AEG is expanding its relationship with Twilio to bring the vendor’s customer engagement and data tools deeper into its sports and live entertainment operations tied to the Crypto.com Arena sports venue, the LA Kings NHL team, and ticketing platform AXS.
The deal puts Twilio’s technology behind more of the fan journey, from buying a ticket to navigating a venue and engaging after an event.
AXS already uses Twilio Programmable Messaging and Twilio Verify to power SMS communication and multi-factor authentication (MFA) in its mobile app, particularly around ticket transfers and account security. Under the expanded partnership, those capabilities are expected to scale further as AEG looks to streamline both engagement and identity workflows.
AXS will now use additional products, including the Twilio Segment customer data platform (CDP), to personalize communications more precisely. AEG plans to use Twilio Segment to bring together customer data from ticketing, mobile app use and event interactions. Those profiles can then be used to inform how and when fans receive communications, offers, and updates before, during, and after live events.
AEG executives framed the agreement as a way to modernize how the company understands and interacts with its audiences. Nick Baker, President and COO of AEG Global Partnerships, said:
“The Twilio platform will help us know our customers even better with detailed profiles that deliver the personalized communication and experiences today’s fans expect while giving our teams powerful tools to drive business and operate more efficiently.”
“Twilio’s technology has enhanced how we engage with customers across our ticketing platform,” added Justin Burleigh, Chief Product Officer of AXS. “Their services already allow us to deliver secure, seamless communication and ticket transfers. With our broadened partnership, we’re excited to further engage with our global fan base and provide even more personalized experiences.”
Beyond software, the agreement comes with a visible branding component for Twilio. The vendor is now a Founding Partner of Crypto.com Arena, the official away helmet partner of the LA Kings, and a media partner across AXS.
Twilio will have on-site presence and fan activations at the venue, which hosts more than 200 events a year, as well as signage across the surrounding L.A. LIVE entertainment district.
Twilio’s expanded relationship with AEG builds on an earlier deal announced in December 2025, when the LA Kings named Twilio as the team’s official away helmet partner. The agreement, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, marked Twilio’s first major entry into North American professional sports.
Under the deal, Twilio’s logo appears on players’ away helmets during all regular season and playoff games beginning with the 2025–2026 season, increasing the brand’s visibility among fans and business audiences in some of its fastest-growing markets. The partnership also includes plans for custom content, hospitality events tied to away games, and broader use of Twilio’s platform to strengthen how the sports team understands and engages its fan base.
Customer Data Platforms Move Up the Stack
The AEG partnership reflects a longer-running shift inside Twilio. In recent years, the company has moved beyond its roots as a developer-focused communications provider toward positioning itself as a customer engagement platform. Its $3.2BN acquisition of Segment in 2020 gave Twilio a CDP that sits upstream of messaging, email, and authentication, allowing enterprises to use customer data to target their communications.
That evolution reflects a broader shift in how customer data platforms are being used across large organizations. Once largely owned by marketing teams, CDPs are now often part of core infrastructure, supporting customer service, operations and security alongside personalization to help enterprises make sense of fragmented data.
In ticketing and live events, CDPs can stitch together information from ticketing systems, mobile apps, in-venue interactions, and marketing channels into a single view of the customer. That unified view can power practical use cases from sending timely event reminders to offering relevant upgrades, smoothing entry and payments at venues, improving fraud prevention, and tailoring communications without relying on third-party data.
The focus on first-party data is especially pronounced in live entertainment, where companies are navigating the decline of third-party cookies and growing expectations around privacy and consent. Ticketing platforms like AXS hold direct relationships with fans and rich behavioral data tied to purchases and attendance, making CDPs a key tool for activating that information responsibly.
Security also plays a role in the experience. By pairing messaging with identity and verification tools, companies are increasingly treating authentication and fraud prevention as part of the customer journey rather than a background process. That approach is becoming more common in industries where account takeovers and digital fraud are persistent concerns.
As fan expectations continue to be shaped by digital-first experiences elsewhere, venues and teams are under pressure to deliver the same level of relevance and convenience. Partnerships like the one between Twilio and AEG highlight how customer data infrastructure is becoming a foundational layer for that effort.
