• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 24, 2016

eBay announced Tuesday its acquisition of Ticketbis, an international ticket marketplace that expands StubHub's reach into 47 markets. It also takes brands to those new markets by using data to target advertisements to site visitors based on their behavior across the Web.

The acquisition enables StubHub to grow its presence across Latin America and Europe and expand into Asia-Pacific. The company claims the acquisition makes it the global ticket marketplace leader as measured by volume of transactions and international presence.

Scott Cutler, president of StubHub, believes the best moments in life are increasingly becoming less about the things people have and more about the experiences they share. This acquisition will enable StubHub to offer more events to fans globally, helping them discover new ways to enrich their lives.

The deal is the latest in a series of geographic expansions for StubHub, preceded by launches in Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and arrives on the heels of the company’s global rebranding efforts and new logo.

With the acquisition, Ticketbis will become part of eBay's StubHub business. "If eBay rolls Ticketbis into Stubhub, and only advertises Stubhub in Europe, Stubhub will probably gain additional market share," said David Grow, digital media manager at Chacka Marketing. "I would expect that in that scenario, other advertisers will join Stubhub in filling the void left by Ticketbis' absence and they may not dominate the paid search landscape with one advertiser like they could with two."

If eBay kept the companies separate and actively advertising, the two could take up a larger share of the market, Grow said. When someone searches for tickets, both company's ads would serve up in search results, rather than one.