Over the past decade, ticketing platforms have evolved at record speed: modern APIs, mobile wallets, digital identities, new checkout layers, improved discovery, and stronger fraud controls.

But as we head into 2026, a new reality is becoming clear:

The next wave of transformation won’t be about the front end.
It will be about the infrastructure beneath everything.

Product leaders around the world—CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, architects—are all asking the same question:

“What does the next 5 years of ticketing really require?”

After working closely with platforms in the US, LATAM, and Europe, and after analysing millions of ticket journeys each month, we’ve identified the five strategic problems platforms will be forced to solve next.

Not because they want to, but because fan behaviour, market expectations and commercial pressure will leave no alternative.

This is the 2026 Ticketing Playbook.

1. The shift from ‘transaction platforms’ to ‘continuous value platforms’

Ticketing systems were built for a world where the job ended at checkout.
That world is gone.

Fans expect:

• flexibility
  
  
• transparency
  
  
• multiple decisions across the lifecycle
  
  
• seamless movement between purchase, attendance and resale
  
  
• and verified experiences every step of the way
  
  

A platform that only optimises the “buy” moment is now missing 70% of the story.
The winners will be those who enable value before, during, and after the sale.

As Iñaki Sánchez López, CEO of menta tech, puts it:

“A ticket used to be something you issued.
In 2026, a ticket is something you manage.”

This shift, from single-moment to multi-moment will define the next decade.

2. The era of hidden complexity is ending

Ticketing looks simple on the surface. Under the hood, it’s one of the most complex systems in live entertainment:

• legacy code
  
  
• custom integrations
  
  
• regional regulatory differences
  
  
• promoter-specific logic
  
  
• venue rules
  
  
• fragmented operational flows
  
  
• inconsistent payouts and tax models
  
  
• identity fragmentation
  
  
• and thousands of edge cases
  
  

For years, this complexity was invisible to fans and often to executives.

But now, platforms are realising that complexity isn’t the enemy. Hidden complexity is.

When complexity is hidden, it becomes unpredictable, expensive and resistant to innovation. 2026 will be the year platforms either start untangling this or fall behind.

3. Every platform will need a liquidity strategy

In 2026 and beyond, “inventory” isn’t just primary.
It’s everything that happens afterwards:

• returns
  
  
• cancellations
  
  
• no-shows
  
  
• resale listings
  
  
• fragmented demand signals
  
  
• last-minute buyers
  
  
• reactivation of unused inventory
  
  
• peak windows of secondary intent
  
  

Today, most platforms have no liquidity strategy because they weren’t built with one in mind.

But liquidity is the backbone of:

• better conversion
  
  
• higher yield
  
  
• improved discovery
  
  
• smoother fan experience
  
  
• and predictable recurring revenue
  
  

Platforms that ignore this will lose fans, revenue and relevance to ecosystems that embrace it.

As Martin Haigh, SVP Sales at menta tech, puts it:

“Demand isn’t linear anymore. Liquidity is what keeps the whole system breathing.”

4. Data ownership will become the new competitive moat

Right now, primary platforms lose enormous behavioural insight during the post-purchase journey:

• why fans list
  
  
• when they list
  
  
• how pricing shifts
  
  
• who buys late
  
  
• which events show volatility
  
  
• which venues create more resale activity
  
  
• which artists drive early commitment vs late switching
  
  

This data is gold. But most of it escapes to external ecosystems, never returning to the platform or event owner.

In 2026, successful platforms will be those that keep that data in-house and use it to:

• set smarter pricing policies
  
  
• improve recommendations
  
  
• predict churn
  
  
• design more efficient fee strategies
  
  
• support promoters with real intelligence
  
  
• build loyalty rooted in behaviour, not in points
  
  

Data is the new margin. The next cycle will belong to those who own it.

5. The industry will move from “features” to “infrastructure”

The last era of ticketing was about adding features: embedded wallets, crypto, seat selection upgrades, virtual queues, mobile transfer, insurance, memberships.

The new era is different.

It’s about the systems that allow features to exist without breaking:

• rules engines
  
  
• payout orchestration
  
  
• tax and compliance consistency
  
  
• visibility logic
  
  
• dynamic liquidity
  
  
• lifecycle identity
  
  
• internal marketplaces
  
  
• cross-event discovery
  
  
• promoter-level governance
  
  

To quote Iñaki once more:

“The future is not who builds the most buttons.
It’s who builds the foundation where buttons actually work.”

This is exactly why resale, done internally, natively, under the primary brandisn’t a “feature.” It’s an infrastructure requirement.

What this means for product leaders heading into 2026

If you lead product, engineering or strategy inside a ticketing company, the next 12 months will require clarity around three questions:

1. Which parts of the ticket lifecycle do we want to own?

Because if you don’t own them, someone else will.

2. What infrastructure are we missing?

Not features, foundation.

3. Where can we create continuous value, not one-time value?

This is the question that separates the next category leaders from everyone else.

Where menta tech fits in (without selling)

menta exists because we spent years inside ticketing systems across continents and saw a common truth:

Platforms didn’t need “a resale feature.”They needed infrastructure that could support the entire lifecycle reliably, at scale, under their brand.

So we built:

• a Rules Engine
  
  
• an Operations Engine
  
  
• a Profit Engine
  
  
• all white-label
  
  
• all API-first
  
  
• all designed for multi-touch architectures
  
  

But this newsletter isn’t about us. It’s about the future we’re all walking into.

Closing: 2026 will mark the beginning of the infrastructure decade

Ticketing is maturing. The next leaders will be the ones who make the invisible visible:
complexity, liquidity, behaviour, multi-touch journeys.

The era of the one-time ticket is ending. The era of the continuous value platform is beginning.

And those who build for the full lifecycle, not just the first conversion, will shape the next decade of this industry.

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