Photo: Ryszard Benrot
2025 marks Red61’s 20th year on the ground at the world’s biggest arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
From new technologies to changing audience habits, things have certainly come a long way.
For over 20 years, Red61 has been a vital part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with a history that began long before the first live system went into action in 2005.
Founder and CEO of Red61, Tony Davey, began working at the Fringe in the early ’90s.
Here, he reflects on where it all started, the changes over the past 20 years, and the importance of being innovative as the festival continues to grow into the future.
Read on to learn how Red61 has transformed the festival’s ticketing service to manage its high demands and unique cross-selling environment.
In the beginning
Red61’s journey at the Edinburgh Fringe started in 2005, providing a service to The Famous Speigeltent in George Square Gardens that sold 18,000 tickets.
This was the beginning of a strong relationship with Famous Speigeltent owner David Bates, and a lasting connection to the groundbreaking show La Clique, which is still going strong after 21 years.
“The Famous Spiegeltent is delighted to have had a long and ongoing relationship for over 2 decades,” says Bates.
“It is especially relevant to our world as it is a system that is applicable wherever our venues and shows might be.”
The Famous Spiegeltent in Edinburgh’s George Square Gardens, during the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe season
Things have progressed significantly since the first release of the Red61 ticketing platform, and by the height of the 2019 Fringe, 2.8 million tickets were being processed over a single month.
“To put that into perspective, most venues sell in a year what our systems handle in four weeks at the Fringe,” explains Davey.
“During the festival, our ticketing system processes a stadium’s worth of tickets every single day.”
These numbers combined help to create the largest ticketing network in the UK each year. This includes:
- 360 venues
- 600+ performance spaces
- 4,000+ shows every day
- 55,000 performances
Moving with the times
So what has been the biggest change over the past 20 years at the Edinburgh Fringe?
“The technology and how we’ve taken advantage of advances in infrastructure and communications, to continually improve the sales process, and create the best possible customer experience,” says Davey.
Building the Fringe ticketing network in Edinburgh presented a number of hurdles to overcome, particularly during August where the city’s population doubles to around 1 million people at its height.
Davey explains how Edinburgh’s unique architecture, geography, and infrastructure settings increased the degree of difficulty.
“Initially, with such a big network and working with arts organisations where budgets are always a challenge, Red61 had to create a physical network, connecting up to 21 servers that benefit from Red61’s unique cross selling capabilities.
“We worked with clients, technology partners and organisations like the University of Edinburgh, running fibre optic cables around the city to create a physical network of up to 71 sites.
“Each site had a Redgate Monitor, a proprietary Red61 router, that allowed ticketing servers to talk to each other, and enabled clients to cross-sell and collaborate with venue and sales partners.”
Edinburgh’s population swells to around 1 million people during August
Most clients operate from temporary venues, created in university and student union buildings, churches, meeting rooms, permanent buildings, or in the middle of a park or field. This meant the overhead of each site implementation every year was enormous.
“The technology had to be robust, the network stable and the software powerful but easy to use,” says Davey.
“Temperamental ticket printers, routers, credit card machines and internet connections all added to the complexity and challenge we initially faced.”
Red61’s pursuit of Collaboration and Innovation ensured new ideas could be developed in line with evolving customer preferences, as Davey explains.
“Being a company of problem-solvers who love a challenge, we thrived in this environment, building new collection points, functionality to print 3 separate ticket sizes within a single transaction, and creating a highly efficient counter sales and collection process capable of handling thousands of customers per hour.
“We also helped people run their ticketing operations – in fact we ran the Fringe Society box office from 2009 to 2023, taking on 90 staff each summer.”
A new approach
Red61 technology has been developed to enable ultimate levels of efficiency. This is exemplified by the nature of how venues set up their ticketing operations in 2025.
Take ZOO Venues for example, who no longer run what many would consider a traditional static box office.
“Their Front of House team uses the Red61 Front of House (FOH) App on tablets to deliver reporting, ticket scanning and walk up sales,” says Davey.
“When you’ve got up to 13 shows every day, your team needs the flexibility to switch roles based on demand, covering all aspects of your operation.”
Edinburgh Fringe venue ZOO Southside, managed by ZOO Venues
ZOO Venues artistic director, James Mackenzie, details how Red61’s access-control technology has improved their operations during the festival.
“The FOH App has allowed us much greater flexibility in how we operate,” says Mackenzie.
“With limited space and a high turnover of patrons in the foyer areas, not creating further queues at a traditional box office counter has eased congestion and allowed us to adapt what we do depending on audience numbers, weather and show specific requests.”
The future is bright
Technology in 2025 has moved beyond the early days of building physical box office sites and network capabilities, and Red61 has continued to innovate along the way.
“Everything is in the cloud now – all you need is an internet connection and good Wi-Fi,” says Davey.
“With 95% of tickets being digital after 2023 when we went live simultaneously across more than 300 venues, we’ve been able to remove the need for a physical network, routers and ticket printers.
“No more climbing fences to strap point-to-point Wi-Fi devices to lampposts while dodging interruptions from the occasional bus.”
And it’s not just technology that’s developed. Former Red61 staff and clients that began in Edinburgh now run or work in festivals across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.
The Famous Spiegeltent in it’s St Andrews Square location, during the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe season
Famous Speigeltent owner David Bates acknowledged the support of Red61, and the partnership that was forged back in 2005.
“From its Edinburgh origins to 12,000 miles away in Australia, it is remarkable to be able to speak the same ticketing language and seamless connections.
“We congratulate Red61 on 20 years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and look forward to many more years together – satisfied ticket-buying punters and the most professional service delivery in the ticketing universe.”
Red61 exists to empower our clients and simplify event management so they can focus on what they do best: creating memorable experiences.
The story of our 20 years at the Edinburgh Fringe is a testament to our commitment to Innovation and Collaboration, and to our passion for supporting the arts.
Learn more about our ticketing solutions at the link below, or get in touch to request a free demo and see for yourself.