Market Report: Italy
While in the past Italy has had a somewhat volatile live events market – in the form of intercompany drama and various antitrust lawsuits and countersuits – things have settled down post-pandemic; growth, quality, and new initiatives are now the order of the day.
“It’s an exciting time for the industry!” says Daniele Bei, managing director of Ticketmaster Italy. “And it’s great to see the variety of entertainment options growing in our country – there’s a steady increase in live music shows and festivals, and we’re expecting even more in 2025.”
“There is concern that this is reaching the limits of consumer spending, and while larger venues and the summer season absorb the most relevant share of expenditure, small live clubs are suffering and risk closures.”
“The pandemic seems to have left Italians with a strong positivity towards going to live music concerts and out for dinner – both sectors have recently experienced significant growth,” adds Mirco Bezzi, CEO of ART4ART, parent company of boxol.it. Yet challenges remain. “There is concern that this is reaching the limits of consumer spending, and while larger venues and the summer season absorb the most relevant share of expenditure, small live clubs are suffering and risk closures,” he says.
Primary ticketing
CTS Eventim’s TicketOne remains the market leader by some distance, in part due to the number of past acquisitions – it owns the majority of live touring agencies – that led to some of those (now resolved) lawsuits.
Ticketmaster, which handles the vast majority of Live Nation events along with many football and basketball teams, also commands a significant market share, as does Vivaticket. DICE (operating since 2019) has partnerships with a number of festivals, venues, and promoters, while other smaller companies are taking the lead when it comes to new technology and developments in payments and social integration; for example, TicketSms introduced the concept of payment instalments for tickets last year.
“We also serve international ticketing platforms for specialist localisation, supply custom ticketing services for inventory management, and customer relations to direct customers such as festivals, regional ticketing networks, trade shows, and independent promoters.”
Boxol is one of the longest standing B2C firms in the market. “We also serve international ticketing platforms for specialist localisation, supply custom ticketing services for inventory management, and customer relations to direct customers such as festivals, regional ticketing networks, trade shows, and independent promoters,” says Bezzi.
Distribution of sales
Digital adoption continues to accelerate in a country where, for certain demographics and geographical areas, the tradition of physical tickets remains attractive.
“The pandemic consolidated the trend towards what in Italy is classified as digital tickets: print-at-home PDFs and digital e-tickets,” says Bizzi. “However, a substantial percentage of people, mainly those over 45 and in the southern areas of the country, still buy traditional paper tickets.”
“The pandemic consolidated the trend towards what in Italy is classified as digital tickets: print-at-home PDFs and digital e-tickets.”
Secondary ticketing
With strict laws introduced in 2018 to combat the resale and scalping of tickets – a secondary ticket solution is now an obligation for every event over 5,000-capacity – more and more services offering “fair secondary trades of tickets,” with price caps at face value, have appeared.
DICE’s Waiting List feature is popular and well-used, while TicketOne’s fanSALE is now “the highest-ranked platform in this segment” claims the company’s Stefano Lionetti. “These new legal resale platforms are more and more known by fans, creating value both for private consumers and the ticketing service providers,” he adds.
“These new legal resale platforms are more and more known by fans, creating value both for private consumers and the ticketing service providers.”
Boxol released an open platform aimed at these kind of secondary market operators, partnering with a niche local startup, Ticketoo, to do so. And TicketSwap are a significant player here, too; unlike in other territories, they are obliged by law to resell tickets for no more than face value (a rule that applies to the legitimate resale of any ticket for any event).
Cultural analysis
Growth and innovation are on the rise, with ticketing companies keen to capitalise on Italians’ reinvigorated joie de vivre. “We’ve launched a massive campaign to tap into Italy’s booming local festival scene,” says Bei. “One example is the pop-up event we created for Milan’s I-Days Festival, and we teamed up with Italian rapper Tedua to celebrate his double sold-out show.”
TicketOne is doing something similar. “We already launched a global ticketing partnership with TikTok in 2023. Figures are catching up in 2024 as we have been investing in content and initiatives such as FantaSanremo, a fantasy game related to the very well-known Sanremo Festival that has entertained millions of participants,” says Lionetti.
Country Profile: Italy
When it comes to the live market in Italy, it’s fair to say that two corporate giants dominate the landscape – Eventim and Live Nation. The former includes promoters Vivo Concerti, Di & Gi, Vertigo, and Friends & Partners, covering a wide variety of old and new Italian acts alongside prominent international artists; the latter tend to work with A-list superstars and huge stadium and arena shows, such as Coldplay.
But there is also a number of independent promoters, chief among them Trident Music (which handles Italian stars including Sethu, Jovanotti, Sfera Ebbasta, and Tiromancino), Claudio Trotta’s Barley Arts, and All Things Live (the former Milan-based independent Radar Live), who handle Idles, Bonobo, and Kamasi Washington. Then there’s MC² Live, who mainly promote rock and metal shows; they were behind Rammstein’s recent 60,000+ sold-out show in Reggio Emilia, as well as Marilyn Manson’s forthcoming February 2025 show in Milan.
Touring in Italy offers great potential – and the market remains buoyant – thanks to its rich cultural heritage and enthusiastic audiences, but there are still many challenges facing promoters and touring productions. Chief among these is Italy’s infamous bureaucracy. “Obtaining the necessary permits and licences for events can be time-consuming, because we also have to navigate local regulations that vary significantly from one region to another,” says Di & Gi CEO Mimmo D’Alessandro. This is doubly true when using a historical site as a venue.
“Lately, the music market in Italy is dominated by Italian artists, who enjoy a strong local fanbase and cultural connection.”
And, he adds, “Lately, the music market in Italy is dominated by Italian artists, who enjoy a strong local fanbase and cultural connection. This makes it harder for international artists to compete and gain visibility – they can require more targeted and intensive marketing efforts to attract audiences.”
“The biggest challenge is the lack of proper venues, both at club level and arenas,” says Fabrizio Pompeo, MD of All Things Live, adding that many cities do not have suitable infrastructure. And, as elsewhere, inflation and rising costs are becoming problematic. “This post-Covid increase has impacted daily operations, leading to a significant rise in ticket prices. This naturally prompts the public to make more thoughtful decisions when purchasing,” says Andrea Pieroni, CEO of MC² Live.
When it comes to successful artist building, the modern approach of posting consistent and creative content on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram is key to building a loyal fanbase. But, says Pieroni, so too is “understanding the local culture and preferences – this can be partnering with local influencers, leveraging regional social media platforms, and engaging in community events.”
The most efficient way for an international artist to build a career in Italy is by playing live and choosing the right venues,” says D’Alessandro, adding that playing the many Italian music festivals, with their large audiences and extensive media coverage, makes them ideal for building fanbases.
“Young artists are increasingly exploring and blending traditional Italian sounds with contemporary influences, creating a dynamic and evolving music landscape.”
The increase in popularity of such festivals – like Di & Gi’s Lucca Summer Festival and La Prima Estate – is part of what D’Alessandro sees as a “growing demand for live experiences and tourism growth. These post-pandemic months have seen a noticeable increase in the value people place on live experiences, leading to higher attendance and a willingness to spend more on tickets. And the major influx of tourists we are experiencing offers a new and expanding audience for promoters to target.”
MC² Live also launched a new festival this year, Metal Park, one Pieroni expects to grow, and coupled with a vibrant and diverse national music scene, replete with a rich blend of genres and styles, points towards continued growth and optimism. “Young artists are increasingly exploring and blending traditional Italian sounds with contemporary influences, creating a dynamic and evolving music landscape,” says D’Alessandro.
And while Pompeo notes that he sees “more and more big events doing very, very well, but smaller ones struggling,” conditions remain favourable for the expansion and growth of the live music industry.
Arena Market: Italy
With new sponsorships being brokered throughout the country, an emphasis on energy efficiency and audience experience, the future of Italy’s live entertainment industry is looking prosperous.
Daniele Donati, general manager of the Inalpi Arena, renamed from Pala Alpitour following a naming rights deal with the dairy company in January 2024, echoes this sentiment.
“Live shows are in a great growth period, and Italy is always a good market for international tours.” With a capacity of 15,666, this Turin-based venue is not only home to large-scale rock and synth pop concerts, having hosted the likes of Måneskin, Depeche Mode, and Thirty Seconds to Mars, but to major sports events. Donati credits the hosting of the yearly Nitto Association of Tennis Professionals Finals and the Frecciarossa Final Eight Basketball Tournament as one the main drivers of business.
Over the past year, Inalpi Arena has introduced improvements, including a new piece of software called Navigator, which collects performance data and can be used to improve future live events. “Based on a cloud system, it allows the venue’s energetic performances to be analysed and monitored down to details,” Donati says.
“Live shows are in a great growth period, and Italy is always a good market for international tours.”
He emphasises the arena’s commitment to “the realisation of energy-efficient operations and [that they] have developed specific solutions tailored to the Inalpi Arena needs.” It has installed a new air-treatment unit, lighting systems, chillers, pumping units, and air-conditioning to achieve this aim.
The 20,000-capactiy Unipol Arena in Bologna saw the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Nickelback performing earlier this year.
Equipped with a truss structure of 1300m2, five fixed LED wall screens, LED programmable floor screens, nine bars, a “tunnel of stars,” and a versatile state-of-the-art VIO resident sound system installed by dB Technologies, Unipol Arena is committed to enhancing the audience’s overall experience.
Following a multi-year partnership established between ForumNet and Unipol as of May 2024, the Milan-based Mediolanum Forum is now the Unipol Forum. The multipurpose venue holds 15,800 spectators over three tiered levels and a VIP arena with corporate boxes. Attracting the likes of Childish Gambino, Cigarettes After Sex, and Melanie Martinez who will perform later this year, the forum holds up as being one of many key stakeholders in the Italian live entertainment market. In a statement, Unipol says: “This title sponsorship will help Unipol to consolidate both its brand position and active presence in Milan and complement its long-term sponsorship of the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna.”
“This title sponsorship will help Unipol to consolidate both its brand position and active presence in Milan and complement its long-term sponsorship of the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna.”
Also owned and managed by ForumNet is Palazzo dello Sport in Rome (formerly known as Palamottica). Famous for its establishment for the Olympics in the 1960s, this multipurpose, 11,500-seated indoor arena is set to host Blue and Mahmood this upcoming year.
Business at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence is moving at “strong pace,” despite “the decrease in requests for multiple dates of the same act,” says venue manager Giuseppe Malgeri. Despite this, the 8,200-capacity venue punches above its weight with the high-calibre events it hosts, from international music acts such as Bryan Adams and Måneskin to sold-out runs of musical Notre-Dame de Paris.
Within the last year, Malgeri says the venue has made significant changes in its approach to energy efficiency “by reducing heat dispersion with changes in the wall insulation and in fixtures.” Major structural alterations were made, creating more room and access to more bars and refreshment points.
New technology was implemented to manage these spaces, which have helped in improving the audience experience.