AEG’s Ticketing Outlet AXS Is Coming to Australia

AXS is making its move into Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S. ticketing giant taps Andrew Travis to lead the domestic affiliate as chief executive officer for Australia and NZ.

AXS (pronounced “access”) is part of the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) which, in 2019, struck a formal joint venture with Frontier Touring, following a years-long “handshake” agreement on concerts inventory.

AEG launched AXS in 2011 as a ticketing platform to rival Ticketmaster, which the year before had merged with Live Nation, the arch-rival of Frontier Touring.

AXS “believes in empowering the venue with the tools to act on real-time data, enable seamless organizational efficiency, and a simple customer journey,” reads the mission statement on its website.

AXS

With Travis, AXS recruits an experienced sports, events and venue management professional, most recently with Melbourne & Olympic Parks (M&OP), where he served as COO with responsibilities for the development and operation of the live sport and entertainment precinct. Its assets include Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park, John Cain Arena, and Margaret Court Arena.

Prior to that, Travis led the Gold Coast Suns AFL franchise as chief executive.

Based in Melbourne, Travis will be tasked with introducing AXS and its technology to local venues, promoters, artists, and fans.

“I am delighted to be joining the team at AXS and to have been given the opportunity to lead this exciting expansion into the Australia and NZ market,” he enthuses in a statement, issued Friday (Feb. 3).

“I look forward to super serving venues to optimise their ticketing operations and drive improved customer outcomes and satisfaction.”

According to the company, its businesses throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia process over U.S. $3.5 billion in combined transactions each year, and works with over 350 partners worldwide, including venues as The O2 in London, O2 Arena in London and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

“We are thrilled to have Andrew lead AXS’ entry into the vibrant Australian and New Zealand live event market,” comments Los Angeles-based AXS chief executive Bryan Perez.

“His extensive experience as an industry leader in sports and entertainment venues gives him a keen insight into their goals and ambitions and the challenges they’ve had realising them. He is the right person to help AXS address those challenges in a new and innovative way to the benefit of fans, artists and team throughout the region.”

AXS arrives in a multi-billion-dollar ticketing landscape dominated by Ticketmaster and TEG’s Ticketek, along with several key independents, which includes Oztix, “humane” ticketing company Humanitix and resale platform Tixel.

And it times its entry just as business booms across the country, following the deep-freeze that was the pandemic, which saw borders and venues closed around the globe for two-plus years.