Live Nation saw double-digit growth in revenue and operating income as a record quarter for Ticketmaster boosted Q1 figures.
In a trading update, Live Nation said first quarter revenue was up 17 per cent to $1.41bn (£1.1bn/€1.3bn), operating loss down 36 per cent, and adjusted operating income up 25 per cent to $73.4m. It noted “strong operating performance across all our concerts, advertising and ticketing segments”.
The company said that by the end of April it had booked over 4,000 arena, stadium and amphitheater shows for 2017, up 10 per cent over 2016 figures. Live Nation venues include the Hollywood Palladium and New York’s Irving Plaza, and Motorpoint Arena Cardiff and O2 Apollo Manchester.
Following a run of acquisitions within the festival sector, Live Nation now promotes shows in 40 different countries, and said it continues to see the “tremendous attraction of our 70 million plus onsite fans for advertisers, driving continued double-digit growth”.
President and chief executive Michael Rapino said: “2017 is on track to be another year of growth and record results for the company. All of the leading indicators for our concerts, sponsorship & advertising and ticketing segments are ahead of last year and we expect each of our businesses to deliver record revenue, operating income and AOI this year.”
Live Nation said that Ticketmaster generated gross transaction value (GTV) of $493.7m, which was up 22 per cent year-on-year. Fee-bearing primary and secondary businesses were up by GTV of 18 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.
The company recorded operating income of $54.5m, which was up 54 per cent, with adjusted income up 26 per cent to $103.1m.
Commenting on Ticketmaster’s performance, Live Nation said: “With this strong start to the year, we expect another record year in ticketing, driven by our concerts flywheel and enhanced by the progress we have made in our ticketing products and fan experience.”
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