CTS Eventim Q3 Results: Major Presales Lead To Ticket Revenue Surge

CTS Eventim
 – CTS Eventim
Logo

CTS Eventim’s revenues continue to increase, after ticket sales bounced back in the early part of 2021 and picked up again markedly at the start of the second half of the year, according to the live entertainment giant’s quarterly earnings report.

The Ed Sheeran presale helped, of course, as did the presales for other major international artists, who rescheduled their tours. At the same time, the company states, it “further strengthened its position in international markets and with digital products.”
Ed Sheeran
Torsten Karpf – Ed Sheeran
playing to his biggest crowd so far: 100,000 people at Germany’s Hockenheimring. Promoter FKP Scorpio is part of the CTS Eventim family.

Presales of tickets for Ed Sheeran’s European tour in 2022 began at the end of September. More than one million tickets were sold “in next to no time,” according to the earnings statement. 400,000 of those were sold for the  Germany dates alone. 

Germany is one of the countries in Europe, where the reopening of the live industry is only slowly progressing. It remains to be seen if Sheeran’s July 7-9 dates at Veltins Arena will go ahead. 
The superstar performed the biggest shows of the biggest tour in history in Germany, June 22-23, at Hockenheimring, when promoter FKP Scorpio sold sold 191,120 tickets, grossing $16,289,639. Nowhere on the entire “Divide” tour did Sheeran and his team gross more, which isn’t a surprise, seeing that Hockenheimring was the biggest venue on the “Divide” tour, with a maximum capacity of 101,444.
CTS Eventim used its proprietary digital ticket, EVENTIM.Pass, for Ed Sheeran’s European dates. By its own admission, this was done in order to  prevent the unauthorised resale of tickets. Tickets can only be downloaded to the purchaser’s smartphone using the proprietary app, which stores the tickets securely and displays a QR code for admission to the concert shortly before it is due to start. Tickets can only be resold via Eventim’s own resale platform fanSALE, which, according to the company, means they are fully traceable.
Other recent top-selling events for CTS Eventim include the concerts of iconic UK bands Genesis and Coldplay as well as German rock star Udo Lindenberg.
The reason CTS Eventim not only recorded a Q3 surge in ticket sales, but in the live entertainment segment as well, is owed to the fact that the company’s network of promoters, Eventim Live, managed to host a significant amount of small to medium-sized events in local markets. Depending on the local coronavirus rules, events had capacities between 1,000 and 5,000.
Eventim Live currently comprises 36 promoters from 15 countries, not counting the Asian business, which launched this summer.
Last year, CTS Eventim set foot on US soil by forming the joint venture EMC Presents with Michael Cohl. This year, at the end of September, ticketing platform eventim.com launched. The goal is “to establish an alternative to the dominant providers in the U.S. and Canada,” as CTS Eventim stated.
In October 2021, CTS Eventim acquired a majority stake in software and hardware developer simply-X, strengthening its position in the market for innovative access control solutions and enhancing its offering with what it describes as “integrated, high-performance digital systems.”
Drawing on over 20 years of experience, simply-X is one of the leading providers of event management products in Germany. Its portfolio
encompasses control, payment, ordering and customer loyalty solutions, together with the accompanying hardware such as scanning pedestals and turnstiles.
CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg on the cover of Pollstar
 – CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg on the cover of Pollstar
March 1, 2021

All of the above led to an encouraging development of the company’s financials, which will please investors to hear. The below is quoted directly from CTS Eventim’s Q3 earnings statement:

“In the third quarter of 2021, consolidated revenue jumped by 279.2% to €114.7 million (previous year: €30.2 million). Normalised EBITDA came to €26.0 million in the same period (previous year: loss of €15.0 million). 
“In the first three quarters of 2021, revenue fell by 21.3% year on year, from €228.7 million to €180.0 million, because the first quarter of 2020 had barely been affected by the pandemic. However, normalised EBITDA stood at €105.4 million (previous year: loss of €17.7 million) thanks to cost savings, an improved operating business and the government aid programmes introduced in Germany and other countries. 
“The biggest component of this aid comprised coronavirus support of around €100 million granted by the German government. 
“In the period July to September 2021, revenue in the Ticketing segment surged by 225.5% to €61.0 million, compared with €18.7 million in the prior-year period. Normalised EBITDA came to €27.1 million (previous year: loss of €11.3 million). In the period January to September 2021, revenue went up slightly to €110.6 million, a year-on-year rise of 3.2% (previous year: €107.2 million). Normalised EBITDA advanced to €91.3 million, compared with a loss of €12.7 million in the prior-year period. 
“The Live Entertainment segment also saw a substantial year-on-year improvement in revenue, which rose by 351.2% to €55.7 million in the third quarter of this year (previous year: €12.4 million). However, the coronavirus crisis meant that the number of events was still down sharply compared with pre-pandemic levels. Normalised EBITDA came to a loss of €1.1 million (previous year: loss of €3.7 million). In the first three quarters of 2021, revenue fell by 41.8% to €74.1 million (previous year: €127.3 million). Normalised EBITDA stood at €14.1 million (previous year: loss of €5.1 million).”