Wilfred Genee is playing well again, but the organization of the VI event in the Ziggo Dome has now confirmed it: “Yes, ticket sales are a bit lower than last year.”
The men from Today Inside will be in the Ziggo Dome next weekend to record a New Year’s Eve special for SBS 6. People can attend, but will have to pay deep into their pockets for regular tickets. On the other hand, tickets have also been available in recent weeks at dump prices in the VakantieVeilingen bargain bin.
PR nightmare
Wilfred Genee immediately shouted on television that the tickets were not put on the auction site out of panic, but that the less good seats had been there from the start. “I think this really could have been a PR nightmare for Today Inside Live. I think they actually got through the eye of the needle,” says media critic Victor Vlam.
He continues in the podcast The Communicados: “The core of the problem is that those tickets were sold via VakantieVeilingen and that simply has a very bad image. The André Hazes concert is also sold out in this way. That’s something that was a few days ago, so obviously it was fresh in my mind.”
Ramsh
It just doesn’t sound right, agrees co-host Lars Duursma, a famous communications expert. “Yes, it is a bit the equivalent of the Ramsj in books, so to speak. You cannot maintain that you have a well-selling book if it is also available in bookstores in the Ramsj at the same time.”
Victor: “That’s right, exactly. It did not sell for high prices at VakantieVeilingen either, but always for a few euros and that also makes it clear that there is not a lot of enthusiasm for it. If you can spend three euros and get a ticket, then yes, it is already clear that it is not very popular.”
Remarkable
Wilfred therefore states that those tickets had been on that auction site from the beginning. Lars: “I think it is a remarkable defense, because the core is: no, we have not been dumping them recently, we have been dumping them since the beginning. I don’t know if that makes this story much stronger, haha.”
Still, it is good that Wilfred makes it clear that it was not panic football, according to Victor. Then, according to him, a different picture emerges. “That would of course have been even worse. I think they were wise to communicate that part clearly.”
Moderate ticket sales
The organization of Today Inside Live now admits that ticket sales are a bit slower, says Victor. “I had the organizer on the phone and I immediately asked him: ‘Now that I have you on the phone, I would like to ask you some other questions.’ One of the questions I asked him was: what about sales?”
“I asked: is the analysis correct that it does not sell very well? Well, he indeed confirms that. Sales are not going as well as last year, so that was of course the core of our analysis and it turns out to be correct.”
To advertisers
What happens to all those tickets that aren’t sold? They can go for free. “What will happen is that the inner ring, if it is still available at the end of the week, will probably be given to Talpa relations.”
Then you should think, for example, of an advertiser such as Heineken, according to Victor. “That means, for example, that they will receive an offer to come there with 50 people and the management will probably also be allowed to take a photo with Wilfred, René and Johan.”