametime Makes Last-Minute Sports Ticket Purchases Easy, But Only For Some Teams". Android Police. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  25. ↑ P., Daniel (May 14, 2015). "Game day sold out? Gametime is your last-minute sports tickets app, no printing req'd". Phone Arena. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  26. 1 2 Ha, Anthony (January 9, 2014). "Gametime Aims To Provide The Best Mobile Experience For Last-Minute Sports Ticketing". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  27. ↑ Baker, Geoff (July 5, 2015). "Gametime, a mobile-phone application designed to simplify the purchase of last-minute tickets, aims to capture a share of the ticket-resale industry". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on April 9, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  28. ↑ Pate, Sean (December 21, 2016). "Last-Minute Fans Drive Gametime to Over 220% Growth in 2016". Business Wire. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  29. ↑ The Source (August 22, 2015). "Mobile Gametime App Cutting Edge For This Year's NCAA College Football Season". The Source. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  30. ↑ Hu, Cherie (December 15, 2015). "The Leading Mobile Sports Ticketing App Is Venturing Into Music". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  31. ↑ Hockenson, Lauren (December 9, 2015). "Gametime launches last-minute ticket sales for concerts". The Next Web. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  32. ↑ Burns, Mark J. (March 29, 2017). "Gametime CEO Brad Griffith Discusses The Future Of Mobile Ticketing". SportTechie. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  33. ↑ Flynn, Kerry (April 17, 2017). "This app wants you to forget StubHub and make fun choices last minute". Mashable. Archived from the original on January 21, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  34. 1 2 Leuty, Ron (May 25, 2017). "Ticketing giant, upstart forge deal with big group in mind: Millennials". The Business Journals. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  35. ↑ Hu, Cherie (December 18, 2016). "How Mobile Millennials Are Transforming The Music Ticketing Industry". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  36. ↑ Soper, Taylor (August 6, 2014). "Gametime, a sports event app that helps you find last-minute ticket deals, launches in Seattle". GeekWire. Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  37. ↑ Karol, Gabrielle (January 9, 2016). "Last-Minute Tickets App Gametime Scores $4M". Fox Business. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  38. ↑ Lawler, Ryan (September 23, 2014). "Last-Minute Sports Ticket Sales App Gametime Raises $4 Million From Accel Partners". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  39. ↑ FinSMEs (September 23, 2014). "Gametime Closes $4M in Financing". FinSMEs. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  40. ↑ Kokalitcheva, Kia (May 14, 2015). "Gametime, a smartphone app for last-minute sports tickets, raises $13 million". Fortune. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  41. ↑ Morgan, Richard (May 14, 2015). "Mobile-only ticket app Gametime to receive $13.3M in funding". New York Post. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  42. ↑ FinSMEs (May 14, 2015). "Gametime Secures $13.3M in Series A Funding". FinSMEs. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
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  50. ↑ Gametime. "GAMETIME, LEADING PLATFORM FOR LAST MINUTE TICKETS, SECURES $30 MILLION IN NEW FUNDING, EXPANDING REACH AS RECORD SALES CONTINUES". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved December 2, 2022.
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  52. ↑ Bilton, Ricardo (September 21, 2015). "Bleacher Report deep links its way to new revenue". Digiday. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
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  55. ↑ Novy-Williams, Even (May 24, 2017). "To Woo Young Sports Fans, Ticketmaster Embraces a Competitor". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  56. ↑ Pate, Sean (November 13, 2017). "Gametime Recognized as One of Fastest Growing Companies in North America on Deloitte's 2017..." Medium. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  57. ↑ Baron, Abigail (August 16, 2017). "The 10 Fastest-Growing Companies in America in 2017". Inc. Archived from the original on October 22, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  58. ↑ Pate, Sean (August 16, 2017). "Inc. Magazine Reveals Gametime as Fastest Growing Consumer Products Company in the U.S." Business Wire. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  59. ↑ Carson, Biz; Hartmans, Avery (December 30, 2016). "33 startups to watch in 2017, according to VC investors". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 23, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  60. ↑ Fisher, Eric (May 25, 2017). "Sports Business Awards: Gametime Wins Best In Mobile Fan Experience". SportsBusiness Daily. Archived from the original on January 25, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  61. ↑ "Appy Awards". MediaPost. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
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