Attendance Up, Profit Down For LYV

Net income fell 24 percent to $43.8 million, or 22 cents a share, from $57.9 million one year ago.

But revenue jumped 15 percent, or $2.26 billion, driven in part by increased sales and global concert attendance.

The difference appears to be that the European market has rebounded from last summer’s financial uncertainty.

“Consumer demand has come back strong for us this year, as we have had attendance growth across concerts globally, from new artists to the legends and everyone in between,” Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino said.

The company’s summer debt restructure included a $36 million loss on extinguishment of debt, and the Artist Nation unit – consisting primarily of the company’s management business – continues to be something of a drag on the bottom line in the post-Azoff era.

However, despite losses in revenue (13 percent), adjusted operating income (40 percent) and an operating loss of 76 percent, chief operating officer Joe Berchtold predicts the rise of attendance and revenue will help to float the Artist Nation boat.

“We’ve taken steps to stabilize Artist Nation,” Berchtold said during the conference call. “Core managers are signed to long-term deals. With the greater value we have seen an increase in the touring business with those managers. We’re streamlining, focusing on a higher margin and moving some ancillaries to the concert division, where they belong.

“With restructuring complete, we expect to see growth in the business and we are seeking out select managers. We will start to see improvement on a comparable basis,” Berchtold said.

The all-important third quarter – when summer concert ticket revenue is booked – was still a success by any measure, particularly after a second quarter that produced a net loss in revenue for the first time in three quarters.

Rapino opened his remarks in an earnings report conference call by announcing the quarter was the “best in the company’s history.”

International attendance grew by 1.3 million, pushed by an increase of 900,000 tickets sold in arenas, up 28 percent, and a 49 percent increase in show count.

North American attendance was up 3.2 million for Q3 compared to last year, led by the sheds with more than 2 million more fans through the turnstiles and 100 more shows through the quarter.

Country music programming led the march with an attendance increase of 1.9 million fans through September, according to a supplemental report.

EDM, another genre Live Nation continues to build out, grew from 10 festivals to 18 through Sept. 30 and it’s expected to double attendance to more than 2.5 million by year-end, including arena and club events.

Ticketmaster launched resale platform TM+ in the third quarter as well and, so far, the feedback and data are showing that “when fans see both primary and secondary tickets together they are 60 percent more likely to buy a ticket of some sort, and 10 percent more likely to buy a primary ticket, as compared to just seeing their primary ticket options,” according to a LYV statement.

Since the launch, 50 pro sports teams have signed on and TM+ has been beta-tested on more than 100 concerts and 1,400 events, selling more than 750,000 tickets.

The company reports accelerated ticket sales on those events, and a 75 percent increase in secondary tickets sold per event by the end of October, after most of the sports teams went online in early September.