Market Report: France

France has a strong policy of protecting and supporting domestic arts and culture, and this carries over into the live sector.

The country also has tight regulations around both market consolidation and secondary sales, meaning the market is diverse and vibrant.

Primary ticketing
CTS Eventim and Ticketmaster are the heavyweight players in the French market, with Eventim being the dominant company through its 65% share in France Billet – the ticketing partner for the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.

Meanwhile, Vivendi’s French ticketing assets that weren’t part of the international See Tickets sale to Eventim, is confusingly also called See Tickets France (formerly Digitick). Whitelabel services such as Secutix and Weezevent are also present. Dice moved into France in 2018.

Distribution of sales
“Today, with the advent of smartphones and wallets, the e-ticket printed at home is gradually giving way to the m-ticket,” says Benjamin Bories of See Tickets France.

“Today, with the advent of smartphones and wallets, the e-ticket printed at home is gradually giving way to the m-ticket.”

Ticketmaster says 80% of its sales are now digital. François Thominet, the company’s regional vice president for Southern Europe, and managing director, France, adds, “We’ve recently launched the Fan Wallet App, France’s first live entertainment ticket wallet. This includes features like 100% digital tickets, barcode-delayed delivery, transfer with extra security, one-time password (via email or SMS), real-time tracking, and in-app messaging. It’s a game-changer for both fans and event organisers.”

Other players say digital is as much as 85% of their sales now.

Value of market
As one of the biggest markets in Europe, Statista projects music events to be worth $835m in 2024 and expects this to increase to $896m by 2028.

Pierre-Henri Deballon, CEO of Weezevent (which handled ticketing for AC/DC’s show at L’Hippodrome de Paris- Longchamp in August), says ticket prices in France might be lower than in the UK by comparison, but that is changing.

“Because of inflation, people start to make decisions linked to their budget,” he says. “It has started to be a bit difficult for festivals because they can’t increase their price at the same level. People start to be more focused on their own expenses.”

“Prices have indeed risen in recent years, but for the moment, we can’t see any major impact on concerts that are in high demand.”

Bories says, certainly at the top end, price increases are not damaging sales. “Prices have indeed risen in recent years, but for the moment, we can’t see any major impact on concerts that are in high demand,” he says. “Audiences are still prepared to pay to see their favourite artist who left the stage during the Covid pandemic.”

What ticketing companies do is evolving and expanding in the French market.

“Thanks to our wider relationship with Fnac Darty, we are able to offer ticketing and merchandise within the same purchase,” says Arnaud Averseng, president and CEO of France Billet (Fnac/Eventim). “This collaboration has seen an impressive response from the market. In addition, we have launched new technology, which has increased our stability for large on-sales, ensuring that our systems are secure and reliable for even the biggest acts.”

Secondary ticketing
It is illegal to resell tickets without the authorisation of the promoter of the event. The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) notes that, “Unauthorised resale can attract a €15,000 fine, which rises to €30,000 if the offence is repeated.”

“In order to protect fan and event diversity, France is a strongly regulated country regarding ticketing,” says Christian Binelli of Secutix France. “As an example, resale ticket prices should match the face value. Consequently, it’s very tough to do business in France for secondary market specialists. They have to respect organisers’ rules. Due to the fact that it’s very regulated, it fuels a huge black market.”

“Due to the fact that it [secondary ticketing] is very regulated, it fuels a huge black market.”

See Tickets has been offering resale options since 2009, initially with the zePASS website and now with Resale.

“Our Resale solution allows money to pass through a perfectly secure system without our intermediation, allows customers who wish to resell their tickets on a non-regular basis to do so within a strictly legal framework, and allows buyers to benefit from a limit on the resale price and to have the absolute certainty of being able to access the chosen event, since each transaction gives rise to the creation of a new barcode and the cancellation of the barcode of the ticket sold,” says Bories.

DICE came into the French market in 2018. “The secondary market is one of the biggest barriers to fans going out more in France, especially for large-scale events,” says Edouard Rostand, head of music for DICE France. “We operate a closed ticketing system, meaning tickets are locked to smartphones to help prevent ticket touting.”

“We operate a closed ticketing system, meaning tickets are locked to smartphones to help prevent ticket touting.”

Resale platform TicketSwap says it has 1.4m users in the country and, working within the tight legal parameters on secondary sales, is providing major players with a solution here. The company says: “Festivals and promoters – such as Les Eurockéennes de Belfort, Cercle music, and Le Festival Interceltique de Lorient – have chosen TicketSwap to optimise their results and revenue on the secondary market, while providing the best experience to their fans.”

International/domestic splits & genres
France has a strong and long-standing cultural protectionism policy in place, which is a key factor in the success of local acts, who account, as per DICE data, for around 60% of sales. Key live music genres include rap, pop, rock, and electro.

“Sales are highly dependent on tours and therefore on the schedules of foreign artists, primarily American,” says Bories. “Depending on the year and the European tour, sales by foreign artists can be very high or [much] lower.”

“Sales are highly dependent on tours and therefore on the schedules of foreign artists, primarily American,”

Cultural analysis
“Overall, the situation in France has been more or less the same for several years, with a few French or international artists capable of filling large venues and stadiums on the one hand and a very wide range of smaller venues on the other,” explains Bories.

“Today’s consumers are looking for simplicity in their purchases, and security and protection if they can no longer attend the show.”

Adding that the ticketing sector needs to respond to changing consumer demands/expectations. “Today’s consumers are looking for simplicity in their purchases, and security and protection if they can no longer attend the show,” he says.

Taxes & charges
For live entertainment events, the VAT rate is 5.5%, but in some cases (small events) that rate can go down to 2.1%. Weezevent says, as a white-label solution, it charges 2.5% per ticket as commission, which includes payment and bank fees. Secutix, as it is a SaaS service, works on an annual subscription. Ticketing companies typically work on a 10% cut.