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With the increasing popularity and size of live events, alongside rising geopolitical tensions, ensuring the security of venues hosting large gatherings—concerts, sports events, or festivals—has become a critical concern. The security and safety of all attendees require sophisticated strategies, starting from the moment the eventgoer tries to buy a ticket. Ticket fraud is big business—in Britain alone, an estimated £6.7 million was lost to ticket fraud in 2023, according to Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber-crime reporting service, part of the more than $1 trillion lost to scams in general each year.
Traditional security measures often fall short against modern attack methods, especially for high-demand events with valuable tickets, where nearly 40% of ticketing traffic is made up of 'bad bots'. This is where technology steps in, changing the way we protect and manage large crowds. Here are four innovations that stand out for reshaping venue security and providing peace of mind to eventgoers and organizers alike.
Online Sales 2.0: A Direct-to-Fan Approach with Mobile Ticketing
In the digital age, buying a ticket has evolved significantly. The latest tech advance to protect ticket buyers is the introduction of "online sales 2.0," a new paradigm that separates true fans from bots. This transformation addresses a major issue that event organizers often overlook: the security vulnerabilities inherent in traditional ticketing systems, which are susceptible to unauthorized access and ticket resale at inflated prices. Unauthorized bots capture a large share of primary sale tickets only to offer them back for secondary market resell with a considerable margin, making it difficult for genuine fans to secure tickets and attend events.
Engagement-based systems, such as fan engagement platforms, fan clubs, and loyalty programs, have emerged as powerful solutions for prioritizing passionate fans over automated bots. By analyzing fan behavior and engagement levels, these systems can identify genuine fans and grant them priority access to tickets at face value.
Secure mobile-ticketing tech solutions are proving to be game-changers, offering ways to reduce fraud, including real-time ticket monitoring and verification of ticket ownership. Implementing solutions like our own TIXNGO product ensures that only genuine tickets are sold, enhancing the overall event experience and building trust and loyalty among the fan base. Using advanced algorithms and verifications processes, organizers can distinguish between legitimate buyers and scalpers, and anyone is able to distinguish between a genuine and a fake ticket.
I’m a strong advocate for direct-to-fan technology as an important step towards making ticket sales fairer for legitimate fans.
Hybrid Biometric Security System
While facial recognition technology offers streamlined entry processes, its intrusive nature and potential for misuse raise significant privacy concerns, making it unsuitable for mass events. An alternative is a hybrid biometric security system combining facial recognition and palm technology.
Facial recognition can be used selectively to identify a very small percentage of high-risk individuals as they enter the venue, without scanning every attendee. This balances security needs with privacy concerns.
Palm technology, which uses the unique vein patterns in the palm for identification, offers a non-intrusive and user-friendly alternative for general attendee identification. Attendees can choose to identify themselves by placing their palm above a reader, ensuring privacy and control over their data. This method provides high accuracy, hygiene through contactless scanning, ease of use, and enhanced security due to the difficulty in forging vein patterns.
Mobile Alert and Notification Systems: Enhancing Safety Communication
On the event day, the latest alert and notification systems through mobile ticket apps play a critical role in enhancing safety communication, ensuring that ticket holders are well-informed about, general logistics, safety measures and potential risks. Organizers can leverage mobile ticket technology to track ticket lifecycle progress (e.g., download, activation, access control) and communicate in real-time with fans. The systems can send alerts in case of an emergency, redirect fans away from high-risk areas, and control entry points to prevent overcrowding.
Post-event, the data collected from mobile ticketing systems is invaluable for security investigations. Analyzing this data can provide insights into crowd dynamics and help identify any security breaches. It is crucial to handle this data ethically, respecting the privacy of ticket holders while using the information to enhance future security protocols.
Utilizing Analytics and AI to Predict and Manage Fan Behavior
The introduction of real-time data analytics represents a robust solution for event management and security, leveraging mobile ticketing technology to provide contextual information and dynamically respond to evolving situations. Real-time systems excel in delivering precise insights when and where they are most needed, enhancing responsiveness and decision-making.
AI applications are emerging in event security, such as crowd behavior analysis and anomaly detection. For example, AI can analyze crowd movement patterns to identify potential security threats and unusual behavior, improving proactive security measures. However, the technology must move past the hype and small proof-of-concepts phase towards a more robust integration with enterprise tech infrastructure to be used effectively at mass-scale events.
While AI is not yet widely used in live event security, its potential is significant. It is expected to play a more substantial role over the next three to five years, starting with enhancing predictive analytics and moving towards more comprehensive security applications. This gradual integration will ensure that AI technologies are robust and reliable for mass adoption in event security.
What we can do today to set the stage for leveraging these gradual improvements is to ensure event ticket systems are mobile-first and real-time enabled. This setup will allow the systems to detect patterns and take automated actions to address risks, laying the groundwork for more advanced security measures in the future.
As the landscape of live events continues to evolve, so too must our approaches to security. By integrating advanced mobile ticketing, hybrid biometric systems, real-time analytics, and emerging AI applications, we can create safer and more enjoyable experiences for all attendees. These technologies, when developed and implemented thoughtfully, will provide the necessary tools to safeguard the spectacle of live events.
-Rafa Jimenez, SECUTIX Vice President of Product