Whitepaper: Bots vs. Fans

With concert season in full swing, it means many of us are hunting for tickets to shows like Lady Gaga’s much-delayed Chromatica Ball. There’s a lot happening after a lot of nothing, and that’s great!

What’s not great is the price of concert tickets. The reason? Robots are still better than humans at grabbing a deal. Even after Congress passed the, aptly named Stopping Grinch Bots Act in 2021, after Ticketmaster (among others) launched verified fans systems and after more artists committed to face value ticket access, the system is still broken and massively out-teched by the secondary market. By some accounts less than 10% of tickets are available at face value to popular events today.

So what’s the answer? Combo worked with one of Broadway’s leading investors to develop one approach – a marketplace that would reward infrequent shopping behaviors.

The concept was simple: bots have no sense of sacrifice. While real fans will wait and save up for the chance at a Beyoncé ticket, bots voraciously grab everything they can. Our model built a system that penalized high-frequency shoppers while rewarding the patient and more deserving fans.