Live Nation has delivered their biggest summer concert season in history which drove a record quarter for the global entertainment company, painting a promising outlook for the live events industry going into 2023.
Live Nation CEO, Michael Rapino, shared these results as part of their Q3 Earnings Call stating that “These results demonstrate the ongoing and increasing demand for live events globally, with attendance up at events of all sizes from clubs to stadiums.”
Fans Continue To Prioritize Live Events When Spending
Rapino shared some fascinating insights on positive fan spending habits even though inflation continues to rise globally.
“Fans around the world continue prioritizing their spending on live events, particularly concerts. Despite varying economic headwinds including inflation, we have not seen any pullback in demand, as on-sales, on-site spending, advertising and all other operating metrics continue showing strong year-on-year growth.”
“With this demand, revenue was up over 60% relative to Q3 of 2019, with each division up at least 30%.”
Record Summer Concert Attendance
“As we expected, our performance this quarter was led by our concert business, which held 11 thousand concerts for 44 million fans across nearly 50 countries.”
“Shows of all types continue having strong demand, with double-digit attendance growth across all venue types including clubs, theaters, amphitheaters, arenas, stadiums and festivals. Stadiums had a particularly strong quarter with our fan count more than tripling to nearly nine million fans, driven by the global demand to see top acts across a number of genres and audiences.”
“We delivered double-digit attendance growth relative to Q3 2019 across established and emerging markets around the globe from North America to Europe to South America, showing our long runway of global growth.”
“At the same time, our operated venues successfully hosted more fans, with attendance up 14% relative to Q3 2019 to 19 million fans for the quarter, and 38 million fans year-to-date. Based on current pacing, we expect to host more than 50 million fans at our festivals and Venue Nation division this year.”
Fan Spend On-Site Remains Strong
Fan spending has been a growing concern as the cost of living rises however, Rapino says on-site spend has remained strong.
“Over the course of the summer, we also continued to see strong on-site per fan spend with no reduction in consumer buying habits. Ancillary per fan spending was up 20 to 30% year-to-date relative to 2019 in our operated venues across the U.S. and Europe.”
“The consistent theme is that fans are eager to enhance their experience, as we continue elevating our hospitality operations and provide more premium options.”
Highest Gross Transaction Value Quarter Ever
Rapino also highlighted the strength of fan demand for live events via Ticketmaster, saying “We transacted $6.7 billion of fee-generating GTV on 71 million tickets, up 69% and 42% respectively, relative to Q3 2019.”
“This demand remained strong throughout the quarter, as two of the three months were amongst the top 10 transacted GTV (excluding refunds) months ever. At this point, all top 10 months occurred within the past year.”
A Positive Outlook and Strong Growth for 2023
Rapino says Live Nation is heading for a record year in 2023 and he remains positive that next year will see continued growth for live events.
“2022 has been an incredible year of returning to live events, and we expect it to finish strong. Ticket sales for concerts this year were up 34% for the quarter, and now stand at over 115 million tickets sold for shows this year, up 37% from this point in 2019.”
“More importantly, momentum is strong with early signs pointing to continued growth in 2023. Ticket sales for shows in 2023 are pacing even stronger than they were heading into 2022, up double-digits year-over-year, excluding sales from rescheduled shows.”
