LIVE NATION HAS THE TICKET FOR A BIG Q1

With live entertainment markets fully open for the first time in three years, Live Nation delivered record results in all divisions for the first quarter of 2023.

Revenue of $3.1b was up 73%, of which $2.28b came from concerts—an 89% spike over Q1 2022. Ticketing rose 41% to $678m; 72.6m fee-bearing tickets were sold in Q1, a 40% spike. Operating income was up to $143m.

Live Nation staged 9,630 concerts around the world in the quarter that ended 3/31, just over 6,000 of which were in the U.S. An estimated 19.5m people attended the shows, a record for a first quarter.

Stadium concert attendance, driven by shows in Asia Pacific and Latin America, hit 3.3.m, up from 800k, while arena shows more than doubled to 6.7m fans, owing mostly to concerts in Europe and Australia.

“We expect to host a record number of fans this year, even against a 2022 that benefited from rescheduled shows attended by 20m fans,” said Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino. “Ticketmaster should also deliver record activity, with around 600m tickets managed globally this year. Our sponsorship business, even after incredible growth last year, looks to be on track for double-digit AOI growth again this year.”

Rapino noted that nearly 90m tickets have been sold for shows this year, which is tracking more than 20% ahead of this point last year. The early sales, he said, have been driven by "a record number of stadium shows and continued strong growth in arena tours."

“As we then look to 2024 and beyond, we have all the necessary levers to build our flywheel globally and continue to compound AOI by double digits for the foreseeable future,” Rapino said.