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Vivendi’s half-year results show live entertainment revenue up 30% to €33m, with French festival Garorock performing well in its first year under the group
By IQ on 26 Jul 2019
Vivendi Village, Vivendi’s live entertainment/ticketing unit, grew turnover more than 55% in the first six months of 2019, according to the French media giant’s recent half-year (H1) financial report.
Vivendi Village – which includes Vivendi Ticketing (See Tickets UK and US, France’s Digitick and the Netherlands’ Paylogic, acquired last April), live event producers Olympia Production (France) and U Live (UK), and several music venues across France and Africa – had revenues of €66 million H1 2019, up 55.1% on a constant-currency basis year on year.
Live entertainment brought in revenues of €31m, almost reaching 2018’s year total of €34m. Vivendi puts this growth down to the acquisition of French festival Garorock, which saw a 10% increase in attendance this year, with 160,000 fans descending on the four-day festival.
Live entertainment brought in revenues of €31m, almost reaching 2018’s year total of €34m
The company continues to expand its presence across Africa, with CanalOlympia opening its thirteenth venue on 19 July in Madagascar, following the unveiling of another new venue in the Republic of Congo in April.
Following record ticket sales in 2018, ticketing revenues amounted to €33m for the first half of 2019, an increase of 30.2% compared to H1 2018. Vivendi Village now has a ticketing network of 14 offices in eight countries across Europe and the Unites States.
Vivendi’s group revenues increased by almost 14% to €7.4m during the first six months of 2019, fuelled by the growth of Universal Music Group (UMG). UMG revenues were up 18.6% to $3.7 billion in H1 2019, with music by artists including Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Queen performing well across streaming and physical sales.
Vivendi confirmed its intention to move forward with plans to sell up to 50% of UMG.
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