FT has more attendees, at cheaper price, for virtual event

Lucinda Southern of Digiday writes about the FT Weekend Festival, which has gone virtual and has more paid attendees at a lower price.

Southern writes, “Three weeks ahead of the 2020 event, ticket bookings are 37% ahead of where they were this time last year for the in-person event, which had nearly 4,000 attendees. Roughly 40% are non-subscribers, similar to last year. Francescone wouldn’t say exactly how close to 4,000, but pointed out that decision making for digital event purchases is later than in-person. For example, for the Global Boardroom, the FT’s two-day free-to-access virtual conference this past May, the number of bookings doubled on the day of the event. More than 50,000 registered from 150 countries. The FT is planning another Global Boardroom event in November but with free and ticketed tiers starting at $65. The event additionally converted hundreds of people to FT subscribers, said Francescone.

“Naturally, the virtual ticket price is cheaper, billed at £45 ($58.84) and £35 ($45.76) for subscribers. That’s roughly 45% cheaper than the physical ticket price, which is typical for a pricing strategy, said Franscescone.

“The debate around virtual ticket pricing is growing louder as brands and publishers figure out if they can start charging for content they were previously giving away for free.”

Read more here.