DEAG Acquires 75% Of UK Ticket Agency Gigantic

German promoter and ticketing operator Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) announced the acquisition of a 75% stake in British ticket agency Gigantic Holdings Limited for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition – made via DEAG’s British subsidiary MyTicket Services LTD – gives DEAG an increased share of third-party content and non-Group events.

Gigantic Tickets LTD was established by Mark Gasson in April 2007. James Woodward joined the company in 2011. Together they built Gigantic into one of the UK’s leading independent ticketing agencies, providing ticketing solutions for events, venues and promoters around the UK and Europe. 

Gigantic exclusively services third-party content.

In 2019, it launched its fan to fan re-sale platform, and forayed into paperless ticketing on the Ed Sheeran summer 2019 UK shows.

In a joint statement, Gasson and Woodward, who will remain shareholders and continue to manage the company on a long-term basis, said: “We are extremely proud that we have established and maintained consistent growth for Gigantic in a competitive marketplace. We now look forward to continuing this growth alongside the committed team at Myticket.”

A My Ticket statement reads: “Myticket limited is delighted to be working with Mark and James who have built a company with a reputation for providing reliable, customer focused and honest ticketing. Gigantic will remain an independent company and will continue to do great work for Promoters, festivals and customers throughout the UK.”

DEAG continues to expand its business activities in the UK, after acquiring promoter Flying Music Group in August 2017, and Belladrum Festival in Scotland in 2018. 

“As the second largest market in the media and entertainment industry in the EMEA economic area, the UK offers significant growth opportunities, particularly through digitalisation in the ticketing sector,” a company statement reads.

DEAG operates ticketing the platforms MyTicket.de, MyTicket.co.uk and MyTicket.at. Gigantic, which will continue to operate as an independent company, adds around 2 million registered end customers.

DEAG expects the number of tickets sold via its own ticketing platforms MyTicket.de, MyTicket.co.uk and MyTicket.at to increase organically to over 1.1 million in the current financial year. 

In view of the strong organic growth in ticketing and the latest acquisition, Gigantic, DEAG plans to at least double the number of tickets sold via its own platforms next year to over 2 million, expecting MyTicket to become DEAG’s “fastest growing business segment and an important earnings driver in 2020.”