Market Report: Chile
With its relative safety and stability, Chile is a core “big three” cog in the South American touring circuit. Santiago’s 16,500-cap Movistar Arena is amongst the busiest in the world, with 1.6m tickets sold there in 2023.
Primary ticketing
Ticketmaster launched in Chile in 2021, driving digital ticket use and introducing innovations such as virtual views from seats. “We’re excited to bring our clients new offerings … all aimed at making the fan experience even better,” says MD Javier Parra Raggio.
The company’s arrival has eaten into the market share of the still-dominant Punto Ticket (80% market share), which handles ticketing for Movistar Arena and festivals such as Primavera. Passline has also entered the market, while Eventrid covers sports and entertainment events and Ticketek deals with theatre shows.
Distribution of sales
96% to 99% of tickets are bought online. The remaining 1% (paper tickets) are for very small, rural events.
Secondary ticketing
Scalping and forgery are rife and online searches for tickets often throw up unofficial sales platforms ahead of official ones. Hence, ticket security has become paramount for 2024. Ticketmaster introduced QR codes with heightened security features and Punto Tickets brought in a digital ticket that activates at a specified time.
The local music scene has grown substantially, and domestic acts are beginning to challenge the major Latin American tours for dominance
“This innovation helps us significantly reduce the presence of tickets on the secondary market, ensuring that our tickets remain secure and are used as intended,” says Punto’s General Manager Paulo Atienza. “By controlling the activation timing, we not only minimise fraud but also protect the interests of genuine buyers.”
International/domestic splits & genres
The local music scene has grown substantially, and domestic acts are beginning to challenge the major Latin American tours for dominance over headline slots, pushing the split to around 40% domestic acts. Chilean band Los Tres, for instance, recently became the first local band to play four nights at the Movistar Arena.
Cultural analysis
Since the vast majority of Chile’s relatively small population is concentrated in the Santiago area, it’s something of a one-city market, and ticketing companies’ relationships with the major venues there is fundamental to their success. Hence, Punto Ticket is focusing on expanding its partnerships.
“Our primary growth strategies focus on partnering with even more venues across multiple cities and obtaining contracts with sports providers,” says Atienza.
Taxes & charges
VAT is 19%; service charges hover between 12% and 15%.
Country Profile: Chile
After two explosive post-pandemic years, Chile’s live music market is beginning to level off.
Lotus Producciones, which promotes Lollapalooza Chile, has sold roughly 34m tickets and seen its show count double over the past year. While major acts like Coldplay have stopped by, Lotus is focusing on bolstering local talent. This led the promoter to link with Warner Music in December 2023 to create Lotus Records, purposed for building and supporting Chilean and regional artists.
“There is an opportunity with the quality of talent we have and the visibility of the Latin music scene globally,” says Sebastián de la Barra, Lotus promoter. He says that developing these artists for global export is a key growth area for the years to come.
For DG Medios president Carlos Geniso, “nothing is going to compare to the post-pandemic sales,” with ticket sales tapering off to 460,000 last year from a 2022 peak of 580,000. This year, DG Medios sold 120,000 tickets across two Iron Maiden shows at the National Stadium, with Paul McCartney, Aventura, Keane, and more on this year’s calendar.
“There is an opportunity with the quality of talent we have and the visibility of the Latin music scene globally”
Though pop and rock traditionally perform well here, DG Medios is looking at previously overlooked paths to build opportunities.
“We carefully study our digital platforms and are constantly researching consumers both in Chile and in the region,” he says, adding that he’s highlighted K-pop as a fresh opportunity after being “pleasantly surprised that there are thousands of fans who want to attend and consume more shows.”
Venues are a primary challenge for Chilean promoters, with a notable gap between theatre-level touring and the country’s singular indoor arena, Santiago’s 17,000-capacity Movistar Arena. Competition from stadiums’ sports calendars also proves to be a hindrance for the booking of tours. Another ongoing obstacle for the market is the exchange rate, which is regularly in flux.
Many promoters work in the greater region along with Chile, and include Bizarro Live Entertainment, which brought four nights from André Rieu to Movistar Arena in September; La Sordera, which works primarily with Latin talent across the region; and the Creamfields Chile-backed Street Machine.
Arena Market: Chile
The Movistar Arena in the Chilean capital of Santiago is the busiest in South America and among the very busiest in the world, hosting 155 live entertainment events and selling nearly 1.6m tickets in 2023 – with 121,993 of them notched up in one particularly busy fortnight in August and September.
When Luis Miguel wanted to open his epic ongoing North and South American (and Spanish) tour with a 20-date opening salvo last August and September, in two key South American markets, he chose the Movistar Arena for ten of them – and Buenos Aires’ identically named arena for the other ten.
Given its ongoing success, it’s surprising that the Movistar building, which reopened in its current guise in 2006, actually dates from 1956 and lacked a roof until 2000. “From being an abandoned space to becoming the country’s most important venue… it plays a role in delivering culture to everyone,” said Daniel Hiller, CEO of owner BeLive Entertainment Group earlier this year.
The Movistar occupies an exalted position in Chile, representing a possibly exaggerated barometer of the market’s general health.
“The Movistar Arena, which is the only real venue here in Santiago that is not a stadium or a small theatre, is busy all year round”
“The Movistar Arena, which is the only real venue here in Santiago that is not a stadium or a small theatre, is busy all year round,” Jorge Merino, booking manager and project director at prominent local promoter Lotus Producciones recently told IQ.
At the same time, slow economic growth, higher-than- usual inflation, and currency volatility against the dollar have cast a cloud over Chile in 2024, as they have much of the rest of South America. But still, the acts keep trucking through the Movistar Arena, from international, regional, and local sources. In April, Chilean band Los Tres became the first local act to play four shows at the venue, which has a capacity of 16,522 spectators at its maximum capacity but scales down depending on the show.
Otherwise, its calendar is a compendium of all the major Latin American tours, with André Rieu, Camila, Ana Gabriel, Babasónicos, and Disney On Ice among the attractions – which also include another local star, comedian Edoe Caroe, whose two shows in August sold out in minutes earlier this year.