Market Report: Switzerland
Switzerland is a small yet significant market. After several years of consolidation, further changed arrived when See Tickets was acquired by CTS Eventim, turning the “big four” into three. Challenges remain despite the post-Covid bounce
“Our biggest challenge is always operating in a multilingual market where four languages – English, French, Italian, and German – are spoken,” says Andreas Müller, MD of Ticketmaster Switzerland.
There’s also growing competition thanks to the emergence of many specialised companies, a saturated live events market, and a trend towards increasingly short-term buying behaviour. Despite this, many remain optimistic. “We see them as opportunities to innovate and further enhance our services,” says Ticketcorner’s Claudio Agustoni.
Primary ticketing
The big three are led by Ticketcorner, a joint venture between CTS Eventim and publisher Ringier, which has been the frontrunner for several years.
See Tickets is now also part of the Eventim Group following the German giant’s acquisition of Vivendi’s international ticketing business. Ticketmaster is second, thanks in part to their association with Live Nation and huge success in sports. While Eventfrog focuses on smaller and medium-sized events.
See Tickets is now also part of the Eventim Group following the German giant’s acquisition of Vivendi’s international ticketing business.
“Eventfrog is Switzerland’s largest event calendar,” says Jonas Hufschmid, the company’s head of marketing and sales. “We have taken over Eventbooster, a service provider that specialises in increasing the reach of events in the media, becoming Switzerland’s largest network for event promotion.”
There are also many ticketing system providers. “This segment – venues, trade fairs, museums, and leisure operators – is highly competitive due to the large volumes involved,” says Dr Marcus Garbe, managing partner and founder of Transaction Consulting. “Secutix, vivenu, Smeetz, and Ticketcorner share the market.”
Distribution of sales
“Nearly 90% of all tickets are now digital, and the numbers are growing,” says Müller. “The shift towards digital and mobile ticketing continues to gain momentum. The most popular methods are now e-tickets and fan tickets,” adds Philipp Musshafen, CEO of Zurich’s Hallenstadion. Print-at- home tickets remain relatively important, particularly with older fans.
Secondary ticketing
“Tickets are regularly resold on the temporary market,” says Samuel Galley, a promoter with Just Because, adding it is often people clicking on the first link they see.
The lack of a legal framework means the likes of Viagogo are prevalent – “the secondary market is flourishing,” says Garbe – though many people also use Ricardo or eBay. But, adds Galley, “Ticketing agencies are increasingly implementing their own resale platforms on which tickets can be resold at original prices, plus a processing fee.”
“The secondary market is flourishing”
For example, Ticketcorner’s resale platform fanSALE allows tickets to be resold at the original price/face value and with a certificate of authenticity. In addition, “There is a growing trend towards personalised tickets as a means to combat the secondary ticket market,” says Musshafen.
In February, Viagogo reached a settlement with Switzerland’s largest consumer protection organisation following a six-year legal battle: The company agreed to make changes to its website, indicating its status as a resale marketplace; to provide greater transparency over prices and seating information; to feature a reduced number of pop-up windows to limit pressure on prospective buyers; and to clearly identify professional resellers or traders.
Cultural analysis
Technology and innovation are developing rapidly. “TWINT as a mobile payment solution is a speciality here and is particularly popular with younger target groups – it’s now the most important payment method in the Swiss ticketing and event market,” says Garbe.
“Within the last 12 months, Eventfrog has integrated several AI-based features for the purpose of helping event organisers in their marketing,” adds Hufschmid.
And market leader Ticketcorner is not resting on its laurels either. “We launched EDGE, our own paid media agency in Switzerland; we adopted the use of AI to create SEO content for our newly launched online magazine event; and we offer smaller market players technology such as Ticketcorner.Light, our web-based, self-service ticketing solution and our flexible white-label ticketing solution, INHOUSE.”
Country Profile: Switzerland
Switzerland is a prosperous market and a competitive one, with strong representation from all the major promoting groups. And while there is a strong hint of Germany about its corporate composition – Live Nation counts Switzerland as part of its GSA empire, and German groups CTS Eventim and DEAG are both powerful here – the inter-relationships are perhaps more peaceful.
“If I compare [ourselves] to our German colleagues, the market is very small, but it works very well,” Stefan Matthey, co-managing director of DEAG’s Good News Productions told IQ recently. “We talk to each other, sometimes we co-promote. It’s not a war situation like in Germany.”
For a country of 8.9m, Switzerland certainly packs in a lot of promoters, but then again, it gets a lot of shows. To greater or lesser degrees, German-speaking Zurich, Bern, Basel, and St. Gallen, and French-speaking Geneva, Lausanne, and Montreux are all important stops on the touring and festival circuits.
“If I compare [ourselves] to our German colleagues, the market is very small, but it works very well”
Takk ab Entertainment recently marked its first year as an entity, under a genuinely intriguing pan-generational management trinity of Takk’s Sebastien Vuignier (54) and Théo Quiblier (28), and Swiss concert pioneer André Béchir (75).
With the backing of CTS Eventim, the new company has this year handled two Taylor Swift shows at Zurich’s 50,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadium, sold out AC/DC at the same stadium in just eight minutes, and promoted a further 250 shows with artists such as Sam Smith, Jungle, Aurora, PJ Harvey, and The Last Dinner Party. It also booked acts for key Swiss festivals such as Montreux Jazz, Paléo, and Zurich Openair.
“With Seb and Théo, we can cover the whole field from young bands and young agents to the established bands and agents. We form a dream team,” Béchir recently told IQ. Next year’s shows include two for Ed Sheeran, in early August 2025.
Another leading Swiss promoter is Gadget abc Entertainment Group, a one-time indie, now another Eventim- backed big-hitter. Along with Takk, it was also involved in the two Taylor Swift shows, while its festival portfolio includes Stars In Town festival , OpenAir St. Gallen, Summerdays, Radar, Seaside, and Unique Moments.
“With Seb and Théo, we can cover the whole field from young bands and young agents to the established bands and agents. We form a dream team.”
Sister company act entertainment, meanwhile, runs a widely diversified entertainment business, with big concerts and major festivals alongside exhibitions, motorcycle extravaganzas, circuses, and comedians, in various languages. Its Greenfield Festival in Interlaken was headlined this year by Green Day, Bring Me The Horizon, and The Prodigy.
Live Nation includes Switzerland under its GSA arm – it brings Helene Fischer to Letzigrund next year – and also counts Mainland Music in its stable. Founded in 2012 by a group of independent operators including Christian Gremelmayr, Santosh Aerthott, Marc Lambelet, and Derrick Thomson, Mainland was acquired in 2019, and these days organises more than 650 shows annually from Zurich and Lausanne, with Thomson in charge.
Good News Productions is a longstanding promoter with a new plan. It rebuilt its team this year with the addition of Gremelmayr and Aerthott from Mainland, and positioned itself as Switzerland’s foremost rock specialist, with shows coming up with Slipknot, Pantera, and Sum 41.
Geneva’s Live Music Production, also part-owned by DEAG since 2019, mixes concerts, comedy, and other touring musical shows for the French-speaking part of Switzerland, including the Sion sous les étoiles festival in July.
There are independents in the market, too. Winterthur’s Sheeran-promoting AllBlues Konzert marks 30 years in 2024, on the back of a strong year with shows by José González, Brad Mehldau, and others.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Take That at Baloise Session, with only 1,500 seats”
Promoter and artist booking agency Soldout Productions remains independent 18 years since it launched, and this year acquired its first outdoor festival, the long-established Caribana, which takes place in Crans on Lake Geneva.
Switzerland has many festivals, from Paléo to Montreux to St. Gallen, and does a good line in refined concert series. Act launched a new boutique music festival in Zurich this summer, the Waterfront Festival at Kongresshaus Zurich, with performers including Stephan Eicher, Katie Melua, and the Gipsy Kings.
Baloise Session in Basel, with its small-scale, supper-club feel, plots a course through pop, rock, jazz, and world music every October and November. “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Take That at Baloise Session, with only 1,500 seats,” says Beatrice Stirnimann, the event’s CEO. “This show will be an absolute blast. As well as the rest of this year’s lineup with shooting star Teddy Swims and superstars Seal, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, St. Vincent, Jacob Collier, and Robert Plant, who presents his new project Saving Grace feat. Suzi Dian. And as things look now, we probably will again reach a 100% sell out this year. As one of the few independent festivals in Switzerland and as a boutique festival, we are very proud of this result.”
Arena Market: Switzerland
Nestled in the heart of Europe, Switzerland is a melting pot of languages, tastes, and venues. Surrounded by Germany, France, and Italy, programming across the country caters to various tongues, with consumers having a taste for everything. But as the country is on the smaller side, A-list tours draw patrons from across the country.
“The Swiss live entertainment market appears to be thriving,” says Thomas Kastl, managing director at St. Jakobshalle Basel. “International acts, in particular, have a significant draw, attracting larger audiences and contributing to the vibrancy of the entertainment scene. This enthusiastic reception indicates a strong demand for diverse cultural experiences and suggests a promising landscape for both local and international performers alike.”
Located in Münchenstein, near the northern border town of Basel, the 12,400-capacity St. Jakobshalle boasts 11 multiuse spaces across 20,000sqm to host a spectrum of events, including concerts, sports, exhibitions, and seminars. Kastl says the team finds strength in the diversity of spaces and programming options, with 2023 marking a new surge in activity.
“We take great pride in accommodating this diverse range of events, underscoring our commitment to providing a fitting venue for every occasion”
St. Jakobshalle has Bryan Adams, Avenged Sevenfold, Cigarettes After Sex, and Hans Zimmer lined up to perform, with handball and fencing championship tournaments also on the calendar.
“We take great pride in accommodating this diverse range of events, underscoring our commitment to providing a fitting venue for every occasion,” Kastl says.
Also on the horizon, various improvement projects for St. Jakobshalle include digitalisation, roof load optimisation, and furthering its sustainability initiatives. Last year, the venue joined fairpflichtet (fair duty), a 300-member-strong transparency and sustainability initiative for the German- speaking event industry.
In Switzerland’s most populous city, Zürich, Hallenstadion (15,000) – the nation’s biggest venue and winner of the Venue Award at the 2024 Arthur Awards – is also investing in new sustainable projects. Despite not undergoing any major renovations for 20 years, the venue is transitioning all lighting to sustainable LED sources and installing a solar power system.
Yet updates to keep the venue one of Europe’s top venues, CEO Philipp Musshafen says, come at a cost. Beyond the monetary tolls for ongoing projects, expenses are rising across the board for venues, promoters, and producers – resulting in rising ticket prices and affecting sales, Musshafen says.
“While Swiss audiences are accustomed to high ticket prices, they equally expect top-tier offerings: from venue quality and service to the show itself and sound quality,” he adds.
Nonetheless, the consumer market has never been stronger, according to Musshafen. Swiss people are eager to get back out to events, and 2025 looks to be a busier schedule than average, with Nickelback, Aventura, Karol G, and Olivia Rodrigo stopping by. Hallenstadion is also introducing new experiences for its patrons, with the unveiling of the STUDIO premium offering last year.
“With the introduction of the STUDIO, we’ve established an entry-level VIP offering,” Musshafen says. “I often compare it to the economy-plus class on an airplane. The StarLounge, in comparison, represents business class, while the individual private boxes epitomise first class.”
Offering something for everyone is commonplace in the Swiss market. Across the country, venues range in size and offerings, with a variety of arena tiers available for international artists.
ASM Global operates the Vaudoise Aréna (12,000) in Renens, which is primarily purposed for ice hockey but is also set to host André Rieu and Moby this year. In French-speaking Geneva, the 9,500-capacity Geneva Arena will welcome Luis Fonsi, Disney On Ice, ABBAMania, and other multi-language theatre, entertainment, and family-friendly offerings in 2024.