Live Nation Q2 Revenue Climbs 10% to $3.2 Billion

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Live Nation issued its Q2 2019 financial report, and it shows upward growth as the concert business continues to compensate artists for lagging recorded music sales.

Revenue for the quarter was up 10% to a total of $3.2 billion, with operating income up 27% to $172 million. Adjusted Operating Income (AOI) was also up 23% to $319 million.

In all, 73 million concert tickets were sold for 2019 shows, up 6% and 4.5 million through mid-July from the same time last year. This puts the company on track to have nearly 100 million fans attend approximately 38,000 concerts this year. In addition, sponsorship and advertising net revenue is up 18% year-to-date, with Ticketmaster fee-bearing up 11% for the quarter.

It adds up to a second-quarter profit of $89.8 million for the company, or 41 cents per share. This surpasses Wall Street expectations of 39 cents per share based on an average of nine Zacks Investment Research analysts.

The company’s share price was up 2.3% to $72.53 on the day, which had seen major American indexes down slightly, and LYV stock was up .24% in after-hours trading.

Said Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino, “We continue to benefit from a strong tailwind in the live event, experience-based economy of today.”

Global ticket revenue from concerts is up 16% for the first half of the year, with a strong supply of artists touring matched with global consumer demand. In addition, ticket revenue from concerts outside the top 100 artists is up 32% so far this year, demonstrating that the demand for live music is strong and growing from the largest stadiums to the local clubs.

Added Rapino, “We have created the most scalable and unparalleled business model in the industry, building a platform that brings over 570 million fans in 45 countries to live events each year. With our key metrics in concerts, sponsorship and ticketing all pacing well ahead of last year, we are confident that in 2019 the company will again deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth.”

In the second quarter alone, 27 million fans attended 10,000 shows, up 7% and 9%, respectively, from last year, making it Live Nation’s largest second quarter ever. Live Nation’s international business was particularly strong through the first half, growing its fan base by 2.5 million with the greatest growth coming from arenas, stadiums and theaters.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Thank you to the thousands of artists who trust <a href=”https://twitter.com/LiveNation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LiveNation</a> to handle your concerts & tours. From small clubs to large stadiums, demand for concerts has never been greater, & our employees are thrilled to work alongside your talent and creativity every day <a href=”https://t.co/QvSFQLtj8D”>https://t.co/QvSFQLtj8D</a></p>— Michael Rapino (@Michael_Rapino) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Michael_Rapino/status/1154492656849838081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Through optimized pricing and Ticketmaster tools such as Platinum, Live Nation has delivered over $500 million in incremental value to artists since the start of 2018, with global sell-through rates across its stadiums, arenas and amphitheaters as strong as last year. Ancillary revenue per fan at amphitheaters grew by approximately $2.50 this year.

Added Rapino, “Overall, we see tremendous opportunity to continue growing our global market share, both organically and via targeted acquisitions. Our just announced acquisition of OCESA in Mexico, one of the top global promoters, continues our mission of building a global fan base to over 125 million fans.”

Ticketmaster experienced fee-bearing gross transaction value (“GTV”) growth of 13% at constant currency in the quarter, making it the company’s highest second quarter GTV ever. As a result, Ticketmaster’s operating income was up 31%, AOI was up 20% and revenue was up 6% for the quarter.

The continued shift to mobile ticket buying is up 22% from the second quarter last year and now accounts for 45% of global ticket sales year to date.

Concluded Rapino, “Each of our businesses is contributing to this success, starting with concerts. We put on more shows for more fans, then continue to monetize those fans at the concert , sell more tickets to events of all types, and further deliver value to our sponsors from our platform of nearly 100 million fans.”