Tixel, a secondary ticketing marketplace operating in Australia, the UK and the US, has published The Live Equation 2030: The Future of Ticketing.

The research was conducted by Kantar in mid-2026 who surveyed 5,107 people across the three markets.

The report is a commercial publication by a resale platform, and its framing favours flexible resale and platform-led solutions, however the survey work itself is by a reputable research house with a substantial Australian sample, and the market comparisons are the most useful part for our purposes.

This is the first substantial three-market comparison we have seen that attributes Australia’s lower fraud and inflated-pricing rates to our local legislative response.

The report supports our position on ticketing transparency and the value of greater ticketing oversight. 

Key findings

Attendance and demand

• Australia recorded the highest attendance rate of the three markets, at 76 per cent in the past twelve months.
• A further 26 per cent wanted or tried to attend and did not.
  Australians showed the strongest presale behaviour, at 20 per cent, against 15 per cent in the UK and 13 per cent in the US.

Price

• 69 per cent of Australian fans named ticket price as a barrier, the highest of the three markets and above the 63 per cent global figure.
• Fans across all markets assess affordability across the whole cost of attendance, including travel, associated costs and processing fees added at checkout.
• Two thirds of lower income households globally still bought a ticket or attended an event in the past twelve months, and their expectations of what makes an event worth it match those of higher income households.

Resale regulation

• The report identifies Australia as having the strongest fan protection against predatory resale of the three markets, on the basis of state-legislated price caps.
• Australians reported the lowest rate of ticket fraud, 17 per cent, against 25 per cent in the UK and 29 per cent in the US.
• Australians reported the lowest exposure to inflated resale prices, 38 per cent ever, against 49 per cent and 56 per cent.
• Among fans who do buy resale, Australians are still less likely to be overcharged, 52 per cent against 66 per cent of Americans, so the difference is not simply lower resale participation.
• The report states directly that Australia’s figures are not evidence that resale rules fail, but what the problem looks like once rules have been applied.
• The UK’s proposed cap on resale above face value was published in draft in May 2026 and is not expected in law before 2027-28. The US has no federal cap.

Demand for further reform

• 81 per cent of Australian fans said ticketing platforms need stronger and clearer rules.
• 72 per cent believe bots and brokers are responsible for inflated resale prices.
• 70 per cent believe it is becoming harder for real fans to access major music events at fair prices.
• 60 per cent expect brokers and bots to increasingly control access.
• Globally, fans who most trust ticketing platforms are the most likely to demand stronger rules, 87 per cent against 79 per cent of others.
• The report observes that Australia asks for reform more quietly than the UK despite having the strongest protections, and cautions against reading that as satisfaction.

Australian attitudes

• Across all sixteen attitude statements tested, Australia’s strongly agree share sat below both the UK and the US, by three to sixteen points, with the gap widest among younger fans.
• The report attributes this to expression rather than feeling, noting Australia attends at the highest rate of the three, and cites Kantar Global Monitor data showing cost of living and housing pressure intensifying faster in Australia than in the UK or US.
• Implication for the sector: soft survey sentiment in the Australian market should not be read as soft demand.

Young fans

• 30 per cent of Australian Gen Z reported ticket fraud in the past twelve months, against 13 per cent of over-30s.
• Globally, fans who bought a resale ticket from the top search result were defrauded at 52 per cent, against 29 per cent of other resale buyers, and Gen Z buy that way four times as often as over-60s.
• 71 per cent of Australian Gen Z said resale confidence increased their willingness to buy, against 64 per cent of older Australians.

Group purchasing and ticket limits

• Globally, 22 per cent of fans buy for the group, 20 per cent will not commit until a friend does, rising to 27 per cent for Gen Z, and 7 per cent did not attend anything because nobody else was interested.
• The report notes that ticket limits designed to stop brokers apply identically to groups of friends, and quotes an Australian artist manager on limits of four to six being standard practice.
• This is a live design tension for grassroots onsales that the Board may wish to note.