ABBA Voyage revenue topped £100m in 2023
ABBA Voyage grossed more than £100 million (€120m) in 2023 after attracting in excess of one million visitors, it has been revealed.
The groundbreaking production pulled in a total of 1,097,597 visitors last year, according to documents filed in the UK with Companies House by Aniara, the firm behind the virtual concert residency.
Over the 12-month period, the show completed 374 performances and attracted 1,097,597 visitors, achieving an occupancy rate of 97.8%. Revenue from ticket sales was £103,665,597, with Aniara declaring a pre-tax profit of £6,065,402 – more than double the £2,990,757 garnered in 2022, when it played for seven months.
Held at the purpose-built 3,000-cap ‘ABBA Arena’ under the direction of producers Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson and director Baillie Walsh, the show debuted at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in May 2022.
“During the period, the group successfully operated the ABBA Voyage show, building on the critical acclaim received following its launch in May 2022,” reads the report. “There is a substantial market demand for ABBA Voyage and the directors anticipate a continued high level of activity throughout 2024.
“The group’s long term strategy is to continue the run of the show in London for as long as it remains commercially viable”
“The group’s long term strategy is to continue the run of the show in London for as long as it remains commercially viable.”
The show has brought the Swedish pop legends – Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus (co-founder of lead investor Pophouse Entertainment), Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – back to the stage in avatar form, supported by a 10-piece live band. Standard tickets range from £27.50 to £319.50.
Costing £141 million, the entire venture was funded privately from Swedish investors. Turnover for the seven months its was active in 2022 was £97,118,038 from 675,600 visitors across 228 shows, meaning ticket sales revenue topped £200m in its first 19 months of operation.
By the year-end of 2023, Aniara had net assets of £13,886,925, compared to £5,826,001 12 months earlier.
Revisit IQ‘s 2022 interview with producers Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson and director Baillie Walsh here. Gisla also delivered a keynote during Touring Entertainment Live (TEL) at this year’s ILMC.
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DEAG’s H1 revenue soars past pre-pandemic levels
Deutsche Entertainment’s (DEAG) revenue has soared past pre-pandemic levels, according to the company’s financial results for the first half of 2022.
The Berlin-based live entertainment group saw its revenue increase by a whopping 109% from €63.9 million to €133.4m compared to the first half of 2019.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) also increased from €3.1m to €10.1m (+226%), exceeding projections.
The news comes after DEAG reported the most successful summer in its 44-year history, with more than three million tickets sold in the company’s national markets – Germany, UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark.
Highlights of 2022 so far have included concerts by Ed Sheeran in the UK and performances by Kiss and Zucchero in Germany. In Switzerland, concerts were held with Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen and Iron Maiden, among others.
Sold-out open-air events such as Nature One, Belladrum and Sion sous les étoiles were also deemed successful.
DEAG says its recent run of acquisitions, which includes Fane Productions, Gigantic.com, C² Concerts and Airbeat One, has also contributed to the increase in key financial figures.
“We sold over three million tickets between June and August 2022 alone”
The company plans to continue playing an active role in the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in the future and to drive its growth through M&A, with a particular focus on complementary ticketing acquisitions.
With a financial base of over €100m and a strong first half of the year, DEAG expects its revenue to increase to over €300m for the full year 2022, with a further improvement in EBITDA.
“Live is back! We are very pleased with our operational development in the first half of the year,” says Prof. Peter L.H. Schwenkow, CEO of DEAG.
“Our teams have done a great job and held all of the events planned, despite material shortages and a lack of skilled workers in all markets. Our thanks also go to the many fans and guests at our events. After more than two years of the corona pandemic, people are eager to attend concerts and enjoy good entertainment.
“In some cases, visitors have kept tickets for up to three years in order to be able to be part of the restart of the event industry. With great joy and enthusiasm, we have set off the event fireworks we announced and will continue to delight visitors with top-class events in the coming months.
“We sold over three million tickets between June and August 2022 alone and expect one of the strongest third quarters in the company’s history. Especially in the current environment, we want more than ever to bring “a little happiness” to people. And we will do so many thousands of times in the months ahead.”
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Live Nation share price hits all-time high
Live Nation‘s share price has rocketed to an all-time high less than 24 hours after the firm released its Q3 financial results.
Stock in the company was up 16% to $122.13 at press time, having peaked at $125.88 earlier in the day following chairman and CEO Michael Rapino’s bullish projections during yesterday’s earnings call. The share price broke $100 for the first time only last month.
Rapino told investors that 2022 was on track to be a record year after the company reported revenue of $2.7 billion (€2.3bn) for the quarter. He said ticket sales for the 2021 summer season “reflected tremendous pent-up demand”, with 17 million fans attending Live Nation shows.
The promoter, which recorded a $19.8m loss for the same period in 2020, returned to positive operating income and AOI for the first time in two years, with a company-wide operating income and AOI of $137 million and $306m, respectively.
“Festivals were large part of our return to live this summer with many of our festivals selling out in record time, and then overall ticket sales for major festivals was up 10% versus 2019,” said Rapino, who referenced upcoming sell-out tours by Harry Styles and Chris Stapleton.
“Through mid-October, we have already sold 22 million tickets for our shows in 2022 and demand has been stronger than ever for many of these on sales, with a million tickets sold for each of the Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers tours, and several other tours already selling over 500,000 tickets,” he added.
No industry has so proven the durability of its demand in the face of such disruption
Live Nation’s Ticketmaster division, meanwhile, delivered revenue of $374.2m for the quarter and has already sold 65m tickets for next year.
“As we get close to turning the page in 2021, I remain more convinced than ever in the power and potential of live entertainment, and the strength of our position,” added Rapino. “No industry was more impacted by the pandemic over the last two years, and no industry has so proven the durability of its demand in the face of such disruption.
“I fully expect we will continue to have bumps in the road in the coming months. And it will take some time for international artists to be touring on a truly global basis. But the fundamental strength of live entertainment and Live Nation has proven out and expect we will only continue to grow from here.”
Speaking on the company’s earnings call, Live Nation president and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold said the resurgence had been driven by the UK and US.
“These markets accounted for 95% of our fans in Q3 versus 75% in Q3 of 2019,” he said. “And they represented 90% of fee-bearing GTV in Q3 versus 80% in Q3 of 2019.”
With concerts in North America and the UK already back in full flow, Rapino discussed when the rest of the world was likely to open up.
The good news is ’22 is going to probably be a record year
“Europe will be fully open by the end of the year, so we’ll have most of the main markets open into January,” he said. “Pacific Rim, Latin America, all looks positive in terms of being open fully for international artists by April. We think internationally, on a global basis, by April the world will be moving around again.
“It doesn’t overly affect our business short-term because most of the outdoor stadium festival business is summer time, so that will be all fully up and rolling. We have Lollapalooza starting in April in Latin America and Australia festivals. So we think we’ll be open for prime season and we’ll be rolling around indoors in the main markets of US, Europe, Canada, and the UK between now and April.”
Rapino also expanded on his expectations for 2022 and beyond.
“The good news is ’22 is going to probably be a record year, but there’s only so many Fridays and Saturdays and artists are pretty smart about how they route their tours and how they look at the world and find their right positioning, so it kind of self-regulates itself,” he said.
“You’re never going to have a bunch of tours on the same weekend piled on. So that just meant we have a more inventory to spread into ’22, ’23, and we’re talking ’24 now. So I would say we have a backlog that needs to still work through the system in ’22, ’23, which will be incredibly strong years. And then we continue to get back to regular.
“We’ve had over the year, double-digit growth in the live entertainment space ongoing. We project that to continue both on pricing and global volume as demand and supply continues to grow around the world.”
In a further sign that investor confidence in live music is returning, shares in CTS Eventim have risen from €63 to €72 since the start of the week.
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