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Businesses that sell event tickets are allowed to advertise through Google Ads, after obtaining confirmation of eligibility from Google using this form. This confirmation may require you to meet specific ad destination requirements.
Below, you’ll find the following:
- Definition of business models: You’ll need to identify the business model you belong to, in order to determine the requirements you need to meet to be eligible to run ads.
- Destination requirements by business model
- Ad requirements by business model
Definition of business models
- Primary provider: The event owner, organizer, venue, or their contractually authorized ticket seller that is initially selling the ticket. The tickets, in either case, may not have been sold or allocated previously.
- Reseller: Businesses that resell tickets already sold or allocated in the primary marketplace. A reseller or resale marketplace sets the price of the tickets, which may be above or below the face value, and any applicable taxes, service charges, or fees. Requirements for resellers also apply to marketplaces that put resellers in touch with ticket buyers.
- Event-associated group: Any artist, tour, team, league, venue, and similar event or group on behalf of whom tickets are sold.
- Ticket aggregator: Any site which aggregates ticket prices from other reseller sites, but does not conduct any ticket sales on their own site.
- In France and French territories, event ticket sale is restricted to eligible primary providers.
- If your business promotes resale inventory, regardless of whether you act as a primary provider for other inventory, you will be considered a reseller for the purposes of this policy.
Destination requirements
If you sell or link to sites for resale tickets, certain destination requirements apply. If you’re a primary provider, you're exempt from these requirements unless you link to a site that sells resale tickets.
URL domain
If you sell or link to resale tickets, you can use the event-associated group’s name in your URL domain only if you provide one of the following:
- A contract or legal documentation indicating affiliation or partnership between your company and the event-associated group
- A letter on company letterhead signed by an attorney or an executive at your company, attesting to having affiliation or partnership with the event-associated group
Disclosures
To protect customers from scams and prevent confusion, if you sell resale tickets, you must clearly disclose the following on your website or app:
- You are a resale market and aren’t the primary provider of the tickets
- Your ticket prices may be higher than the price offered by the primary provider, also referred to as “face value”
This disclosure must be clearly visible and explained within the top 20% (above the fold) of any destination when reached via an ad. It must not be in a closable or hideable format, and must be in a font size equal to or bigger than most of the page's text.
Tax and fee breakdown
If you sell resale tickets, you must provide a price tax and fee breakdown during checkout, and before the customer pays. The breakdown should show the specific costs added, including taxes and any additional fees.
Destination requirements by business model
Primary provider
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures (website) | Tax/fee breakdown (website) |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a primary provider only | Primary tickets for an event | Not required | Not required |
| You're a primary provider but your homepage or event page links to a reseller's site | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your website | Not required on your website |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Required only on linked reseller's landing page | Required on linked reseller's website |
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an "authorized" or "official" reseller for specific events | Specific events | Required | Required |
| Your website only, or events you're not the official reseller for | Required | Required | |
| Specific US pro sports leagues for which you are official reseller | Required | Required | |
| You're a reseller only and not “authorized” or “official” | Your website or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers, or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Required on the landing page, unless it shows only information related to primary tickets | Not Required |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your website | Not required on your website |
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your website only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page |
Required only on linked reseller's website |
You're an event-associated group and your website links to both a primary provider and a reseller for your ticketing |
Your website only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page | Required on linked reseller's website |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your website. | Required on your site and linked reseller's website | Required on linked reseller's website |
Ad requirements
If you’re not a primary provider of tickets, you must meet certain ad requirements.
Following is a summary of each ad requirement, depending on your business model, and what your ad is promoting.
Use of the term “official”
If you operate as a reseller or ticket aggregator, you may not imply that you’re a primary provider of tickets by using words like "official” in your ads, or in reference to your website (for example, “official providers for EventName tickets” or "official TicketReseller site").
However, if you have a legal agreement with an event-associated group specifying that you can refer to yourself as an "official reseller" or an "official primary seller" for that group, you're allowed to use the term “official” in your ad, as long as you meet the following requirements:
- You must provide a letter from the relevant event-associated group explicitly authorizing you to use the relevant designation for your event ticket promotions.
- You only use “official” in one of the following phrases, followed by the name of the event-associated group (for example, “Official Fan to Fan Marketplace for [group name]”).
Ad requirements by business model
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official primary seller for an event-associated group
- Official Primary Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Primary Ticket Provider
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Primary Ticket Sales
- Official Primary Ticket Seller
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official reseller for an event-associated group
- Official Fan to Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Secondary Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticket Provider
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Ticket Exchange/Marketplace
- Official Ticket Resale Marketplace
- Official Reseller
Display URL restrictions by business model
To prevent customer confusion about your relationship to the event-associated group, if you’re a reseller or ticket aggregator, you can't have any post-domain paths or subdomains in your display URL.
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a reseller, only | Your website or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Allowed | None |
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your website only | Allowed | None |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your site. | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
Options to fix ad violations
If your ads are disapproved for Event Ticket Sale, follow either of the options below.
- Request confirmation of eligibility
Businesses that sell event tickets are allowed to advertise in Google Ads after applying for and obtaining confirmation of eligibility from Google. Check the eligibility criteria for your business model as provided above and apply to advertise using the Event Ticket Sale Eligibility Application. - Appeal policy decision
If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account for review. After we confirm that the destination is compliant, we can approve your ads.