Familiarity breeds content
While Live Nation entering a new sector might have already established competitors breaking a sweat, there’s no denying it’s a sign of faith in the potential of the market.
Last year, Michel Boersma was hired to lead Live Nation’s emerging markets unit from Dubai. As SVP of family entertainment and theatre, he’s tasked with creating family shows and tours in the region that can also be rolled out globally.
It’s very difficult to go into these markets with pop or music related content,” Boersma explains. “Sometimes these markets may not be ready technically and venue-wise, but often there is a theatre space or small arena that we can bring a family or theatre show into. Additionally, there is more political support for family entertainment than there sometimes is with music.”
“There is more political support for family entertainment than there sometimes is with music”
Boersma reports a successful first year with tours including bringing Madagascar Live! to Asia in partnership with Dreamworks, launching a Banksy exhibition in Australia that’s now touring Asia and taking LED show iLuminate to Saudi Arabia where Monster Jam was also introduced together with Feld.
Broadway Entertainment Group opened an office in Dubai before Live Nation, having relocated from London two years ago to focus on the Middle East and Asia, where venues and theatres had started to be built. CEO Liz Koops says Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is its greatest success to date after touring the musical for 48 weeks internationally.
Attendance ranged from 65-85% capacity – depending on the maturity of the market – with ticket prices ranging from $75–100 (€67–90).
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DEAG returns to profit after huge Q4
German promoter Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) returned to profit in 2016, it revealed today, after a fourth quarter that proved to be its strongest in five years.
As predicted by its board in November, a focus on Christmas-themed family events delivered a huge Q4 for DEAG, with the final three months of the year generating revenue of €86.8 million – almost half the company’s 2016 earnings, and a 61% increase on the €53.9m it turned over in Q4 2015.
While provisional full-year revenue only increased slightly – €204.9m, from €200.4m in 2015 – earnings before taxes and interest (EBIT) jumped nearly 102%, with DEAG once again making a (small) profit after 2015’s €26.2m loss (initially estimated at -€17.8m), incurred by the launch of three new festivals (two of which have since since been cancelled).
Alongside Christmas events such as Christmas at Kew, Christmas at Blenheim and Christmas Garden Berlin, key to DEAG’s 2016 growth were strong performances by its non-German subsidiaries – particularly Kilimanjaro Live and classical music promoter Raymond Gubbay in the UK – and its multinational ticketing business, MyTicket.
Other major Q4 shows for DEAG included Disney on Ice and Marvel Universe Live! and tours by Böhse Onkelz, David Garrett (Raymond Gubbay) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (Kilimanjaro).
“Our strategy, with a clear focus on family entertainment, rock and pop, classics and jazz, arts and exhibitions, and ticketing, has been proven right”
“Our strategy, with a clear focus on family entertainment, rock and pop, classics and jazz, arts and exhibitions, and ticketing, has been proven right,” comments DEAG founder and CEO Peter Schwenkow.
“In addition to our strong presence in German-speaking countries, our UK business also paid off, with disproportionate organic growth, now accounting for around 35% of DEAG’s total sales. We want to carry this momentum forward and expand our UK business to as much as 40% in the medium term.”
Owing a “well-filled [event] pipeline”, a statement from the DEAG board says it is “looking optimistically into 2017”, predicting EBIT “in the medium-to-upper single-digit million euro range”.
A detailed 2016 financial report will be released on 28 April.
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