Ariel Emanuel, the superagent turned entertainment industry mogul, has added the theater ticketing company TodayTix to his growing portfolio.
His new company, Mari, which earlier this year bought Frieze, the prestigious art fair, completed the acquisition on Friday. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
TodayTix, founded in 2013 as a mobile app that aggregated discounts for theater tickets, has successfully sought to disrupt the hidebound business of Broadway ticket sales, which is dominated by companies associated with theater owners.
With dual headquarters in New York and London, TodayTix has over the years expanded significantly. It now sells tickets, mostly at full price, for shows at venues in the United States, Britain and Australia, and although its core offerings are still theater, it also sells tickets to other performing arts events and attractions. One sign of its transformation: In its early years, most Broadway box offices declined to collaborate with the company, leading it to employ a small army of workers, dressed in red, to hand out tickets to buyers on the sidewalks outside shows. Those days are long gone, and now the company says it works with more than 10,000 theaters, producers and cultural institutions.
TodayTix Group, as the company is now called, says it sells about 10 million tickets a year, and accounts for more than 15 percent of all ticket sales on Broadway, and more than 20 percent of all ticket sales in the West End. A survey by the Broadway League found that about 20 percent of patrons look at TodayTix for theater information; the company says its technology not only expedites ticketing transactions, but also helps producers find potential ticket buyers and helps consumers find shows.
“In addition to just TodayTix, it’s a loyalty business and it’s also a pretty sophisticated, A.I.-driven, audience insights business, trying to bring more intuitive ways to reach audiences,” said Brian Fenty, the company’s chief executive. “We’ve really tried to stretch the bounds of what’s possible with bringing technology to theater.”
TodayTix owns several other brands, including Secret Cinema, which stages immersive film-oriented experiences, as well as the audience review website Show-Score.
Fenty founded TodayTix with Merritt Baer (they met as children at theater camp). Baer now serves as artistic director of Secret Cinema. Both founders will stay with the company.
Since 2019, TodayTix has been majority owned by Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm. Great Hill has now sold its stake to Mari. Michael Kumin, Great Hill’s managing director, called it “primarily a cash deal” but said both his company and the TodayTix executives would also become minority shareholders of Mari.
Emanuel runs Mari with Mark Shapiro; the two also worked together at the entertainment company Endeavor. They are describing Mari as a “global events and experiences company” and say they are seeking to grow in the areas of sports, art, lifestyle and entertainment. In addition to Frieze, Mari also owns a pair of tennis tournaments (the Miami and Madrid Opens) as well as a company that auctions collectible cars (Barrett-Jackson).
Emanuel, 64, has plenty of resources; this year Bloomberg deemed him a billionaire. He also has experience in the ticketing world: He was previously on the board of Live Nation, which is a major ticket seller for concerts and other events.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
The post Ari Emanuel Buys TodayTix, Gaining Footing on Broadway and West End appeared first on New York Times.
