Does Beyoncé Bowl signal the future of concert streaming?
Viewership for Netflix’s Christmas Day live-streaming of two NFL games actually peaked with Beyoncé’s halftime performance, it has been announced, potentially signalling a valuable new market for the streaming giant.
For its first live-broadcast football games — part of a three-year deal of Christmas Day games — Beyoncé delivered a show-stopping halftime performance for Netflix, bringing in an average viewership of 27 million.
Average viewership during the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens matchup was roughly 24m, per Nielsen. Between the set of games – the other earlier in the day between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers – Netflix reported a total of 65m watchers from across 218 countries and territories.
Its standalone special, the Beyoncé Bowl, has racked up another 50 million views on Netflix. The performance marked the first-ever halftime show for a Christmas NFL game.
“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, in a statement.
Beyoncé Bowl was produced by the star’s in-house team, Parkwood Entertainment, and film/TV production service Jesse Collins Entertainment, which also worked on both Usher and Rihanna’s respective Super Bowl halftime shows in 2024 and 2023.
With a performance crew of over 500, drenched in winter white, the 13-minute halftime performance marked the debut performance of her Grammy-nominated Cowboy Carter, with a tour announcement heavily rumoured to be coming in the next week.
“Artists aren’t just looking at the audio file or the creation of the LP or album”
A roof-raising, non-stop medley of songs, the 13-minute spectacle also featured Cowboy Carter collaborators Shaboozey, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Tiera Kennedy and nearly 200 members of Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band.
Artists are increasingly looking at concert filming, something the Houston native is aware of: Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé sitting as the 5th top-grossing concert film of all time and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is a Netflix staple. Seemingly every major artist — Taylor Swift, Coldplay, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo — has an accompanying film to capture their live performances.
In 2024 Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour film became the highest grossing in history in the concert or documentary genre, bringing in almost $300m at the box office before going on to generate even more income from streaming platforms.
“Artists aren’t just looking at the audio file or the creation of the LP or album. They’re far more engaged and looking at how audio/visual works in multiple platforms, in which cinema is just one,” said Marc Allenby, CEO of film distribution firm Trafalgar Releasing, to IQ. The London-based company led the distribution of the Renaissance film worldwide.
For tours where demand outweighs supply, an online alternative can be an accessible — and long-lasting — way for artists to reach their fanbases. The 99-time Grammy-nominated artist sold 2.8 million tickets on her Renaissance World Tour, grossing nearly US $580m, per Billboard Boxscore.
IQ will be digging deeper into the issue of concerts designed for broadcast and streaming in its next issue.
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Olivia Rodrigo delivers her biggest-ever concert
Olivia Rodrigo delivered the largest concert of her career on Saturday night during the Philippines stop of her arena outing, the Guts World Tour.
The Filipina-American singer delivered a sold-out show to the 55,000-capacity Philippine Arena, the world’s largest indoor arena located 30 km (18.6 mi) outside of the capital city of Manila.
The 21-year-old plans to donate all profits from the concert – her first in the Philippines – to Jhpiego, an international nonprofit organisation providing healthcare for women and families.
The Johns Hopkins University-affiliated initiative provides access to reproductive healthcare, infectious disease prevention, and immunizations, operating across more than 40 countries including the Philippines.
“I’m SO stoked that all the net ticket sales from last night could be donated to @jhpiego through my fund 4 good,” Rodrigo wrote on Instagram. “I got to visit the organization while I was in Manila and was so impressed by the work they are doing providing healthcare to women and girls in the Philippines.”
“It was the most special show and the most meaningful trip. To say I’m grateful doesn’t even cut it! Mahal kita [I love you].”
Tickets for the show were sold for PHP 1,500 (£20/$25), with all net proceeds allocated to Rodrigo’s Fund 4 Good, a global initiative to boost women and girls through “direct support of community-based non-profits that champion girls’ education, support reproductive rights and prevent gender-based violence”. The reduced ticket price supported her Silver Star programme to increase affordability and access to the tour while sustaining the Fund 4 Good.
“It was the most special show and the most meaningful trip. To say I’m grateful doesn’t even cut it”
Launching the initiative alongside last year’s tour announcement, Rodrigo has aided local organisations throughout the 99-date venture, which is due to end with eight shows across Melbourne and Syndey later this month. The former Disney actress has partnered with the National Network of Abortion Funds in North America, 600 Canadian women’s shelters, and Women Against Violence Europe across her regional tour legs.
While the arena tour will end this year, Rodrigo is lined up to headline four Latin American festivals in March 2025: Lollapalooza Argentina, Brazil, and Chile and Colombia’s Festival Estéreo Picnic.
The Guts World Tour will soon be visiting homes worldwide as Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour is set to debut on Netflix on 29 October. The concert film was recorded across two performances at Los Angeles’ newest arena, the 18,000-capacity Intuit Dome, in August. The LA-based songwriter performed six nights in LA, with four shows at the Kia Forum (18,000).
“I am so excited to share the Guts World Tour with my fans,” Rodrigo said. “For those of you who didn’t get a chance to rock out in-person, now you can have the best seats in the house! And to the fans who cheered, screamed, and danced with me, I am so glad we get to do it all over again!”
The Live Nation-promoted trek has traversed North America, Europe, and Asia, and will hit Australia on Wednesday (9 October). The singer-songwriter released her critically acclaimed second album GUTS last September, with its support tour beginning in February at Palm Spring’s Acrisure Arena (11,680).
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Motley Crue plot explosive touring return
Six years after signing a ‘cessation of touring’ agreement bringing down the curtain on their live career, infamous LA hair metallers Mötley Crüe are to reform, following the success of their Netflix biopic, The Dirt.
As detailed in the video above, awkwardly titled (to British ears) ‘Mötley Crüe is Back’, the notoriously tempestuous band destroyed the contract, signed after their ‘final’ show on 31 December 2015, “in true Mötley Crüe fashion, by literally blowing it up”.
“Since playing Tommy Lee in The Dirt, so many of my fans have said how they wish they could’ve seen the real Mötley Crüe play live,” comments Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly. “I never thought I would see the day when this would become a reality. But the fans spoke and Mötley Crüe listened.”
In the six months following the release of The Dirt, Mötley Crüe have celebrated a 350% increase in streams of their music across all streaming platforms, with most fans now aged 18–44.
However, say the band, “most of the new fans have never seen any of the legendary live shows that Crüeheads have relished for close to four decades.” Expect a new tour announcement soon.
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Island of Fyre Festival fame up for sale
Saddleback Cay, the Bahamian island that served as the backdrop for the ill-fated Fyre Festival’s infamous promotional material, has been put up for sale at US$11.8 million.
The 35-acre private island is located in the northernmost section of the Exuma Cays, which contains Great Exuma, the actual setting for the festival.
Saddleback Cay appears in opening of a promotional video for the event, which shows Instagram models and influencers partying in the Bahamas.
Fyre Festival – billed as “the adventure of a lifetime” amid the “beautiful turquoise waters and idyllic beaches” of the Bahamas – spectacularly collapsed on its first day, with festivalgoers arriving on the island to find a half-built festival site and no sign of the luxury accommodation and dining included with their $1,500–$50,000 tickets.
The fallout from the festival and the demise of its fraudulent organiser, has been closely documented, with streaming service Netflix and Hulu each releasing documentaries about the event.
A GoFundMe page, set up for local caterers who were unpaid by organisers, has so far raised $231,754.
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Rival documentaries shed light on Fyre Fest debacle
Almost two years on from the failed event, Fyre Festival and its fraudulent organiser are once again at the forefront of the media. Launched this week, Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened investigate what went on behind the scenes of the infamous festival.
Hulu got the drop on its streaming competitor, releasing Fyre Fraud unannounced on Monday. Hulu’s surprise release came the day Netflix lifted its review embargo, linking the two films in search engine results. Netflix had announced in December that its own Fyre documentary would air today.
Further controversy lies at the heart of the depictions of the ill-fated event. The Hulu documentary criticises its Netflix counterpart for an alleged conflict of interest. Netflix’s film, directed by Chris Smith, is produced in part by Jerry Media and Matte Projects, companies that worked with Fyre Festival organisers to promote the original event.
The streaming giant dismissed the criticism: “We were happy to work with Jerry Media and a number of others on the film. At no time did they, or any others we worked with, request favourable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics.”
In response, the Netflix director questioned the ethics of a decision by the producers of Hulu’s Fyre Fraud to interview disgraced festival organiser Billy McFarland. The objection lies in the significant remuneration McFarland is believed to have received for his screen time.
“At no time did Jerry Media, or any others we worked with, request favourable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics”
McFarland received a six year prison sentence and a US$26 million fine for his role in the festival, pleading guilty to defrauding investors and running a fraudulent ticketing scam.
Fans paid between $1,500 and $50,000 to attend the festival billed as “the adventure of a lifetime”, to enjoy luxury accommodation, gourmet food and performances from acts such as Blink-182, Major Lazer, Pusha T and Disclosure. Upon arrival, festivalgoers found half-built tents, insufficient food and a dearth of performers.
A US judge placed Fyre Festival into involuntary bankruptcy in August. Last week, the court issued subpoenas to more than a dozen companies, including major talent agencies Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and International Creative Management (ICM) Partners, in a bid to track down the millions of dollars investors lost through the festival.
CAA and ICM Partners received $250,00 in payments from Fyre Festival, whereas talent agencies Windish Agency and AM Only together received $690,000 for representing acts Major Lazer and Disclosure.
The agencies’ lawyers will have two weeks to respond to the subpoenas, once they are served.
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