Australasia News: TEG, Ticketek Execs; Live Sector Revenue; SXSW Returns; NZ: New CEO At Sky Stadium

AUSTRALIA

Executive Moves At TEG, Ticketek

TEG promoted Ticketek managing director Cameron Hoy to chief operating officer and head of global ticketing. He oversees the data science, analytics, digital, products and technology divisions, and leads TEG’s global ticketing operations in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia.

“With digital innovation & technology moving faster today than it ever has before, there’s ample opportunities for expansion and growth across the many facets of the TEG business – both locally and globally,” said Hoy, who joined in 2007 and introduced innovation in the ticketing, digital and data science divisions.

“I am delighted to be taking on this new role at such an exciting time of growth for TEG as we build TEG into a truly global organization.”

In the meantime, Phil King was appointed Ticketek Australia’s managing director, based in TEG’s Sydney HQ and reporting to Hoy.

Over 20 years, he was GM of Adelaide Entertainment Centre, director of live entertainment at the International Convention Centre in Sydney, commercial manager at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, and most recently served as chief commercial officer at the South Australian Cricket Association.

Aussie Live Sector Posts Second Highest Attendance On Record

Live Performance Australia’s 2022 Ticket Attendance and Revenue Report, released mid-December, saw the live entertainment and arts sectors bolt out of the end of pandemic restrictions. It posted its second highest attendance and ticket revenue on record, to 24.2 million and A$2 billion ($1.36 billion) respectively.

The largest markets of Victoria and New South Wales accounted for 67.8% of live performance revenue and 62.4% of attendance.

Contemporary music remained the biggest sector, with a 35.2% share in revenue and 35.9% in attendance. Its concerts and festivals combined made up near 42% in attendance and close to half the entire sector’s revenue with A$940 million ($640.4 million).

LPA chief Evelyn Richardson had concerns of many parts of the sector “impacted by ‘long COVID’ and grappling with critical workforce shortages, soaring production and touring costs, and shifts in audience behavior alongside deepening cost of living pressures.”
These are particularly acute, she added, for “our small to medium and not for profit companies.”

SXSW Sydney Returning For Second Year

SXSW Sydney returns Oct. 4-20 after the inaugural event drew 97,462 unique attendees, with total attendance of 287,014 people from 41 countries to 1,178 events. In collaboration with the New South Wales government, it proved “a remarkable grand-scale event that brought together APAC’s creative communities in a way the region had never seen before,” said co-chair Geoff Jones.

Among music sessions were Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett; Chance The Rapper on 50 years of hip-hop; and the world premiere of The Wiggles documentary, “Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles.”

Three hundred gigs across 25 venues saw Almost Monday and redveil from the U.S., Japanese punks Otoboke Beaver, Canada’s Ekkstacy, New Zealand’s Daily J, and SORRY and Connie Constance from the UK join Aussie acts Death by Denim, Barkaa, Mia Wray and DICE.

NEW ZEALAND

Change At Top At Wellington’s Sky Stadium

Warrick Dent began his new role of CEO of Wellington’s 34,500-seat Sky Stadium Jan. 8.
After working in New York, London and Hong Kong, he was most recently GM of events and experience at WellingtonNZ, overseeing the management of TSB Arena, St James Theatre, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Opera House and Shed 6, as well as the city’s investment in and the delivery of major events.

He replaced Shane Harmon who left mid-Dec. after a 10-year tenure, to become a project consultant.

Under him the venue hosted 60 diverse events a year. “When I started in 2013, Wellington had some lean years for major concerts,” he says. In two years, Harmon pitched for international tours to steadily visit Wellington, starting with Elton John.

Eminem in 2019 set a new crowd attendance record 46,474, and was followed by Guns ‘N Roses, SIX60, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood, AC/DC, Queen and Adam Lambert, Ed Sheeran and Foo Fighters.

“They were economic drivers to the stadium and the region, and brought global visibility to both,” he recalled.