Capital markets are beginning to test investor appetite for the IPO market. StubHub became the latest high-profile private tech company to file its S1, following CoreWeave and Klarna filings earlier this year.
Below, we leverage expert transcripts and other insights from the AlphaSense platform to assess StubHub and the competitive dynamics of the live events space.
StubHub Winning Share Through Superior Business Model
StubHub was founded in 2000 as the first online marketplace for secondary tickets. In its early years, the company established itself as the go-to destination for buying and selling tickets to live events within the United States. Its growth accelerated through strategic partnerships, such as with Major League Baseball, helping the company to establish itself as the industry leader.
StubHub saw its market share dwindle as more competitors, such as Ticketmaster, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats, entered the space. Then, StubHub’s share took another substantial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of live events.
But in 2025, StubHub — still led by its founder and CEO, Eric Baker — is mounting a comeback. The return of live events following the pandemic was a shot in the arm for the broader industry, and StubHub reaped most of the benefits, according to expert transcripts sourced from the AlphaSense platform.
While we still had good market share, it was definitely clawing and fighting against competitors because by that time, say 2018 going into 2019, SeatGeek maybe had 10% share, Vivid Seats was probably in the 20% share, Ticketmaster maybe 20%. We still had dominant share, but we were starting to lose that. We went into COVID and then came out, and the rest is history as far as being able to rebound. The market has been tremendous since COVID.
“StubHub has seen just insane growth. I think in 2023, they grew 20%. Last year, they grew 30%. I think they’re forecasting more growth in 2025 and even teeing up for a stronger 2026. They’ve definitely rebounded.”
StubHub’s business model features compelling unit economics. Recent breakneck growth has happened at the expense of its peers. Estimates peg StubHub’s market share at 30%-40% today, up from 10%-15% at the height of the pandemic. The vast majority of these gains have come by winning market share from Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats. The company generates revenue through transaction fees, with high gross margins (82%-83%) and strong cash flow generation.
More so than its competitors, StubHub has been able to successfully navigate a challenging environment of rising ticket prices on the primary market as demand for live events has rebounded.
The company has also differentiated itself from the competition through its global reach, with its integrated platform supporting 33 languages and 48 currencies, thus enabling buyers from 200 countries to participate in events around 90+ countries without regional operations. StubHub has achieved this international expansion through strategic planning and influenced by its acquisition by Viagogo, which had a heavy presence across Europe and the United Kingdom.
Branding and Strategic Spending Set StubHub Apart
Experts pinpoint brand recognition as a key differentiator for secondary ticket platforms as a whole. The biggest names like StubHub, Ticketmaster and SeatGeek have a leg up over their smaller peers due in large part to their established trust with consumers.
This marks a change from prior years, when partnering with primary sellers was the main business model for secondary ticket companies. At the heart of this strategy is pricing power, as developing key partnerships enables secondary platforms to secure tickets at the lowest prices. Vivid Seats is a key example experts cite as a company that did this particularly well.
Yet as the industry has evolved and the balance of power has started to shift away from platform companies and toward ticket owners, partnerships have become less of a difference-maker. This shift to a more consumer-centric model has been a headwind for companies like Vivid Seats, allowing StubHub to gain market share.
If Vivid were to do it differently, I think that they would have probably wished that they spent a lot of money several years ago establishing a brand and spending money on product and aligning themselves with official partnerships, because that’s where the industry is headed and that’s where StubHub and Ticketmaster and SeatGeek do invest.”
The consensus among analysts and industry experts is that StubHub is well-positioned to defend its lead in the secondary ticket market. Experts appear particularly optimistic about StubHub’s longer-term prospects relative to the competition, pointing to the strength of its ownership group and its ability to spend strategically.
I think the ownership really knows how to scale and work within and grow the secondary market in a way where it’s not just throwing money at the board. In terms of longevity, the one that’s probably going to be strongest coming in the next five years is StubHub.”
StubHub appears to be focused on new areas of growth for the future. Experts believe that, over the long term, ownership wants to position the company as much more than a ticket resale platform.
What I’ve heard as far as strategically how they’re thinking about the business going forward and what the next chapter of their story is going to be is around primary. Is there going to be a play for them in primary? … Second is becoming a broker of some sort. Third, they talked about this, is this community beyond ticketing and owning more than just the ticket experience.”
The company has accumulated an extensive global first-party dataset over its years of operations across StubHub and Viagogo businesses, which may serve to inform business decisions ahead. Increasingly, StubHub is applying generative AI tools across its tech stack, helping to match buyers and sellers, boost buyer conversion rates, and generate leads for sellers.
Seasonality: Prime Season for Live Events
Seasonality plays a significant role in StubHub’s business, particularly in the context of sports and events. The start of 2025 has been abnormally light on live events versus the historical norm. Yet a busier slate is ahead, as late March is the unofficial start of prime season for live events, according to experts. With NCAA March Madness games, the start of the MLB regular season, and the NHL and NBA playoffs on tap over the next few months, sports ticket prices are broadly expected to rise, benefiting the industry at large.
Obviously, as you start to get into the end of NBA and NHL, as you start getting towards the playoffs, the ticket prices in the playoffs are usually a lot higher. You’re going from March of March Madness, spring training, and baseball into April and then closing out the basketball and hockey season. The concerts for the summer concert series that were announced last year usually start going in May and June. It’s really end of March, early April when a lot of sports and concerts really get going.”
Elevate Your Market Research with AlphaSense
Using the AlphaSense platform, investors can perform a deep dive on any company, including pre-IPO names like StubHub, with ease. Our Canalyst Models provide financial professionals with an extensive library of 4,000+ pre-built, highly accurate, and granular financial models that update automatically. Our company-specific IPO models, including for companies like StubHub, are available within days of filing, enabling faster, more confident decision-making.
Director of Research, Tech, Media and Telecom
Michelle Brophy serves as the Director of Research, Tech, Media and Telecom at AlphaSense. Prior to joining AlphaSense, Michelle spent 3 years as the Strategist for TMT at Guidepoint Insights. Prior to this, Michelle spent 18 years on the buy side, in both portfolio manager and senior equity analyst roles, at Hilltop Park Capital and Kingdon Capital Management. Michelle resides in New York City.
Read all posts written by Michelle Brophy
