Really Useful launches agency in challenge to Ticketmaster

The Really Useful Company, the West End production firm founded by musical impresario Lord (Andrew) Lloyd Webber, is to challenge Tickermaster's dominance of the ticketing market by launching its own agency.

Really Useful, which is behind musicals such as Bombay Dreams and Cats, already sells tickets for its own shows and other events, including the Ideal Home Exhibition, through three subsidiaries.

But the group is to shake things up by merging the businesses and relaunching them under one brand, See. The venture is being headed by Nick Blackburn, who said the aim was to break the stranglehold that Ticketmaster, the UK's number one ticketing agency, has on the £460m business.

"We're not that far behind Ticketmaster already but I want this to become an established name," said Mr Blackburn, who is also chairman of the Football League Second Division club Queens Park Rangers. "It's hard to differentiate in this market but our research found that Ticketmaster is not a popular brand. It is a brand people have to use rather than they want to use. We want See to be a brand people want to use." Around £14m is being invested in the project.

As part of the relaunch, the agency website will be overhauled to include more background information on events. See also intends to maintain a database to allow it to keep in touch with customers, including informing them of upcoming events.

This, said Mr Blackburn, would also help drive volumes and therefore profits: "This is a very tight-margin business. It's all down to building your volumes; I don't believe in overcharging the public."

See will launch at the end of this month and Mr Blackburn intends it to become "the UK's number one ticketing brand" within five years. There are no plans to spin out the operation but Mr Blackburn has not ruled out such a move. Really Useful is half-owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital.