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StubHub to launch ‘virtual view feature’ in UK

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 23 June 2016

eBay’s secondary ticketing site StubHub has announced it is introducing “a whole new element to the ticket buying experience in the UK” by adding the ‘virtual view feature’ that is already available in the US to its platform over here.

What’s that? Well, it’s a little VR-esque widget whereby ticket buyers can see the “view from the seat they are about to purchase” in “a crisp and clear 360 degree” format “via the app from their mobile phone”. They can look around the venue by moving the phone or, if they plonk their device into some cardboard specs, by moving their heads.

The service is obviously only available when StubHub is reselling tickets for shows at venues where it has shot all the relevant footage. The service will be available for the first time in the UK for a boxing event happening at The O2. The upgraded seat view function will also be available for venues like the Wembley Arena, Royal Albert Hall and Twickenham Stadium.

Says StubHub’s International General Manager Estanis Martín de Nicolás: “StubHub is committed to bringing the best possible ticket experience to its customers and we are proud to be the first ticketing company to utilise virtual reality in the UK. The Virtual View feature allows customers to get a much better sense of the real view that they will experience from each seat before they buy it”.

On the up side, offering that functionality means StubHub is presumably fulfilling its obligation to tell ticket buyers which seats they are booking. If only there could be a VR Mumford & Sons shouting “stop buying touted tickets” into the user’s face, all would be well.