Global Social Commerce Report Shows Spike in Revenue and Traffic Driven From Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 23, 2012) - Eventbrite, the leading online registration and ticketing company, today announced findings from an October 2012 study of the revenue and traffic benefits gained when people share events on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Eventbrite was the first to publish data on the impact of social media on revenue back in 2010, and this updated report shows significantly increased values for these new marketing channels.

High-level findings from the report are:

• The value of a social share worldwide rose 81%.
• Traffic generated from social shares has also increased 59%.
• Facebook shares drive the most revenue per share.
• Tweets drive the most traffic.

In the United States -- home to the headquarters for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter -- value of shares follow a consistent pattern seen in almost all of the countries. Facebook leads in value per share at $4.20 for the US, followed by Twitter, which is showing significant increase in value per share at $1.66, and LinkedIn pulling in $.67 for each share of an event.

"At Eventbrite, when we think about sharing, we're thinking about the ways in which people influence one another, and how social media accelerates that influence," said Tamara Mendolsohn, VP of Marketing at Eventbrite. "Because events are inherently social, it's not surprising that we see a compound effect of sharing. And it's interesting to see the values and traffic driven from a share continue to rise despite the increase in volume of sharing across social networks."

The Metrics and Findings
Eventbrite identified two important metrics to track when measuring social commerce behavior:

• Visits Per Share - the amount of additional traffic generated by each act of sharing.
• Dollars Per Share - the average value of the additional tickets sold through this share. Note: all figures are represented in US dollars, but can be converted to preferred currency.

At a high level, Eventbrite data shows a considerable increase in the value of a social share, across all social networks -- and the traffic each share drives. It's particularly interesting that the dollar value has increased despite the staggering user adoption on social networks and the amount of sharing we do.

Here are the key highlights and trends we have found:

• Dollars Per Share have almost doubled across social networks -- and Facebook drives more revenue than any other platform. Since we first reported these numbers in 2010, the average, aggregate Dollars Per Share have increased (81%) from $1.78 to $3.23. Twitter saw the greatest increase (330%) from $0.43 to $1.85, while Facebook saw healthy growth (65%) from $2.52 to $4.15. Dollars per LinkedIn share increased only slightly (2%) from $0.90 to $0.92.
  
  This means that every time an event is shared on Facebook worldwide, it drives on average $4.15 in additional revenue back to the organizer. And on average across all social networks, the value of a social share drives $3.23 in additional revenue for the event each time someone shares. 
  
  
• Visits Per Share have also increased, with Twitter shares driving more event page traffic than Facebook and LinkedIn. Over the last two years, the average number of people who click on an Eventbrite link shared by organizers and attendees through social media has increased from 7 to 17 visits per share. Links shared on Facebook now drive 14 visits back to Eventbrite, compared with 11 in 2010. Twitter drives the most visits with 33 visits per share, while LinkedIn users visit Eventbrite event pages an average of 10 times for every link that's shared.
  
  

Global Highlights
Although the previous reports have included global data, in the last year, Eventbrite has expanded into 14 markets with localized offerings and translated platforms in seven languages. Accordingly, this new report is even more reflective of international figures and trends. 

Here are the interesting sharing trends we see throughout the world:

• Italy shares the most. If we look at the number of people who share an event, compared to the number of people who buy a ticket, the highest sharing activity on Eventbrite occurs in Italy (14%), with share rates that are double those of Australia and Ireland (each at 7%), the two countries with the lowest share rates.
  
  
• The Brits click the most. When it comes to sharing events created on Eventbrite, the data shows UK users clicking on their friends' links the most. Every time someone in the UK shares an Eventbrite event on Facebook, 22 of their friends and contacts click on the link.
  
  
• Ireland has the lowest share rate, but the highest Dollars Per Share. While users in Ireland are less likely to share, when they do, it has the highest impact among all of the countries in our report. When a user in Ireland shares an event on Facebook, on average it drives $10.37 in additional ticket sales. On Twitter the number is similarly high, driving $9.03 in additional ticket sales for every tweet. 
  
  
• Canada boasts high Dollars Per Share and is more evenly shared across networks. On average, every Facebook share in Canada drives $4.51 in additional ticket sales, while Canadian tweets drive $2.97. LinkedIn is also high compared to other countries, driving $3.13 per share.
  
  

Platform Showcase
While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have all embraced international expansion, we see varying levels of adoption and engagement when it comes to sharing events around the world.

• Facebook: Australia shows a high Dollars Per Share on Facebook at $5.32. While the highest dollars per Facebook share award goes to Ireland at a whopping $10.37. Australia is the next in line. Third on the list is Canada with $4.51 in value per share.
  
  
• Twitter: The value of a Twitter share is highest in Ireland, Canada and The Netherlands. Ireland gets the prize at $9.03 in value per tweet, Canada shows $2.97 per tweet and The Netherlands brings in an additional $2.42 each time an event is shared on Twitter.
  
  
• LinkedIn: Dollars Per Share on LinkedIn is highest in France at $12.56. This is roughly four times the Dollars Per Share values for LinkedIn in The Netherlands and Italy, which are $3.33 and $3.21, respectively.
  
  

The full Eventbrite Social Commerce Report and methodology can be found here.

About Eventbrite:
Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event and has processed over $1 billion in gross ticket sales. The online event registration service makes it easy for everyone to discover events, and to share the events they are attending with the people they know. In this way, Eventbrite brings communities together by encouraging people to connect through live experiences. Eventbrite's investors include Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, and Tenaya Capital. Learn more at www.eventbrite.com.