Groupon has moved closer to CEO Andrew Mason’s vision of being a “city guide” via “GrouponLive,” a new events source featuring various Live Nation events. “The Live email” is being sent out to Ticketmaster’s regular opt-in list. It is also available to users who go to the site. Live Nation says GrouponLive will be a “local resource for Live Nation events, ranging from concerts, sports, theater, arts and other live events.”
Synergies between city guides and events companies have been tried before. Citysearch and TicketMaster had been tied together several years ago under IAC, which had merged the two companies. TicketMaster sought to send event goers to nearby restaurants, bars, etc.
The new Groupon Live partnership could generate more traffic, building a better advertising base – Ticketmaster’s own email already sells advertising. It could also take advantage of Groupon’s transactional capabilities, moving Groupon more squarely against social event transactions companies such as Eventbrite.
Looking further out, it could also move Groupon into more of an events-listing direction, competing against companies such as Eventful, Zvents and others. For now, however, it only promises to showcase Live Nation events.