Live Nation expresses optimism about the power and resurgence of live events

February 24, 2022

Reporting its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. has revealed improved operating income of $1.2 billion backed by fans rapidly returning to concerts and double-digits average per-fan revenue growth.

Expressing optimism about the power and resurgence of live events, the US-based entertainment giant advised that all segments of its business continued building momentum, with comment from

Live Nation Entertainment President and Chief Executive, Michael Rapino noting “restarting our concerts business in the second half of the year, we put on over 17,000 concerts for 35 million fans in 2021, mainly in our US and UK markets. In the final five months of the year, in the US and UK, we had over 15 million fans attend our outdoor events - festivals, stadiums, and amphitheatres - nearly 25% higher than during the same period in 2019.

“Through the ramp up, we saw demand driven price increases, particularly with platinum and other front of the house ticket pricing. Fans continue to seek the best tickets, and the ongoing rapid growth of the secondary market indicates there's more room to grow.

“Fans on-site also continued spending more, with average per fan revenue up double-digits for the year relative to 2019 levels, across each of amphitheatres, festivals and theatres and clubs.

“And as shows came back, so did the desire of brands to connect to our fans. As a result, sponsorship and advertising operating income and AOI was roughly the same for the second half of 2021 as it was in 2019, which was a record level. This interest came from a mix of expanding long-term relationships with brands like Bacardi, Heineken and O2, as well as adding new brand partners including Coinbase, Hulu and Cinch.”

Reflecting on the wider challenges it and the wider live entertainment sector has faced, Rapino explained “the past two years have only reinforced the power of live music, and it's been great to see artists and fans reconnecting at scale around the world.

“Over the course of 2021, we saw the strength of live events. The year started in the midst of the pandemic, but by summer fans were returning to shows, and by the end of the year, we had a record pipeline of concerts, ticket sales and advertising commitments for 2022.”

Looking forward to the fourth quarter of the US financial year, Rapino stated “our ticketing business had the dual benefit of strong ticket sales for events in 2021, while also being the first of our businesses to benefit from our 2022 pipeline.

“Ticket sales were at a record pace across every metric with October, November and December being our top three months ever for ticketing gross transaction value, excluding refunded tickets. And the fourth quarter and second half of the year also set records for a quarter and six-month periods.

“At the same time, we continued to reorganise our business globally and improve our operations, establishing a more nimble and lower cost company.”

Looking to 2022 and beyond, Rapino suggested “with the strength in ticket sales, not surprisingly, we are seeing every leading indicator for 2022 up relative to 2019, reinforcing our confidence that we will have a record year in 2022 that sets us up for growth over the next several years.

“Helping accelerate our growth this year is the acquisition of OCESA, which gives us immediate scale in Mexico and establishes another path into the broader Latin American market.

“Looking at the leading indicators, starting with confirmed show count through February, we are up 30% relative to 2019 across our large venue shows, for stadium, amphitheater, arena and festival events.

“Then for concert ticket sales, through mid-February we have sold 45 million tickets for shows this year, up 45% from this point in 2019. We already have eight artists who have sold over 500 thousand tickets for their tours this year, including Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish.”

Rapino went on state that the company’s most recent data from over the past month indicates no-show rates at its concerts in the USA are back to 2019 levels, “eliminating any lingering questions on the resiliency of fan demand.”

Rapino concluded “along with our fan growth, we continue building the portfolio of venues we operate, now at 320 globally, as we net added 31 additional venues in 2021, approximately half of which came through the OCESA acquisition.

“Building our venue portfolio enables us to more rapidly grow our show count and fan base in 2022, and over the next few years, and positions us to drive on-site spending more widely and provide additional assets to brand partners.”

Images: A Live Nation festival event (top), Live Entertainment President and Chief Executive, Michael Rapino (middle) and Live Nation survey information on the return of live concerts (below).

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