Market Report: Hungary

The country’s 27% tax rate is often cited as being a major barrier to the Hungarian live music industry.

Despite this, the market continues to attract international acts.

Primary ticketing
Primary ticketing is dominated by Eventim (formerly Ticketing Express), state-owned Jegymester, Funcode (operated by TicketPro), and Ticketportal.

In recent years, home-grown ticketing solutions have emerged, with companies like Neopositive Ltd’s Backstage Ticketing and DynamO Pricing offering innovative tools to enhance clients’ ticket management and sales experience. Bence Marosi, CEO of DynamO Pricing, emphasises client- tailored strategies to maximise event ticket sales, such as multi-wave section openings, audience segmentation, and variable pricing.

Home-grown ticketing solutions have emerged, with companies like Neopositive Ltd’s Backstage Ticketing and DynamO Pricing offering innovative tools to enhance clients’ ticket management and sales experience.

Barna Jardany, MD at TicketPro, highlights the importance of offering support throughout the ticket purchasing journey and providing crowd management and in-person ticket resolution support on event days.

Gyula Kovácska, MD at CTS Eventim Hungary, believes that marketing will play a vital role in diversifying audiences and increasing ticket sales. The company aims to expand online and out-of-home marketing activities to provide comprehensive promotional services.

Distribution of sales
Ticket sales in Hungary are predominantly digital, with around 95% of sales occurring online. Around 70-80% of theatre-goers opt to buy online.

Domestic/international splits
Local artists constitute about 70% of the live music market, whilst international artists generate higher returns and see almost double the ticket prices.

Secondary market
Backstage Ticketing is collaborating with TicketSwap to ensure ethical transactions occur. András Berta, marketing and business development director, says: “Our cooperation provides the possibility to automatically change barcodes of all resold tickets, thus creating a 100% safe secondary transaction.”

Other platforms include StubHub and Ma este Szinház!

Tax & charges
VAT for live music events is 27%, with open-air festivals subject to an 18% tax. Sales charges range from 2-10%, depending on the event.

Country Profile: Hungary

Live Nation is something of a dominant force here, having occupied the country’s only major stadium, the Puskás Aréna, for much of summer 2023.

And, says Bogdan Gomilko of Livesounds Agency, “Live Nation is even doing small – at times, local – club shows with 150-200 people.” However, there are a number of longstanding promoters outside of the global giant. Alongside Gomilko’s company, there’s Broadway, veteran promoter Laszlo Hegedus’s Multimedia, Concerto Music, and Green Stage Productions.

Many artists want to tour and perform here, says Gomilko, adding there are little to no administration constraints and complications, so it is easier to organise than, for example, in Austria. “But since there are more and more tours and many promoters, it is getting harder and harder to book a venue,” he says. “Even with club shows, we now book 8-15 months before the show – and everyone now works one to two years in advance, not half a year.”

Multimedia’s Hegedus was a pioneer in Eastern Europe – opening up the region to Western acts during Soviet times. He continues to work across the region from Budapest and over the past 12 months had “[a] very successful Harlem Globetrotters tour and several shows with Hans Zimmer and five major shows with José Carreras.”

“But since there are more and more tours and many promoters, it is getting harder and harder to book a venue”

“The network of production rental companies has developed well here in the last few years, meaning local companies can provide almost anything for major concerts,” he says. “The price of local workers is still reasonable compared to Western Europe. However, bands outside of the EU, especially UK bands, have to buy ATA Carnets to bring in equipment free of custom duty and this is rather expensive.”

VAT in Hungary remains high at 27%, and PRS fees of 9% coupled with ticket fees means much of the face value of a ticket doesn’t even reach the promoter.

For artists below the top tier, the best promotion for them is to perform as a support band before bigger bands; there are, says Gomilko, many good, small bands, “but it’s incredibly difficult to get bigger.”

Generally, though, the outlook is positive. “People aren’t afraid of Covid anymore and are hungry for musical experiences – the market has really grown over the last two years,” says Gomilko. “I’m hopeful people will be more inclined to pay for entertainment instead of saving up. One thing is for certain already – there will be a lot of shows next year.”

Arena Market: Hungary

Hungary has spent several years being buffeted by a number of challenges – extreme inflation, the nearby war, and political friction with the current government. Yet the pent-up, post-Covid demand means that the live entertainment market has remained solid, a trend that is set to continue for the rest of 2024 and beyond.

That means strong ticket sales for the country’s three main arenas. There’s the 8,500-capacity Főnix Arena in Debrecen, which has hosted Iron Maiden and Deep Purple alongside numerous sporting events, and the brand-new, 22,000-capacity MVM Dome in Budapest. Originally described as Europe’s largest dedicated handball venue, the facility, which opened in December 2021, can also host a variety of sports and has ramped up its concert and entertainment offering over the last few years: Thirty Seconds To Mars, Rod Stewart, and The World of Hans Zimmer are all scheduled for summer 2024.

It’s a similar story for László Papp Budapest Sportaréna, the established capital-city arena. A multifunctional space with several layouts ranging from 5,000 to 14,000, it has successfully tapped into the international tours sweeping the region; Diana Krall, Bring Me The Horizon, and Pentatonix have all played recently.

“Because of extreme inflation, we saw a significant cost increase both in venue maintenance and event management – this could not be passed on to our customers”

“Strong demand, with very few available days in the Friday to Sunday period,” is how Tibor Lak, the arena’s manager and finance manager, sums up the coming 18 months. Even though they are seeing “slightly fewer arena tours this year,” they have, he says, “welcomed lots of new and extremely popular local bands who were able to have sold-out events as a first arena show.” To further expand, Lak is looking at new genres like e-sports, as well as corporate events and international conferences.

Challenges remain, though. While Hungary has significantly decreased the record inflation that plagued 2023 and is now enjoying stable economic growth, aftershocks remain. “Because of extreme inflation, we saw a significant cost increase both in venue maintenance and event management – this could not be passed on to our customers,” says Lak. “Furthermore, there is a lack of manpower in several areas, like cleaning, security, etc., so we must spend more time monitoring subcontractors’ services to maintain quality.”

While negotiations continue on the long-term venue operation contract with the state, which currently concludes at the end of 2025, the arena is also continuously investing to improve both the fan and artist experience. “We have updated our dressing rooms for the main acts, and our exclusive catering partner is continuously working on new solutions to speed up service delivery,” says Lak.