Did BMS Get the Coldplay Concert Pricing Really, Really Wrong?
At first glance, it might seem like they did. Over a million people were willing to pay the ticket price set by BMS, while the stadium can only fit less than 100,000. Why not crank the price up by 10X and rake in that extra cash?
Well, it turns out pricing isn't just a simple numbers game. If it were, BMS and every other event organizer would auction off tickets or set up surge pricing algorithms to squeeze every last penny out of die-hard fans. But pricing decisions are way more strategic than just maximizing one concert’s profits—they’re about setting up wins for hundreds of events down the road.
Now, imagine BMS did set a price of INR 60,000 per ticket (the going rate on the black market). Sure, they'd make 10X the revenue, but who would be buying those tickets? Mostly a small crowd from South Delhi and Bombay. Meanwhile, here I am, a person who didn't care about the concert, writing a post about it. That’s the power of lower pricing—it generates buzz. Think about Xiaomi's early days, when their phones used to get sold out in mere seconds. By keeping prices somewhat accessible, these companies created massive hype. Sure, they could've made more short-term cash, but they would've lost out on the avalanche of free publicity and long-term brand loyalty.
Another key point: surge pricing is a PR minefield. Remember when Uber jacked up their fares by 10X during peak demand? It sparked so much outrage that governments stepped in to regulate it. People hate paying more for the same thing someone else got cheaper, especially when it feels opportunistic.
Finally, pricing needs to be straightforward. Governments auction off limited resources to find the true market value, but you can’t pull that off in a consumer market. Regular people don’t have teams of analysts figuring out what they should pay—they just want a clear, reasonable price. That’s why you see simplified versions of auctions in consumer markets, but never a perfectly "economically efficient" one.
So while it might look like BMS left money on the table, their pricing was likely the result of solid market research and savvy strategy. In fact, all this speculation over ticket prices? Probably part of their plan too.
Marketing professional/advocate
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