Live Nation’s Q2 results: Here are some big numbers

July 31, 2024 Alan Cross 0 Comments

Anecdotally, people seem to be less willing to spend money on concerts. Not only are ticket prices generally up across the board, but there are just too many damn shows! Everyone is on tour and there’s only so much money to around.

Yet Live Nation’s Q2 results look pretty good. The world’s largest promoter of live events reported the folllowing:

Revenues of US$6.02 billion, up 7% over last year.
The company’s concert business was up 8% while ticketing revenues (read: Ticketmaster and 183 million “fee-bearing tickets”) was up only 3%
Average margin on a show was 5.4%, which is up 61% from a year ago.
39 million people attended 15,000(!!!) Live Nation gigs between the beginning of April and the end of June 2024. That’s up 5% from last year.
24 million people went to shows at venues owned by Live Nation. That’s up 40%.
Theatre and club attendance is up by 15%.
More than a million more tickets were sold through summer concert sales.
There were fewer cancellations for North American shows.
About 16% of people buy tickets to amphitheatre gigs within two weeks of the show. That suggests people are waiting to see if they have money.
Across the 50 biggest global tours, artists have attracted 50% more fans than they did pre-pandemic (i.e. 2019).
Mexico is bright spot with a 15% uplift in ticket sales.
Brazil and Peru were also up.
Because of the rise in popularity of Latin, K-pop, and Afrobeats, Live Nation’s reach is becoming even more global. Artists now want to travel further afield on tours than ever before. Gotta go where the fans are, right?