Top 17 Event Ticket Affiliate Programs in 2025 (Concerts, Sports, Theater Performances)

The revenue in the event ticket market is projected to reach US$88.45bn in 2025, according to Statista.

With the increasing demand for live entertainment, affiliates have a great opportunity to earn high commissions by promoting tickets for various events.

In this article, we will explore 17 leading event ticket affiliate programs, covering concerts, sports, theater, and festivals. Let’s dive into and find the best service for your audience.

TL;DR:

You can choose from various trusted event ticket brands to partner with. Let’s take a look at the best affiliate programs to help you increase your earnings:

• Vivid Seats (Commission: 6%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Ticketmaster (Commission: $0.30, Cookie: 30 days)
• TicketNetwork (Commission: 12.5%, Cookie: 45 days)
• CityPass (Commission: 6%, Cookie: 90 days)
• AwesomeSeating.com (Commission: 7%, Cookie: 365 days)
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not (Commission: 2%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Event Tickets Center (Commission: 3%, Cookie: 14 days)
• Ticket Liquidator (Commission: 10%, Cookie: 30 days)
• SeatGeek (Commission: 1%, Cookie: 30 days)
• The Event Calendar (Commission: 25%, Cookie: 30 days)

Recommended for every Shopify merchant, UpPromote affiliate software helps you create programs, set commissions, and manage tracking and payments. We cover everything you need to run successful affiliate campaigns.

17 Best Event Ticket Affiliate Programs in 2025

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick summary of the best affiliate programs for you:

1. Vivid Seats

Vivid Seats is recognized as one of the largest American ticket exchange and resale companies. They act as a middleman between sellers and buyers, supporting transactions for various entertainment events.

The Vivid Seats affiliate program provides a 6% commission rate for each ticket sold. You have 30 days of cookie duration to get earnings from the visitor’s first click.

You can put their beautiful pre-made banners on your website to impress your audiences. You can access their tracking dashboard to view your promotional results.

2. Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster is a leading American ticket sales and distribution company for various entertainment activities. They also have a secondary marketplace where fans can buy and sell tickets for sold-out events.

Affiliates can enjoy a $0.30 commission for each successful sale. Your commissions are approved if the audience buys tickets within 30 days from their first click.

Their affiliate program is managed through Impact. You can access the network’s tracking dashboard to monitor your clicks, sales, and commissions in real time.

3. TicketNetwork

TicketNetwork connects buyers and sellers for live entertainment events, including concerts, sports, and theater performances. They provide a 200% guarantee on transactions made through their Mercury Web Services.

They pay affiliates a commission rate of 12.5% for successful purchases. With an average order value of $350, you can earn approximately $44 per sale. The cookie lasts 45 days from the visitor’s first click on your link.

The brand provides many beautiful banners, text links, and other pre-created creatives to support your promotions. You can access their daily data feed to keep updated with the latest product information.

4. CityPass

CityPASS offers discounted tickets for various popular attractions and events across North America. Their packages provide 30% to 50% discounts on included attractions’ regular admission prices.

Their affiliate program allows you to earn a 6% commission rate. You have up to 3 months to earn money on purchases from the customer’s first click.

You can leverage their attractive banners and text links to impress your audience and drive more sales. You can also check your clicks, sales, and commissions via their tracking dashboard.

5. AwesomeSeating.com

AwesomeSeating.com offers millions of popular, sold-out, hard-to-find tickets across various event genres. Their ticket orders have a 100% money-back guarantee for delivery issues, invalid tickets, or cancellations.

They provide a commission rate of 7% for every successful order via your link. You may enjoy about $31 for each sale with an average order size of $445. The long referral window allows you to earn money on sales within 1 year of the customer’s initial click.

The brand runs their affiliate program via Shareasale. You can sign in to the network and get your unique link to start promoting their service.

6. Ripley’s Believe It or Not

Besides producing cartoons, books, and TV shows, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has 27 museums across the world. Users can buy daily tickets or apply for memberships to enjoy better prices.

The brand pays a commission rate of 2% for every successful order via your link. You can earn commissions on purchases made within 30 days from the customer’s initial click.

Their event affiliate program operates through CJ Affiliate. You can check your clicks, conversions, sales, and commissions through their tracking dashboard.

7. Event Tickets Center

Event Tickets Center helps fans access tickets to their favorite events, even if they are sold out at the primary box office. Their interactive seating chart makes it easier for customers to choose their preferred seats.

Ticket affiliates may earn about a 3% commission on all successful sales. You have 2 weeks to earn money on purchases from the first click with the 14-day cookie duration.

They will assist you with numerous impressive ready-to-use creatives. You can use them to make your promotions more attractive and increase conversions.

8. Ticket Liquidator

Ticket Liquidator sells popular and hard-to-find event tickets with a 100% money-back guarantee if events are canceled or tickets are not delivered on time. Users can search events by artist, venue, or location and apply filters for price and seating options.

The company gives you a 10% commission for each purchase you refer. The cookie period will remain valid for 30 days after the visitor’s first click on your link.

You can add their pre-designed banners and text links to your site and start promoting their services. They also update you with the latest product information and exclusive offers to boost your commissions.

9. SeatGeek

SeatGeek is a mobile-focused platform that lets users buy and sell event tickets, including sports, concerts, and theater performances. Their Deal Score technology evaluates ticket listings based on price, location, and other factors to help users find the best deals.

The Seekgeek affiliate program offers a 1% commission rate for all purchases via your link. You have 30 days to earn money on sales from the customer’s first click.

SeatGeek partners with Impact to run their program. You must sign up for Impact to join this event ticket affiliate program.

10. The Event Calendar

The Events Calendar is a widely used WordPress plugin to help users manage and showcase events and tickets on their websites. Users can add events, manage details like dates, times, locations, and descriptions, and display them in a calendar format.

You will receive a high commission of 25% for every sale when joining their affiliate program. The cookie period will remain valid for 30 days from the customer’s first click on your unique link.

Their affiliate program is managed via Impact. Affiliates can access detailed performance data and enjoy secure, on-time payouts through the platform.

11. Grand Canyon West

• Commission rate: 5%
• Cookie duration: 60 days

Grand Canyon West offers visitors a range of thrilling experiences and breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon. They sell tickets for the Skywalk, general admission, helicopter rides, boat tours, and multi-activity packages.

12. Viator

• Commission rate: 8%
• Cookie duration: 30 days

Viator allows users to book tickets for attractions, guided tours, and unique experiences in numerous destinations worldwide. They provide detailed descriptions, user reviews, and high-resolution images to help users make informed decisions.

13. Yapsody Ticketing

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Yapsody provides a complete ticketing system for event creation, ticket sales management, and analytics. They cater to a number of events, including concerts, conferences, sporting events, theater shows, and more.

14. Event Bookings

• Commission rate: $0.1
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Event Bookings simplify organizing and managing events for conferences, webinars, workshops, concerts, and fundraisers. Organizers can personalize their event pages with images, videos, and detailed descriptions to attract attendees.

15. Ticketor

• Commission rate: 30%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Ticketor gives users complete control over ticketing operations, including setting buyer fees, pricing structures, return policies, and terms. They support both single and recurring events with customizable schedules.

16. Get Your Guide

• Commission rate: 8%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

17. Ticket-Compare

• Commission rate: 50%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Ticket-Compare helps people search and compare football ticket prices from various resale sites. Users can filter their search by football leagues & competitions, clubs, and stadiums.

How to Create An Event Ticket Affiliate Program for Your Shopify Store?

The live event industry is more dynamic than ever. Every year, this market is fueled by major sports championships, and global music tours.

Selling tickets to live events is a big deal. From huge sports games to your favorite band’s tour, more people are buying tickets online than ever before.

This digital convenience, however, has also created an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace.

As a Shopify event ticket provider, you have to find a way to stand out.

But the thing is, different fans hang out in different places online.

A fan of a small music festival isn’t looking at the same websites as a major sports fan.

So, a single ad won’t work for everyone. It’s like trying to catch all kinds of fish with just one type of bait.

This is where affiliate marketing comes in as your perfect solution.

So, what is it? Affiliate marketing is simple.

You team up with people who are already popular with your target fans. These partners could be music bloggers, people who run fan pages for sports teams, or even travel writers.

Then, you give each partner a special, unique link to your ticket shop. They share that link with their followers on social media, their blog, or in a newsletter.

When someone clicks their link and buys a ticket, you pay that partner a small part of the sale.

That’s it! You only pay them when they make a sale for you.

So, in this guide, we’ll guide you on setting up an event ticket affiliate program from scratch.

Get the right affiliate management tool

Do you plan on building an affiliate program, but hesitate because of not have a proper technical team?

Most small and medium-sized businesses share a common fear.

And, the reality of recruiting, training, tracking, and paying commissions to each person is a heavy burden.

But what if you only needed 1-2 people to handle it all?

With UpPromote, that’s entirely possible. We simplify the affiliate marketing process, saving you time and effort.

UpPromote automates the most time-consuming tasks. From tracking each affiliate’s performance to managing commission payouts, everything is handled smoothly.

You don’t have to worry about calculation errors or late payments.

Plus, we present different advanced features to help you out, like:

• Smart Automation: Automatically track orders, calculate commissions, and handle payments.
• Easy Management: An intuitive interface makes it simple to monitor the performance of individual affiliates and your entire program.
• Flexible Customization: You can customize different commission rates for various products or affiliate tiers.
• Dedicated Support: Our support team is available 24/7 to answer any questions and help you get the most out of UpPromote’s features.

Give it a try with our 14-day free trial on all plans and see if UpPromote can be your perfect assistant in managing your program.

Set up a fair commission structure

An attractive commission structure is key to getting quality affiliates to join your program.

After all, what affiliates truly care about is how much they can earn promoting your tickets.

So, for a diverse market like event tickets, what commission rate actually works?

We’ve analyzed over 88 event ticket brands to help you find the right rate.

You’ll notice that entertainment event tickets often carry commission rates of 4-8%. 

Music or sports fans often make emotional purchases regarding their favorite artists or shows.

And, they are even willing to pay higher prices when they see their dream concert is coming to town.

Top ticket agents like TicketNetwork and Ticket Liquidator offer 8% commission on a ticket sale. And for a hot event ticket, the commission is up to 10% per sale.

For sports event tickets, we recommend a wider range of 1-6% commission.

You might wonder about this range, it’s because sports tickets have complex demand patterns.

Premium sports events like championship finals sell fast and command high prices ($500-1000), so 6% commission is reasonable.

However, regular-season games happen every week, so a lower rate of 1-2% can benefit your affiliates while avoiding overpaid.

For example, SeatGeek offers only 1% commission on their sports event tickets.

For travel and experience tickets, you should stick to only 1% to 4% commission per ticket sale.

Unlike entertainment purchases, customers are much more budget-conscious when buying travel tickets.

They compare prices extensively and look for the best deals.

Plus, the travel ticket market is also highly competitive, making it harder to maintain high-profit margins.

One Shopify travel ticket company within our app learned this lesson the hard way.

They initially set an 8% commission rate. This indeed boosted affiliates’ efforts, but their profits went lower than expected.

After we suggested lowering their rate to 4%, their sales results increased by 20% while maintaining healthy profits in 2 months.

Create a suitable cookie duration

Cookie duration is another important part of building your affiliate program.

Set it too long and it can affect your Shopify brand’s profits. Set it too short and your affiliates might not get credit for sales they generated.

Your goal is to find the right balance that keeps both your event ticket business and your affiliates happy.

To help you decide, we’ve researched the industry and found some clear patterns:

Concert & Major Sports Events: 24 hours – 7 Days

Music and sports fans buy their tickets fast, often within minutes of seeing them available.

They want the best seats before they’re gone. So, a short cookie duration of 24 hours to 7 days works perfectly for this quick buying behavior.

Plus, these customers already know exactly which tickets they want.

Theater, Arts & Lifestyle Events: 15-30 Days

When you sell tickets for lifestyle events, you need to think about how long a partner gets credit for a sale.

We suggest giving them 15 to 30 days. Why is this period reasonable?

Let’s think about it. Buying a ticket to a play, a ballet, or an art show is often a group decision.

People need time to check their schedules, talk to friends or family, and make plans together.

We’ve seen a theater ticket agent give their partners just 5 days to get credit for a sale. However, their affiliate sales were less than a third of what they expected.

So, they made a quick change and gave partners 15 days of credit instead.

The difference was huge. In just one month, their sales from partners jumped by 70%.

Travel & Experience Tickets: 45-90 Days

For travel and experience tickets, we recommend 45 to 90 days for cookie duration.

Don’t worry about this long duration causing problems.

Most people spend months planning their vacations, and travel tickets are usually part of a bigger trip planning process.

This longer timeframe ensures affiliates get rewarded for planting that early travel inspiration.

Find the right affiliates for your event ticket affiliate program

Rather than working with random affiliates, it’s better to spend time finding the right affiliates for your event ticket affiliate program.

The right affiliate knows exactly what it needs to promote your event ticket effectively.

We’ll help you define who these people are and how to connect with them.

Who are your matching partners?

The best affiliate for your Shopify event ticket brand is someone who knows the market well and has a diverse audience.

We suggest working with entertainment influencers, lifestyle content creators, and local event organizers.

Music events are always popular and in high demand following the artists’ popularity. That’s why entertainment influencers are your best bet for reaching music fans.

These people spend their time talking about the hottest concerts, music festivals, and theater shows.

Plus, they know exactly which artists’ events come with the highest demand to focus on.

Their followers trust them completely when it comes to event recommendations. That’s why when these influencers share affiliate links to buy tickets, lots of people usually click and buy.

For example, famous entertainment content creator @rachelfoster uploaded a video of her previous experience at the last Hideout Festival.

Her video of encouraging followers to book tickets for the upcoming festival received over 300k views and amazing engagement.

While entertainment influencers focus on specific events, lifestyle influencers can help your brand reach people in a completely different way.

These creators are experts at suggesting events to their followers, even when those events aren’t in high demand.

For example, they might present a high-end theater show as the ultimate date night idea or a must-attend outing for self-care.

Then, their dedicated followers might be interested and find tickets for the same experience.

Influencers are great, but you shouldn’t ignore local opportunities.

Local event organizers can be some of your best partners because they know their market better than anyone else.

These organizers understand exactly what events work in their area and which ones don’t.

Plus, they already have direct contact with people who regularly attend local events.

For example, they post about an upcoming artist tour in the town with a link to your ticket website.

Then, local people will be more likely to know about that concert and direct purchase via the link.

How can you approach them?

1. Connect with them manually

Reaching out to affiliates manually can show your serious commitment and make them feel valued.

You can present your affiliate collaboration offers authentically to build trust and easily get their attention.

The easiest way to directly connect with them is through email.

If you’re not familiar with writing an email, here’s a sample for you:

2. Turn customers into affiliates

Finding great affiliates online is definitely possible. But have you considered partnering with people who already love your event ticket service?

Since customers already know how your service works, their promotional content will be more credible.

With UpPromote’s customer referral, customers can join your affiliate program without filling out a long form or waiting for approval.

Here’s how it works.

You can show an invitation widget on your Shopify shopping site, like this:

Then, after they enter their email address, we’ll automatically provide an instant referral link.

They’ll use this link to start promoting and earn commission on each ticket purchase.

Help your affiliates with pre-made marketing materials

Giving your affiliates brand-aligned materials can make their promotional campaigns consistent with your company’s image.

Professional event banners and display ads help your affiliates become trusted sources for ticket sales.

When buying event tickets, customers worry about scammers, especially from sources with blurry images or unclear information.

That’s why providing official and high-quality materials helps affiliates catch attention and shows customers they’re dealing with legitimate ticket sellers.

Affiliates always promote across multiple platforms, so merchants should support them with full social media kits.

You should provide official event hashtags, branded stickers, and suggested captions they can use.

Not many merchants provide these, but email templates are incredibly helpful.

They help affiliates build professional email campaigns and follow-up sequences.

This works especially well for turning interested leads into actual ticket buyers.

For example, a small Shopify entertainment ticket service within UpPromote provides their affiliates with email templates for concert promotions.

Their email conversion rates increased by 85% in just 3 months.

This is thanks to the templates that helped affiliates write more persuasive and professional messages.

With UpPromote Media Gallery, you can upload all types of materials, including videos, banners, posters, and pre-written content.

Motivate affiliates with fairly rewards to boost their sales

Affiliates will work harder and sell more tickets when they feel rewarded fairly for their efforts.

So, bonus rewards and incentives are great ways to boost sales for your event ticket service.

To get affiliates truly excited, we suggest using a tiered commission structure.

You can simply set this up with UpPromote’s auto-tier feature. Not only based on sales, but you can also set up the structure based on referrals or affiliates’ overall sales revenue.

For example, if your Shopify brand sells football tickets for NFL games, we recommend setting up the tier based on how many tickets affiliates sell over time:

• Tier 1 (0-40 ticket sales): 5% commission
• Tier 2 (41-99 ticket sales): 7% commission
• Tier 3 (100+ ticket sales): 10% commission

You should also provide each of your affiliates with exclusive discount codes that include their name or brand.

UpPromote can help you create multiple codes and automatically assign each code to all of your affiliates in the Affiliate Coupons.

They can share these personal codes with their audience to easily boost ticket sales. Having their own codes makes affiliates feel important and valued.

For example, you set up a 20% off ticket code exclusive for affiliate Bryan. Whenever a customer clicks on his link and uses the “BRYAN20%OFF” code, they’ll get a discount.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a great way for event organizers to sell more tickets while giving affiliates the chance to earn extra income.

It’s a win-win strategy that helps you reach more potential attendees through trusted networks.

With UpPromote, managing your affiliate program becomes effortless. Our platform helps you handle everything, from recruiting affiliates and tracking sales to automating commissions.

Explore our pricing plans today and see how UpPromote can take your ticket sales to the next level!

FAQs

1) What is an event ticket affiliate program?

A program where you promote tickets (concerts, sports, theater, festivals) and earn a commission when your tracked link generates a sale. Payouts are usually a flat amount per order or a % of the cart.

2) How do commissions typically work for tickets?

Two common models: (a) percentage of order value, or (b) fixed fee per order. Because margins vary by event, merchants may set tiered or dynamic rates by category, venue, or promoter.

3) Can I deep-link to specific events or venues?

Yes—look for a deep-link builder. Deep links (e.g., straight to “Taylor Swift, 12/10, Section 214”) boost conversion and reduce bounce.

4) How do cancellations/postponements affect my commission?

If the order is refunded or voided, commissions are usually reversed. Some programs delay locking commissions until after the event date.

5) How do I prevent broken links when events expire?

Use link tools that auto-redirect to the parent category (team, artist, venue) or to a “see more dates” page. Review top pages weekly during peak seasons.

6) What verticals pair well with ticketing content?

Travel (hotels near venues), local attractions, team/artist merch, parking apps, and dining. Bundle these with your event pages to raise AOV and RPM.

7) How do we set commissions for events with different margins?

Use dynamic or rule-based rates: higher % for high-margin shows, flat fees for low-margin or last-minute inventory. Consider performance tiers (volume, AOV, refund rate).

8) How should we handle refunds, chargebacks, and postponements?

Delay locking commissions until after the event date; auto-reverse on refunds; allow manual exceptions for customer-service resolutions. Document this clearly in terms.

9) How do we give affiliates assets that actually convert?

Deep links, event calendars, auto-updated widgets, city/venue category links, UTM templates, and shortlinks for social bios. Refresh creatives for tour announcements and playoffs.

10) What KPIs should we monitor?

By partner and by event: clicks, CVR, AOV, EPC, net revenue, refund rate, time-to-purchase, and contribution to sell-through (inventory clearance before event date).

11) How do we prevent coupon leakage and code abuse?

Use code-to-affiliate mapping, in-cart code validation, and auto-whitelisting. Consider “link-required” attribution for sensitive on-sale periods.

12) Can we run private commission boosts for key events?

Yes—use private offers to win placement (e.g., tour on-sale weeks, rivalry games). Time-box boosts and require specific links/UTMs for tracking.