Ticketmaster changes pricing practices following CMA investigation

On 25 September 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that Ticketmaster has agreed to legally binding undertakings designed to improve transparency in its ticket sales processes. The undertakings stem from the CMA’s investigation into Ticketmaster’s sale of tickets to the “Oasis Live ’25 Tour”, which was launched following consumer complaints about their purchasing experience.

Background to the CMA’s investigation

In September 2024, the CMA opened an investigation into Ticketmaster’s compliance with consumer protection law - particularly the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 - in relation to the sale of tickets to the “Oasis Live ’25 Tour”.

The CMA set out to consider, among other things, whether people were given clear information about any algorithmic “dynamic pricing” (where prices adjust automatically in response to demand), and whether people were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time at higher prices than they had expected.

In a March 2025 progress update the CMA said that Ticketmaster did not use dynamic pricing, but it nonetheless had other concerns and was consulting with Ticketmaster on changes to its practices (as reported in a previous edition of our Competition & Regulatory newsletter). Specifically, the CMA considered that Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law by:

• Marketing “platinum” seats at up to 2.5 times standard prices without sufficiently clarifying that they offered no extra benefits and were often in the same area of the stadium, potentially giving consumers a misleading impression that platinum tickets were better; and
• Failing to inform consumers that standing tickets were sold in two price tiers, with all of the cheaper standing tickets sold first before the more expensive standing tickets were released, leaving many fans queuing for a long time without knowing the final price and then having to decide on the spot whether to pay more than expected.

Although Ticketmaster had made some changes to its ticket sales process during the investigation, the CMA considered these insufficient to address its concerns.

Ticketmaster’s commitments

Ticketmaster’s voluntary commitments require it to:

• Provide fans with 24 hours’ notice if a tiered pricing system is being used, so that fans know beforehand that there are multiple prices for the same ticket and that when the cheaper tickets sell out the more expensive tickets will be released;
• Provide more price information during online queues so that fans can anticipate what they may have to pay – including, for example, setting out the range of prices available when people join the queue, and updating fans promptly when the cheaper tickets sell out; and
• Ensure that ticket labels are accurate and do not give the impression that some tickets are better than others when this is not the case.

Ticketmaster is required to implement the commitments within six weeks and will be subject to a two-year monitoring period. The commitments do not amount to an admission of any infringement by Ticketmaster.

Conclusion

The commitments are the latest example of the CMA’s ongoing focus on online marketplaces in consumer law enforcement.

This investigation was initiated under the previous consumer law regime, under which the CMA could only accept undertakings from a company under investigation or otherwise apply to court to seek an enforcement order.

Following the reforms introduced by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 which came into force in April 2025, the CMA has the power to issue infringement decisions for consumer law breaches and directly impose fines of up to 10 per cent of a business’ global turnover (see our client briefing for more detail). Against this backdrop it is important for businesses to review their compliance with consumer protection law.

With thanks to Maxwell Curtis.