Market Report: Portugal
Despite being a smaller market, Portugal remains competitive and consistently buoyant. It is also, says Adriana García-Abril Ruiz of See Tickets, “increasingly profitable and attractive in various segments.”
“People here are regular consumers of music and culture,” says Jorge Vinha da Silva, CEO of MEO Blueticket. “Many international artists choose Portugal … and in the past few years, we’ve been noticing an increase in shows by Portuguese artists.” He adds that market studies suggest that the total ticketing market is now worth north of €300m annually.
Primary ticketing
MEO Blueticket is one of the biggest companies here, partly due to the fact that as well as being a major player in music, they are a leader in tourism, selling over 4m tickets in this segment alone. Ticketline and Bilheteira Online make up the “big three.” See Tickets, a newer company, is also increasing in significance.
Ticketmaster may be taking tentative steps to enter the market.
Ticketmaster may be taking tentative steps to enter the market. “Live Nation – and therefore Ticketmaster – has entered the Portuguese market via the acquisition of a great percentage of major indoor venue MEO Arena, which also owns Blueticket,” says Rita Amado, COO of TicketLine. “It remains to be seen what effect Eventim’s acquisition of See Tickets will have here.”
Distribution of sales
Digital tickets account for approximately 60% of MEO Blueticket’s sales, which Vinha da Silva says is “above market average.” Demand for digital is increasing. “90% of purchases are now made online, with an e-ticket being used to enter events,” adds Amado. “This is a post- pandemic behaviour. Pre-pandemic, we had 80% sales offline via outlets spread throughout the country selling physical tickets.”
Secondary ticketing
The resale of tickets is not permitted by law in Portugal. It does, however, still exist.
Cultural analysis
Technological innovations, such as cashless solutions, custom-made mobile Apps, RFID wristbands, data mining, etc, continue to appear. “The ticketing market is in constant evolution,” says Vinha da Silva
Country Profile: Portugal
Portugal is proof positive that investment in live music can deliver massive dividends. Local promoter Everything Is Now spent €545,000 renovating the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra in order to host Coldplay’s four shows there last May, and the city council subsequently claimed these dates added €36m to the local economy.
Álvaro Covões, founder and CEO of Everything Is Now, referred to 2023 as “amazing” in terms of live business, with the Coldplay shows key to that. He describes 2024 as “so far so good” but adds a note of sobriety by saying that demand for live “is not so strong,” as Portuguese consumers have experienced spiralling living costs, which naturally affects their entertainment spend.
“We depend on the available money in the pocket,” he says. “The market is very small. We are only 10m people.”
He cites Depeche Mode and 30 Seconds To Mars as standout shows in 2024, adding that Portugal also benefits from being a destination for Brazilian superstars, notably Roberto Carlos and Ney Matogrosso this year.
“The market is very small. We are only 10m people.”
António Cunha, partner/general manager of Uguru Music, handles artist management but also specialises in jazz and classical, bringing in acts like Ludovico Einaudi, Matthew Halsall, Nubya Garcia, Makaya McCraven, and Kamasi Washington.
The strong festival market in the country is key to drawing in international acts, notably to play MEO Kalorama, NOS Alive, Super Bock Super Rock, and Primavera Sound Porto. This is both a blessing and a curse, according to Cunha.
“There are many acts, especially English artists or American artists, that are mostly focused on doing the festivals,” he explains. “So, they just want to do the festivals, and they don’t want to do headline shows in venues.”
Outside of the big festivals and shows in Lisbon and Porto, touring in Portugal can be challenging.
“We don’t have promoters doing national tours,” says Covões. “Sometimes it is the artist themselves, with management, doing the national tour. It would be a theatre national tour or something like that. So the market is more based on international acts.”
“We don’t have promoters doing national tours”
He insists that, however, Portugal has some of the best venues in Europe, pointing to the Coliseo Porto Ageas and MEO Arena as proof. He accepts, however, that the country’s geographical position can count against international acts playing there on a European tour.
“Lisbon and Porto are each 600 kilometres from Madrid,” he says. “So, if [acts] come, it is because we are good. And it is because the audience is also very good. But it is a long way to come to Portugal. If you look at the map, you can understand what I’m saying.”
Cunha adds, “We don’t have a club circuit. We have some clubs but not a circuit. The artists that are more popular can grow [their popularity] in Portugal because of the public circuit. There is a public circuit where many cities, through the municipal councils, organise free attendance events. It’s something that happens in almost all the cities in Portugal. So that is an opportunity for artists that don’t sell tickets.”
There is still potential to widen out the live market in the country. Covões says they are expanding into classical promotion, although the venues are relatively small. He also says there is huge K-pop demand, but K-pop acts are still not touring Portugal.
The success of the annual Afro Nation festival in Portimão, which has doubled in size since its debut in 2019, should be taken as a sign of broadening tastes for live music and also for shows outside of the country’s two biggest cities.
Arena Market: Portugal
Few markets have rebounded as well post-Covid as Portugal. By 2022, tourism was up 20% compared to 2019 figures and grew a further 10.7% in 2023.
“Our pipeline indicates stability compared to the last couple of years, which were two of the best ever, with 80 to 90 shows a year and also major international conferences and business events,” says Jorge Vinha da Silva, CEO of Lisbon’s MEO Arena (formerly known as the Altice Arena). “Overall, we host 150 events a year.”
The main stop for artists at arena level in Portugal, the MEO can be configured in several ways – from 4,000 to 20,000 in standing configuration or 13,000 seated. Recently, they hosted Depeche Mode and Dave Matthews Band, and the strength of current demand is evident in the fact that both Olivia Rodrigo and Karol G, due to play there soon, have booked two shows each.
“Our pipeline indicates stability compared to the last couple of years, which were two of the best ever”
It’s a similar story at Porto’s Coliseu Porto Ageas, one of the main cultural venues in the country. An icon of modernist architecture and classified by the Portuguese government as a ‘monument of public interest,’ they hosted 265 shows in 2023 and saw a 15% increase in attendance compared to 2022. “In the upcoming months, our venue is very busy, both with national and international events – mostly music concerts,” says Sara Coelho, the venue’s press and communications officer. “But we still have dates available for agents considering Portugal as their next stop and who want to stage an amazing live event here.”
The Coliseu’s main hall can welcome up to 4,000 people in a variety of configurations and can be adapted for smaller events. It also has a number of smaller rooms and halls, down to a capacity of 180, for concerts, exhibitions, press conferences, lectures, and presentations. “Our programming is very, very diverse, as we welcome all types of events, but since Covid, we have noticed a decrease in international music tours,” says Coelho. “We have not yet reached the number of international music tours we had before 2019.”
Bob Dylan, Simple Minds, and Caetano Veloso have all played recently; Bonnie Tyler and The Cult are scheduled to play later this year. Innovation and development are key to remaining competitive – to that end, they’ve replaced their roof, are currently working on adapting the main hall into smaller configurations, and are equipping their boxes with technology that will allow food and drinks to be delivered directly to a box seat.
“In the upcoming months, our venue is very busy, both with national and international events – mostly music concerts”
Investment continues at the MEO Arena, too. “We have a permanent programme of investments for infrastructure and all our operational systems,” says Vinha da Silva. “On top of that, we are refurbishing certain areas, such as the VIP boxes– we recently built eight new ones – dressing rooms, and our main lounge.”
Other notable venues in the country include the 10,000-capacity Sagres Campo Pequeno in Lisbon, where Chris Isaak, Kim Wilde, and Fontaines D.C. are set to play; the
8,400-capacity Pavilhão Multiúsos de Gondomar, which hosts Bryan Adams this November; and the multipurpose Altice Forum Braga, dedicated to all kinds of exhibitions, recreational events, and entertainment shows for 20 to 20,000 guests.