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CTS Eventim has elevated Marijke van den Bosch to lead the ticketing activity of CTS Eventim Group across the Benelux region.
Van den Bosch was CEO of See Tickets Benelux, which was acquired by CTS Eventim last year. She will oversee the ticketing activity for the See Tickets and Eventim Netherlands brands across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and will report to COO Alexander Ruoff.
The promotion comes as long-serving CTS Eventim Netherlands managing director Henk Schuit stepped down at the end of 2024.
“I would like to thank Alexander and the CTS Eventim Board for their trust, as well as Henk for his achievements over the past two decades. He has built a strong foundation for CTS Eventim Netherlands, which I am proud to build upon,” van den Bosch says.
“I am excited to take on this role, lead the talented teams in Benelux, and contribute to the continued growth of CTS Eventim in the region.”
“We aim to deliver even better and more tailored solutions for our partners and customers”
Schuit has departed the company after two decades to “take a new direction in my career,” he adds.
“I am proud of what we have achieved together at CTS Eventim Netherlands, from strengthening our position in the ticketing market to fostering innovation and collaboration across the industry. I am confident that Marijke will build on this strong foundation and take the company to new heights.”
In June 2024 the Germany-headquartered live entertainment and ticketing firm acquired See Tickets and its associated live entertainment business from Vivendi. The €300 million deal also included a portfolio of 11 festivals.
The company’s Q3 results reflected strong year-on-year growth, reporting revenues above €2bn for the first nine months of 2024, up 16% YOY, despite profitability coming into question. The leadership structure shake-up signals a refresh in the region for the firm.
“Looking ahead, I am confident that Marijke’s expertise and leadership will be instrumental in driving the continued success of our ticketing operations in the Benelux region. With the unified management structure, we aim to deliver even better and more tailored solutions for our partners and customers,” says COO Alexander Ruoff.
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Nordic live entertainment giant All Things Live is continuing its expansion in Benelux with the acquisition of Agents After All.
Amsterdam-based Agents After All is one of the largest independent companies in the Dutch live entertainment market.
Founded in 2004 by Coen ter Wolbeek, Henkjan Onnink and Lesley Grieten, the 30-strong team is involved in 1,500 concerts annually in the Netherlands.
This includes shows at AFAS Live, Ziggo Dome, Rotterdam Ahoy and Olympic Stadium as well as festivals such as Royal Park Live, HIER Festival and Concert at SEA with 135,000 visitors annually.
Following the purchase, the current owners of Agents After All become partners and co-owners of All Things Live.
“We are excited about joining forces with All Things Live to accelerate our business development and growth as part of a respected partnership with an increasingly strong presence in Europe,” says Norbert Plantinga, managing director of Agents After All. “We look forward to the cooperation and delivering stellar experiences to the artists we have the honour to represent and their audiences.
“We are impressed with the entrepreneurial mindset and business acumen of the Agents After All team”
Kim Worsøe, member of the executive board of All Things Live Group, says: “We are impressed with the entrepreneurial mindset and business acumen of the Agents After All team and look forward to welcoming everyone as part of the All Things Live partnership as we continue to build a stronger platform in Benelux and the European live entertainment market. This expansion of our footprint establishes All Things Live as a leading European player, and we will continue to build our business together.”
All Things Live has been on an acquisition spree in 2022, buying up Antwerp-based management company Musickness and Italian promoter and agency Radar Concerti.
Also in 2022, the group announced the signing of international management firm Then We Take The World and launched an intimate three-day music festival in Copenhagen, Denmark, called Common Ground Festival.
Founded by Waterland Private Equity in 2018, All Things Live’s stable of festivals includes Big Slap in Malmö, Sweden and Weekend Festival in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
The All Things Live group, which mainly consists of promoters, also includes ICO Concerts and ICO Management & Touring (Denmark), Friction, Atomic Soul Booking and Stand Up Norge (Norway), Maloney Concerts, Monkfish and ROA (Sweden) and Busker Agency in Belgium.
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See Tickets has appointed Marijke van den Bosch as managing director for the Benelux region, effective 1 March.
Van den Bosch has worked for See Tickets since 2011, and is currently CCO. In the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), See works with events and companies including Tomorrowland, ID&T, Dour festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, Dutch Design Week, Vrienden van Amstel and Studio 100.
Commenting on her promotion, van den Bosch says: “I certainly see it as a crowning achievement on my 10th work anniversary. The coronavirus crisis has dominated the past year – a challenging yet educational period for the company, in which we will ultimately come out stronger. The turning point is now in sight and I am looking forward to the future plans with great enthusiasm.”
“Marijke has our full trust as the new sole managing director in Benelux to exploit the significant assets and expertise of the See Tickets family”
Van den Bosch says See has used the year-long shutdown to make new investments in other sectors, including the museum and attractions market, “which is a segment which we are currently focussing on internationally,” she continues. “Our offering is also being expanded with new products such as a CRM tool and more marketing solutions to constantly improve the needs of our clients and their fans.”
Rob Wilmshurst, group CEO of See Tickets, says: “As an international company, we know that local support, resources and services are absolutely essential in developing successful client partnerships. Marijke has our full trust as the new sole managing director in Benelux to exploit the significant assets and expertise of the See Tickets family to serve our valuable clients, and their customers, in the Benelux region.”
See Tickets, owned by French conglomerate Vivendi, expanded its presence in the Benelux market in 2018 when it acquired Netherlands-based Paylogic.
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Luxembourg has extended its temporary ban on mass gatherings deeper into the summer, with no large events permitted until 31 July.
In addition to effectively cancelling the country’s national day, Grand Duke’s Official Birthday (23 June), the extension – announced yesterday (15 April) by Luxembourgish prime minister Xavier Bettel – forces the cancellation of music festivals including Siren’s Call (originally scheduled for 27 June), Echterlive (17–19 July) and the Summer in the City series, among others.
On the Grand Duke’s birthday celebrations, “the date can be moved back, as long as the situation does not worsen,” says Bettel (pictured).
The announcement follows the extension of similar coronavirus-driven bans on summer events elsewhere in Europe, including Germany (until 31 August), Belgium 31 August), France (mid-July), Austria (30 June) and Denmark (31 August).
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A number of lighting rental companies in the Benelux countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg illuminated the sky over the weekend in support of key workers on the frontline of fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The #LightTheSky concept was thought up by a Dutch rental company, later taken up by numerous entertainment supply companies, venues, broadcasters and others across the Benelux region and further afield in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, Serbia and Italy.
Shapes including hearts were projected into the sky using products by Czech lighting manufacturer Robe, among others.
“It’s heart-warming to see the entertainment technology community energised and engaging in actions like this”
The initiative aimed to show solidarity and gratitude towards essential workers in the health service, transportation, law enforcement, supermarkets, education and many other sectors that are keeping countries going during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s heart-warming to see the entertainment technology community energised and engaging in actions like this and showing its support for everyone,” says Robe CEO Josef Valchar.
“We’re all affected, and by standing strong together we can help each other survive and deal with the huge challenges our incredible industry faces in the immediate and longer-term future.”
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Venues in France and the Benelux countries are turning a corner after a difficult start to 2016, when the terrorist attacks in Paris and Belgium hurt the usually booming arenas business.
That’s according to IQ’s European Arena Yearbook 2017, which reveals that the industry is now bouncing back from a challenging start to the year – when ticket and hospitality sales both suffered amid considerable consumer nervousness – with results for the latter half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 expected to largely exceed previous years.
The arenas surveyed, which include the leading venues in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, hosted 425 events in 2016, selling just under 3.7m tickets.
Unlike in central and eastern Europe, where sport is strongest, music dominates the programmes of French and Benelux arenas, responsible for 2.1m tickets in 2016 – 56% of total sales and making up 47% of total events hosted.
“The current season is seeing a real revival in ticket sales. We believe it could be a reaction to the effects of the attacks”
There was an average of 71 performances per venue.
Come the end of the current season (to August 2017), director-general Julien Collette says AccorHotels Arena (20,000-cap.) in Paris will have increased its ticket sales to 1.5m, up from 1.1m in 2015–16 – while the outlook is similarly positive in Belgium, where the Sportpaleis Group, which operates Sportpaleis (23,000-cap.), Lotto Arena (8,050-cap.), Forest National (8,000-cap.) and Ethias Arena (18,000-cap.), similarly reporting strong growth.
“Last season, we suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks,” says Sportpaleis’s Jan Van Esbroeck. “However, the current season is seeing a real revival in ticket sales. We believe it could be some kind of reaction to the effects of the attacks. We are set to have a better-than-average season by the end of the year.”
In Luxembourg, meanwhile, Rockhal (6,500-cap.) had its best year to date, says CEO Olivier Toth.
Read the full feature in the digital edition of the European Arena Yearbook 2017: