Ticketmaster makes customers watch video ads before allowing them to buy tickets
Ticketmaster has been making customers play video adverts to reveal a security code they have to enter to prove they are humans before they can click through to purchase tickets.
Customers are being made to click on a pre-roll video for Nutri-Grain to reveal the code to pass the captcha (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) test, which is designed to prevent automated programs buying up tickets.
The company behind the technology has claimed making people play a pre-roll ad like this makes the brand more memorable to viewers.
Once the program recognises a users device it takes away the video for subsequent captcha tests, using the traditional method of displaying the code directly and asking customers to enter it.
Customers were able to bypass the video ad by selecting the option to get new words or audio captcha.
The software is powered by Solve Media, which in a video suggests the requirement to type in a brand keyword or message to skip pre-roll content makes the brand more memorable to viewers.
Ticketmaster has not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Miranda Ward
Linkedin
Is it not enough we pay their exorbitant fees and charges? Bastards.
User ID not verified.
They’re jerks. Whacking $5 on top of every ticket for MICF made some shows prohibitively expensive.
We need another Pearl Jam protest across the board against them.
Oh, and pre-roll is terrible.
User ID not verified.
I wouldn’t want my brand name associated with bothersome hurdles.
User ID not verified.
And yet if they used Google there would be no memorably shit video, just a tick box.
https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html
“people get to where they’re going faster”
User ID not verified.
Just saw this is from the US (Solve Media). The problem with our American friends is that too often they turn everything possible into an ad, scraping every cent and the bottom of the barrel at the same time.
User ID not verified.
Could only be detrimental to any brand associated with this type of advertising. Absolutely infuriating to the user.
User ID not verified.
While I’m all for more advertising, it seems lazy to just use a TV advertisement rather than a banner ad which I believe would be both less distracting and also more effective (if properly done). Also the easy bypasses suggests lazy coding which would mean it is probably bloatware that chews up heaps of bandwidth and slows the whole process down dramatically.
User ID not verified.
This is very bad. Ticketmaster are forcing us to watch adds they are getting paid for before we can subsequently get ripped off by at $7.70 print your own ticket charge? On a personal level that may get me to notice the brand who’s advertisement is showing but in a very negative way i.e. I would never purchase a product from that brand ever again kind of way…
User ID not verified.
Surely this would mean customers no longer have to pay the ticket delivery fees (or whatever those additional charges are called), as they have just watched an ad (which Ticketmaster have been paid for).
User ID not verified.
writing an article from a thread from Reddit – quality journalism!
User ID not verified.
Not only do I agree with the others about the greed of their exorbitant fees on top of the ads, but when I actually experienced this a few weeks ago I had to watch the ad a number of times, each time I looked at new seating options etc. So either they have recently fixed this and it does now recognise the device, or they are just wrong..
User ID not verified.
Clearly committed to delivering a quality user experience. NOT!!. Ecommerce best practice 101 is to remove ANY distractions or barriers from the transaction process. Forcing users to sit through a video ad to buy a ticket is a lose lose lose situation. Lose for the customer, Lose for ticketek who will surely see a negative impact on # of ticket sales and lose for the Advertisers who, as all the posts above refer to, will be associated with a very poor experience by customers. Shame on both ticketek and advertisers for agreeing to spam customers in this way.
User ID not verified.
I’m glad you can also use alternative ways of getting the captcha code. There will be computers and networks out there who won’t play videos.
User ID not verified.
Absolutely agree with everyone here. Website sucks i got on page at 9am on the dot and got back row seats stick that ill sit out side !
User ID not verified.