We all have goals. As an event organiser, one of yours is probably to make a certain amount of money on ticket sales.
When you’re forecasting ticket revenue, you might start with some simple math:
- Say you have 1000 potential spots (your max capacity)
- If you sell tickets for $50 each…
- And they all sell…
- You’ll make $50,000 on ticket sales
Easy enough, but there are complications. For one thing, you might be selling more than one type of ticket: early bird, VIP, one-day passes, all-weekend passes. You don’t necessarily have a specific number of each, so your ultimate revenue could vary. And more importantly, your event is not guaranteed to sell out.
The above method of estimating revenue is pretty basic, and not all that helpful. Which is why, as ticket sales commence, many event organisers use another method to gauge their potential revenue: Average Price per Ticket. Say you’ve sold 100 tickets so far, and you’ve made $800. You’re averaging $80 per ticket — better than you expected!
Unfortunately, this method doesn’t provide a complete picture. For one thing, it doesn’t take unsold tickets into account. You might be averaging more per ticket than you did last year, but if you’re selling fewer tickets, you could still end up with less overall revenue than you predicted.
There’s a better, more helpful metric: RPS
As your on-sale period moves along, there’s a more holistic way to measure ticket sales and potential revenue. It’s called Revenue Per Spot, or RPS. Using this metric can help you make more informed marketing decisions in the weeks leading up to your event so you can meet your goals.
To calculate your RPS:
- Take your total revenue on tickets so far
- Divide this number by how many spots you have, total
So if you have 1000 available spots, with several different pricing options, and you’ve sold 750 of them so far, for a total of $37,500:
$37,500 / 1000 = $37.50
… not the $50 per ticket you had envisioned.
Every available ticket represents an opportunity to make money. As a marketer, your job is to make as much money as you can on each one of those opportunities. Even if your average ticket price is high, unsold inventory will drag down your total revenue. Measuring your RPS, and tracking it over time, will give you the bigger picture.
Set goals, then follow up with them
As the event draws near, track how you’re doing against your ticket sales goal. By calculating your RPS over time, you can make informed decisions about when to run marketing promotions or consider discounting tickets.
Offering special promotions or discounted tickets might lower your average ticket price, but ultimately increase your RPS — and more importantly, your overall revenue. For example, if you’ve sold 75% of your tickets, but that last 25% isn’t moving, your RPS is being dragged down. You might choose to enlist a third-party distribution option to offer discounted tickets with very little effort.
Goldstar, an Eventbrite Spectrum partner, is one such option. By offering tickets to your event at a discounted price, you’ll reach a wider audience. This might lower your Average Ticket Price, but substantially increase your RPS, and, more importantly, your overall revenue.
Selling more tickets is not just great for revenue, by the way. It’s hard to understate the impact of a full house. A full house means more money for you, and a more vibrant experience for your audience, performers, and other stakeholders. It also means more potential revenue for your food and beverage and merchandise partners inside the door.
By measuring your RPS over time, you can make more informed marketing decisions to sell as many tickets — at the highest average price — as possible.
For pro tips about how to price your tickets most effectively, read Your Value-Based Pricing Strategy: How to Price Your Event.
