No one is going anywhere, and we're certainly not doing it in groups of 20,000. That's a problem for businesses like SeatGeek, the New York-based ticketing startup that has sought to break into the space long owned by TicketMaster, Stubhub and Live Nation. 

But SeatGeek is trying to do right by consumers, and that could pay off for it in the long run when things get back to normal.

In the meantime, though, SeatGeek job postings fell from more than 30, to around 2, in mid-March, as the consumer economy began to accept the likelihood of a longer lockdown to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. It's not unlike plenty of other companies in the travel and hospitality spaces - and other industries - that are cutting job postings until they can accurately forecast growth and make future plans once again. 

While SeatGeek ($PRIVATE:SEATGEEK) may have slashed job postings, it hasn't done much to reduce headcount as evidenced by its LinkedIn ($MSFT) employee-count chart, above. Even leading into to 2020 (not shown), SeatGeek has been consistently growing staff over time, although the prospect of a prolonged shelter-in-place economic shutdown is beginning to impact other retail-dependent companies. However, early signs of employee count contraction may change this soon. Since March 19, 8 LinkedIn members have removed SeatGeek as their employer.

Finally, we get to SeatGeek's Facebook ($FB) Talking About Count, which reflects that social chatter surrounding the brand has dwindled to next to nothing. Typically, as many as 1,000 or more people daily were talking up SeatGeek, and in the future, that number may be poised to grow. 

The Coronavirus crisis created myriad perils to consumer companies' lines of business, and the difference between how its biggest secondary market competitor - Stubhub - and SeatGeek could have a substantial impact on brand perception going forward. Despite the fact StubHub had already collected money from people for events that have been cancelled, the company is trying to make consumers accept a voucher worth 120% of the value of the tickets they bought and won't be refunded for, at the website. 

SeatGeek - for what appears to be most cases, at least - is offering plain, old, and absolutely necessary refunds to consumers at a time many need cold-hard cash. And in the future, when people decide to make a decision about how to spend money for tickets, it could pay off for SeatGeek in a big way. 

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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