After rejecting a tie-up with Microsoft, Ticketmaster cut a deal Monday with Excite to offer online ticketing and event information. The clincher was an agreement to share all ad revenues from shared sites.
"Excite wanted to do something that was mutually beneficial, whereas Microsoft wanted to do something that was beneficial only for itself," said Alan Citron, president of Ticketmaster Multimedia.
In April, Ticketmaster filed suit against Microsoft after the software giant's Seattle Sidewalk site put up an unauthorized link to its listings. Ticketmaster accused Microsoft of "cherry-picking" its arts content despite earlier turning down a co-marketing arrangement. Ticketmaster is partly owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Citron said Ticketmaster discussed online partnerships with most leading directory services, but eventually settled on Excite because the two sides "were on the same page" regarding marketing and revenue sharing.
Ticketmaster icons are now found on Excite's arts and sports channels. Users can click on the icons to reach co-branded pages containing Ticketmaster's listings and info. Tickets can then be purchased with a credit card.
Although Ticketmaster logged about US$3 million in online sales last month, Citron said most visitors to the company's site are looking for content, not tickets. The online service comprises about 2 percent of Ticketmaster's total sales.
For Excite, the partnership represents the company's latest step to differentiate itself from the pack of directory/search/content aggregators snapping at Yahoo's heels. Earlier this month, Excite announced a deal with Intuit to develop a new financial channel on its site.
Joe Kraus, Excite's senior vice president, noted that the tie-ups with Ticketmaster and Intuit underline the value of strategic alliances. "What we do best is distribution and programming," he said. "What they do best is content. We're marrying our core strengths."
