Seat Unique: Meet the premium ticketing company riding the ‘funflation’ wave
It’s summer 2024 and London is buzzing with sports and music events. The sun is out, drink queues are minimal and your phone is even connected to the stadium’s WiFi. Life is good.
That is the vision of Robin Sherry, the founder and chief executive of Seat Unique, a premium tickets and experiences provider.
According to Sherry, the so-called ‘experience economy’ is “booming” as people are splurging on events over material goods.
Last year, a Barclays report found that 11 per cent of Brits were indulging in concert and movie tickets and trimming down other expenses to make up for the shortfall.
But people are not shunning their worldly possessions in return for nothing. “They want a better experience,” said Sherry.
This trend, which has been dubbed ‘funflation’, has moved rapidly post-pandemic. “It’s because there is new fan demand for things like top seats and player access…things like the food matters,” Sherry explained.
Stadiums are moving to adapt to this demand. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium now has 10,000 premium seats and the O2 is opening a 300-person premium members club later this month.
For example, Jacksonville Jaguars have recently produced a package with Seat Unique for 500 fans to sit on the halfway line, right outside the players changing room, with access to a DJ and a bar.
“That’s very much just because there’s a fan demand. They want to spend more money to make it more special.”
And Sherry reckons the mushrooming of the premium events market will keep growing, especially as new technologies like virtual reality (VR) come along and shake up the scene.
Seat Unique was founded just as the pandemic kicked off – “great timing,” said Sherry – but “good investors” got them through the rough patch when events of greater than six were banned.
Big name investors in Seat Unique include former chief of Sky Betting & Gaming, Richard Flint, former English Rugby coach, Clive Woodward, and football and broadcasting legend, Chris Kamara.
The tickets provider has largely flown under the radar so far – this is Sherry’s media debut – but it is getting noticed.
Seat Unique’s ticket sales and revenue recently exceeded £35m, £25m of which was from the past 12 months. The company forecasts £50m of revenue ticket sales on the platform in the next calendar year. Some 300,000 people visit Seat Unique’s site per month, double the number of last year.
Sherry and his wife-cum-business partner, Pip Sherry, already work with Royal Ascot, half of the country’s top cricket clubs, the Welsh Rugby Union and stadiums like Edgbaston and Wembley.
They have 51 partners in total, 12 of which are London-based.
But it comes as London is facing pressure to get its act together after it killed off plans for the MSG Sphere last week, sparking criticism.
Madison Square Garden group abandoned plans to build a new Sphere venue in London, similar to one in Las Vegas, amid what it described as a “political football between rival parties.”
Sherry said the news is “concerning” and that the capital should be investing in projects like MSG, not scaring them away, in order to remain at the forefront of such a competitive space.
He believes that London’s event scene is still very much alive. It is even attracting audiences from across the world, with one fifth of event goers buying tickets from outside the UK, especially for the NFL, the Ashes and concerts.
2024 is set to be a huge year for events. International cricket is returning to Lord’s, the Champions League Final will take place at Wembley in June and, of course, Taylor Swift is set to headline eight London shows.
But Sherry isn’t just here for the big events. Seat Unique has partnered with a host of smaller clubs and venues, too.
“I like some of our smaller partners. If you go to (League 2 club) AFC Wimbledon it’s fantastic. It’s real grassroots football, you can really feel the community and it’s just a great experience.