Viagogo has been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog after claiming that more than half the events listed on its site had tickets selling below face value.
An ad for the ticket resale site, heard in April last year during an episode of the Political Currency podcast hosted by George Osborne and Ed Balls, stated: “This episode is sponsored by Viagogo, the world’s leading marketplace that helps fans safely buy and sell tickets to their favourite live events.”
Mr Balls, a former Labour shadow chancellor, told listeners: “Did you know that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value?”
Mr Osborne, a former Conservative chancellor, continued: “It sounds like Viagogo might be the solution next time I need cheaper tickets to the hottest shows in town.”
FanFair Alliance complained that the claim “over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value” was misleading.
Viagogo said it calculated “face value” by starting with the base price of a ticket, excluding booking fees, service charges, delivery fees or any other charges, and then applying a 20% increase.
They said the claim compared the Viagogo price, including all fees and charges, against the face value price including the 20% for fees and charges, which they believed was an appropriate like-for-like comparison.
On that basis, in 2023, of all UK events for which tickets were sold on Viagogo’s marketplace, 53% had at least one ticket sold at below face value, it told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA said: “We considered that definition did not reflect consumers’ understanding of the face value of a ticket, because it included the various booking fees and other charges paid by consumers.
“We also understood that it did not reflect Viagogo’s own use of the term face value on their website, where it related to the ticket price.
“Because of the disparity between the ticket price and Viagogo’s definition of face value, we considered that the data provided was not relevant in supporting the claim as it would be understood by consumers.”
Further, the ASA noted that under Viagogo’s definition, 53% of events listed on the website had sold at least one ticket below face value.
The ASA said: “We considered, however, that one ticket per event was not a significant proportion of tickets and, as such, did not represent a reasonable chance for consumers to purchase tickets below face value.
“For the above reasons, we considered that the claim, as it would be understood by consumers, had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.”
The ASA added: “We told Viagogo to ensure that they did not mislead consumers by claiming that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value, if that was not the case.”
A Viagogo spokeswoman said: “The advertisement in question is from last year, has been discontinued and has not aired since then.
“Viagogo is a safe, secure and regulated global online marketplace and we are fully compliant in the UK.”
