StubHub, an eBay-owned company, is seeking to expand the Apple TV users' experience with a new app that allows viewers to secure tickets to concerts, sporting events and even TV shows.
Dubbed as the StubHub app, the mobile tool brings the process of browsing and purchasing tickets to your TV, controlling everything from the comfort of the viewer's couch.
It was reportedly developed and tested rigorously to reflect the aesthetics, experience and expectations embedded within the Apple ecosystem. In addition, the development was also driven by the goal to create an emotional engagement rather than a transactional experience.
Once downloaded from the tvOS App Store, Apple TV users will be able to access a custom interface in their television screen. The entries, including performers and artists, are navigated using the Siri Remote. Once an event or a performer is selected, it will then provide all relevant descriptions, including available tickets being sold. Users can also try browsing events using their voice.
Once these steps are completed, the app directs the user to the smartphone in order to complete the payment process.
Aside from simple descriptions, StubHub can also show users the seating section of an event, including high-resolution images of the seat map as well as the view from a particular seat.
Some would probably struggle to imagine finding tickets through their TV. StubHub, after all, claims the distinction of being the first ticketing app for Apple TV. The key, according to the company, is to entice these viewers and encourage them to go out to events by creating a highly visual and energetic content.
"The StubHub design team wanted to create a more custom interface to reflect the emotional nature of event discovery — and the result is an engaging look and feel that maximizes event imagery and seat maps, and is highly intuitive to navigate," Marcus Shelksohn, director for mobile product at StubHub, said in an official statement.
At this point, the company is quite bullish about the StubHub app's prospects. It could be part of its ongoing drive to challenge Ticketmaster in the live-event ticketing market. It maintains that by being first, it is securing a foothold into an emerging market segment. The StubHub team pointed to the manner by which mobile ticketing is poised to claim more than 50 percent of digital tickets sales. This is purportedly complemented by the fact that majority of concertgoers today use their smartphones to check event details, reviews and schedules.
Presently, StubHub only supports fourth-generation Apple TV. It can be downloaded for free on the iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.
