On Sale Group, the organiser of On Sale Live, an event for sales, marketing and communications professionals working across live entertainment, events, arts, culture and the ticketed experience sectors, has announced strategic investment from Manta Media Capital.
This takes On Sale Live: The Experience Economy Expo to the Business Design Centre on 11 and 12 May 2027. Manta partners, including Doug Emslie and Toby Duckworth, join founder Dawn Farrow on growth, vision and operations.
They provide capital, operational support, and the experience needed to launch and scale event brands internationally.
Manta is an event accelerator and investment firm that backs event founders with capital and hands-on operational support. Over the past 20 years, its partners have launched more than 100 events in over 26 countries, with exits including the sale of 121 Group to Hyve Group and Tarsus Group to Informa plc.
The investment supports the experience economy and On Sale Group's expo dedicated to it.
The evolution of On Sale Live
On Sale Group is designed for marketing, ticketing, sales and communications professionals in the experience economy.
It runs a free community network for the sector, the GIEM Experience Marketing Masterclass, the only accredited qualification for marketers learning to build campaigns for live experiences, and On Sale Live: The Experience Economy Expo.
On Sale Live is now On Sale Live: The Experience Economy Expo.
After two sold-out years as a conference for the commercial teams behind live experiences, the event moves to the Business Design Centre in Islington on 11 and 12 May 2027. It doubles in length and adds a full exhibition floor.
It is the only expo in the world focused on the technology, advertising and services that sell tickets to experiences.
The conference programme remains familiar to delegates. The Main Stage hosts conversations shaping the commercial year ahead, while the Expert Zone explores the detail through practical sessions and insights from people with knowledge and technology worth learning from.
Both stages are designed for an audience working across theatre and festivals, attractions and immersive experiences, museums and exhibitions, comedy, competitive socialising, and location-based entertainment.
Meanwhile, the new show floor will bring together the advertising platforms, media owners, marketing and ticketing technology companies, data and insight businesses, creative agencies, and service suppliers involved in ticket sales, and put them in the same room as the people who control the budgets.
Also new for 2027 is the Demo Stage, joining the Main Stage and Expert Zone. It will host timed slots showcasing the industry’s leading technology and expertise. Exclusive to exhibitors, the Meeting Matcher programme qualifies leads before the doors open.
Serving a fast-growing market
The UK experience economy contributes £134 billion in gross value added and, according to Barclays and CEBR, is forecast to reach £146 billion by 2027.
It is one of the economy’s fastest-growing sectors, yet the marketing, sales and ticketing teams responsible for selling every ticket in it have never had a room of their own.
On Sale Group founder Dawn Farrow, at On Sale Live 2026
Farrow says: "I have spent twenty years inside campaigns where the ticket numbers were the only measure that mattered, and the people doing that work have never had a room of their own. Manta understand events as businesses and they have built and scaled them all over the world.
"Their investment means On Sale Group gets built at the pace the sector deserves."
Duckworth says: "We back founders who own an audience and know what to do with it. On Sale Group has a community, a training business and an event that has sold out twice. We are here to add the launch and international scaling experience that turns a London fixture into a category brand."
Emslie adds: "I have spent thirty-three years in the events industry and the experience economy is one of the few genuinely underserved markets left. It has a defined commercial audience, real budgets and no dedicated exhibition floor anywhere in the world.
"Dawn built the audience first, which is the hard part and the right order to do it in."
On Sale Live sold out in both previous years, with audience numbers up 20% year on year in 2026. Of last edition’s exhibitors, 94% plan to return, and all rated it well organised.
Delegates have represented Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Merlin Entertainments, ATG Entertainment, Sonia Friedman Productions, TodayTix, Avalon, Media 10 and Virgin Experience Days.
See also: AI visibility, fandoms and the death of the middle booker at On Sale Live 2026
