Live Nation Earnings: Continued Global Demand for Live Events Drives Strong Growth

Live Nation LYV benefited once again from the ongoing demand growth for live events as second-quarter revenue jumped by 27% year over year. Management touted the strength of 2023 demand, with over 117 million tickets sold to date for shows, tracking 20% ahead of 2022 at the same point. Despite the relatively weak global ad market, over 90% of the planned sponsorship for 2023 is already booked with double-digit growth. We are maintaining our fair value estimate of $105.

Revenue of $3.1 billion was driven by strong growth in all three segments. Ticketing revenue improved by 23% to $709 million. Consumer demand and Live Nation’s focus on ticket pricing helped drive a 25% increase in total fee-bearing gross transaction value. The segment benefited from increased demand from ancillary services like insurance and upgrades, which grew double digits. Even with the negative headlines over the last year, Ticketmaster has signed new clients accounting for 14 million net new tickets in 2023 with over half in international markets.

Concerts revenue grew 29% to $4.6 billion and was well ahead of the $2.6 billion generated in the same quarter of 2019. The number of events fell to 12,241 in the quarter versus 12,548 a year ago, but total attendance increased to 37.1 million from 33.8 million. Ancillary revenue per fan at amphitheaters—outdoor venues seating between 5,000 and 30,000 fans—improved by double digits to $40, indicating that concerns about consumer spending on live entertainment may have been overblown. Deferred revenue at the end of the quarter reached $5.0 billion, up sharply from $3.1 billion at the end of 2022, implying strong concert revenue growth for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024.