Behind the Ticket 🎟️✨
Our annual deep dive into the events landscape with our pals at Tixel is here!
Saying yes to a ticket in 2025 isn’t simple anymore. It’s not just about who’s on stage – it’s about your bank balance, the group chat, resale safety nets, and whether the vibe matches your feed.
For the fourth year running, Bolster and Tixel have teamed up to dig into what’s really driving the “yes” (and the “maybe”) for Australian fans. That’s right, our annual Ticketing State of Play 2025 is here.
Behind The Ticket takes a deeper look into the psychology of commitment and the increasingly complicated road to “yes”. This report draws on fresh data from a survey of nearly 3,000 live event attendees, in-depth interviews with consumers across generations, expert insights from some of the industry’s brightest minds, and anonymised data from both Bolster campaigns and Tixel.
Here’s a little snapshot of what’s inside:
🎟️ Fans buy on their own timelines, not yours. The “barbell effect” is real: people are either in on presale or waiting until the very last minute.
🎟️ Flexibility is a baseline expectation. 75% of fans say resale options give them the confidence to commit earlier.
🎟️ We’ll pay more for what matters. Even as cost-of-living pressures bite, 72% of fans will still splurge on a must-see show.
🎟️ The feed is the funnel. Nearly 40% of ticket buyers now discover and purchase via TikTok or Instagram.
🎟️ Australian music has our hearts. 82% support initiatives like Michael’s Rule to get Aussie artists on support slots.
Of course, you can just skim the TL;DR bullet points, but this year’s report is packed with interviews, case studies and data that paint a far richer picture of how fans think, feel and act when it comes to live events.
We see it as a roadmap for navigating an audience that’s more complex, more selective, and more culture-driven than ever. Dive in!
If you’d like to dig deeper into the report — or set up a private session with your team — reach out to your Bolster client lead, or get in touch with us here.