CTS Eventim revenues, ticket sales soar in Q1

CTS Eventim chief Klaus-Peter Schulenberg says “live entertainment remains as popular as ever” after the company reported strong growth for the first quarter of 2023.

In its Q1 results, the pan-European giant revealed it has sold 18 million tickets so far in this year – representing a 58% increase on the 11m sold in the same three-month period in 2022 when the market was still impacted by the pandemic.

Consolidated revenue rocketed 163% year-on-year to €366.2 million, while normalised EBITDA increased by 221% to €76m. The numbers also compare favourably to the last pre-Covid year of 2019, when CTS generated revenue of €282.7m and €57.1m EBITDA.

CTS’ share price reacted favourably to the results, rising 3% to €62.60. The German-headquartered business posted record consolidated sales of €1.924 billion in 2022 – 33% up on its previous best year of 2019.

“We are pursuing organic growth and anticipate that our business performance will continue on its successful course”

“In the first quarter of 2023, CTS Eventim has maintained its successful trajectory following the record year of 2022,” says Schulenberg. “The results show that live entertainment remains as popular as ever. Our customers have high expectations when it comes to buying tickets – especially for tours featuring top acts – and we have comfortably met these expectations. Both in Germany and internationally, we are pursuing organic growth and anticipate that our business performance will continue on its successful course.”

The company’s ticketing segment garnered revenue of €148.3m in Q1 ’23 (previous year: €76.5m) – 42% higher than in the first quarter of 2019 (€104.5m). Normalised EBITDA stood at €67.8m (previous year: €27.2m), up 62% on the Q1 2019 (€41.9m). The firm credits the performance of its core market of Germany, with the Italian, Austrian, Swiss and Brazilian markets also driving growth.

Elsewhere, quarterly revenue in its live entertainment division leapt to €223.8m (2022: €65.1m/2019: €182.2m). Normalised EBITDA in the segment came to €8.2 million, down from €15.2m in 2019, as 2022 corresponding quarter saw a €3.5m loss. “Higher preparatory costs and implementation costs for festivals weighed heavily on normalised EBITDA in the first quarter of 2023,” the company notes.

CTS’ portfolio includes festivals such as Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Hurricane, Southside, and Lucca Summer, and venues including the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, the KB Hallen in Copenhagen, the Waldbühne in Berlin, and the Eventim Apollo in London. Eventim was the world’s third largest promoter in 2022, according to Pollstar data.

Earlier this year, CTS announced it is expanding in North America through a joint venture with US promoters Mammoth Inc and AG Entertainment Touring. The company said the partnership will utilise the promoters’ resources and networks to sign ‘top-level’ acts for US and global tours.

It has also teamed with German wholesaler Lekkerland and prepaid and payment provider Epay to turn petrol stations into advance ticket sales points.

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