The O2 retains crown as world’s busiest venue in 2018
The O2 in London cemented its status as the world’s most successful concert venue in 2018, according to operator AEG Europe, reporting in excess of 800,000 more ticket sales than its closest rival.
More than two million tickets were sold for 209 music, comedy, live entertainment and sports events at the venue last year, with highlights including sell-out shows by Kendrick Lamar and Pearl Jam, the sixth edition of the Country to Country festival, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night 127, the ATP tennis finals and the Fifa eWorld Cup Final.
Elsewhere, Michael McIntyre marked 2018 by selling the most tickets in O2 history, reaching 409,238 with his 28th headline show at the arena, while K-pop stars BTS, who played in October, smashed a merchandise sales record previously held by the Rolling Stones.
The 2m figure compares to nearly 1.2m tickets sold for events at the O2’s nearest rival, New York’s Madison Square Garden Arena, and 1.1m apiece for the Forum in California and WiZink Center in Madrid – the latter falling short of the third spot by fewer than a thousand tickets – according to Pollstar’s recently released top 200 arena venues chart.
“We’ve seen a huge amount of activity at the O2 this year”
The O2 is ranked 13th in Pollstar’s chart, with 765,860 tickets sold – far fewer than the two-plus million claimed by AEG. However, AEG no longer provides Pollstar with box-office figures following the magazine’s acquisition by rival outfit Oak View Group in July 2017, and its own numbers tally more closely with 2017, when the O2’s ticket sales were over 1.4m, according to that year’s Pollstar chart.
Speaking just before Christmas, John Langford, newly appointed COO of AEG Europe, said: “We’ve seen a huge amount of activity at the O2 this year, with the opening of ICON Outlet, Oxygen Freejumping and not to mention the record-breaking content that’s kept over two million entertained.
“I’d like to thank each and every person at the O2 and I’m confident that Steve Sayer will oversee another incredible year when he takes over as VP and general manager in 2019.”
The O2, which opened in 2007, has been the world’s top arena for ticket sales since 2008.
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Top 10 tours of 2018 all gross over $100m in record year
The ten biggest touring artists of 2018 brought in a collective US$2bn+, with all grossing more US$100 million each, in a year packed with “remarkable box-office feats”, according to Pollstar’s traditional end-of-year ticket sales chart.
As at mid-year and in Q3, and on the back of a raft of near-instant sell-outs for the 12th leg of his unstoppable ÷ tour, Ed Sheeran was by far the biggest tour of the year, jumping from the eighth spot in 2017 to claim No 1 in 2018. With a gross of $432.4m from 94 shows, the Sheeran tour is the highest gross ever recorded for an artist in a single year, according to the top 100 worldwide tours chart.
According to Pollstar, the ÷ tour is the first to top $400m, and one of only two to gross more than $300m, in a single year – after U2 in 2017.
Taylor Swift, whose Reputation stadium tour recently became the highest-grossing in US history, is second, taking $345.1m from fewer dates, but with a higher average ticket price and higher gross per show.
Rounding out the top ten, with tour grosses in US$, are:
- Jay-Z and Beyoncé (On the Run II tour, 254.1m)
- Pink (Beautiful Trauma world tour, 169.2m)
- Bruno Mars (24K Magic world tour, 167.6m)
- Eagles (An Evening with the Eagles, 166m)
- Justin Timberlake (Man of the Woods tour, 151m)
- Roger Waters (US + Them tour, 131.3m)
- U2 (Experience + Innocence tour, 126.2m)
- The Rolling Stones (No Filter tour, 116.6m)
Live Nation was the top-selling promoter to the tune of nearly 40 million tickets – 49.6m compared to AEG Presents’ 11.6m – with AEG-owned Messina Touring Group third with 5.3m.
In total, the top 100 worldwide tours grossed $5.6bn, with 59.8m tickets sold.
According to PwC figures, the value of of the global live music business is set to continue growing through the rest of the decade and the start of the next, reaching $30bn by 2022.
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Live music revenues to top $30bn for first time
The decade-long live music boom is set to continue well into the 2020s, with the value of the international concert business projected to reach US$30 billion for the first time within five years, according to new figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The latest edition of PwC’s respected annual review of the planet’s entertainment industries, the Global entertainment and media outlook 2018–2022, reveals live music revenues – ticket sales plus sponsorship – will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3% from 2018 to 2022, reaching $30.55bn ($24.36bn of it from ticket sales) in 2022.
In the recorded sector, meanwhile, streaming continues its inexorable march towards dominating consumption, with physical sales and downloads projected to slide by -9.6% and -23%, respectively. Music streaming, by contrast, will grow at a CAGR of 18% over the next four years.
Even with that growth, however, streaming will still fall short of reversing the events of the last decade, when live shows overtook recorded music as the chief generator of music revenues. (In the UK, according to collection society PRS for Music, the switch happened in 2008, with North America following suit a few years later.) According to PwC, the 2022 gap will be to the tune of $7bn+, with streaming revenues worth $23.36bn.
“Worldwide music tours remain dominated by big-hitting, mature artists”
As evidenced by the biggest tours of 2017, when U2, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Depeche Mode, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones took six of the ten top spots, heritage acts are still doing the biggest business. According to the firm’s analysts, “worldwide music tours remained dominated by big-hitting, mature artists,” with the aforementioned six “out[doing] the majority of younger acts”.
Outside of rock and pop, “electronic dance music (EDM) continues to draw large crowds,” the report continues. “These events are expanding internationally. Miami’s highly successful Ultra Festival markedly increased its overseas presence in 2017 and is now putting on events in Latin America, Europe and Asia, as well as South Africa. Mexico’s BPM Festival also is in expansion mode, and last year took its format to Portugal for the first time. The outfit says it is scouting additional locations.”
The positive news for the live music business comes comes amid still-growing consumer demand for other forms of live entertainment, says PwC, with ticket sales for esports events, for example, projected to rise at a CAGR of 21.1% through 2022.
The report also suggests the barriers between different forms of entertainment are beginning to break down (a phenomenon dubbed ‘Convergence 3.0’), with greater synergies between live events and sectors such as ecommerce, licensing and consumer products.
“The appeal of the live experience endures”
This convergence, it says, is “creating an ever-expanding group of ‘supercompetitors’ and specialised, niche brands that are striving to secure the engagement and spending of increasingly demanding consumers” – who “reject one-size-fits-all content experiences.
“As a result, it’s vital for companies, ranging from supercompetitors to fan-focused niche players, to use data analytics and AI to personalise their offerings. And the appeal of the live experience endures.”
“To succeed in the future that’s taking shape, companies must revisit every aspect of what they do and how they do it,” says Christopher Vollmer, global advisory leader for entertainment and media at PwC US, commenting on the Outlook’s findings. “This means going above and beyond in how they envision their business, generate revenues, create and organise their capabilities, and build and retain trust. And given the pace and scale of change under way, speed is vital.
“For many companies, the models, assets, practices and capabilities that support their businesses today will simply not be enough in the future. Standing still is not an option.”
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Bridging the Divide: Sheeran on top again in Q3
As expected, the touring juggernaut that is Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) continues to be the preeminent tour of 2018, having shifted more than 4.3 million tickets since the start of the year.
That’s according to Pollstar’s third-quarter top 100 tours chart, which sees Sheeran having sold nearly 2m more tickets than his nearest rival, Taylor Swift (Reputation), and close to 2.5m more than third-placed Beyoncé and Jay-Z (OTR II).
Sheeran, who was similarly on top in Q2, smashed several records across Europe last week after going on sale 12th leg of the ÷ tour, which will see him play a run of European festivals, parks, stadia and other open-air venues from May to August 2019.
“We are selling out everywhere and it’s only the beginning”
“We are humbled by the continuing success of the tour,” Sheeran’s manager, Stuart Camp, tells Pollstar. “We always set out to get to play to as many people – in as many parts of the world – that wanted to see us. The run has been a testament to Ed’s broad appeal and the hard work of all our partners worldwide – be it the promoters, labels and, of course, our touring crew who are second to none.”
Louis Messina, CEO of Sheeran’s North American promoter, Messina Touring Group, adds: “Ed just amazes me night after night. For me seeing him grow into one of the biggest stars in the world is heartwarming.
“We are selling out everywhere and it’s only the beginning. I’m honoured to work for Ed.”
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Ed Sheeran tops worldwide ticket sales list
In case there had been any doubt, the latest Pollstar mid-year Top 100 Tours chart has proven once again that the world just can’t seem to get enough of British-born singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. With well over twice the ticket sales of runner-up Disney on Ice, Sheeran has topped the list with his ÷ tour (pronounced ‘divide’).
This year’s performance is an improvement on an already impressive 2017 effort from Sheeran. Last year saw him place seventh on the same list with some 1,408,681 tickets sold worldwide. With only half of 2018 completed, he has already nearly doubled this figure, selling a total of 2,624,148 tickets and counting, bolstered by record-breaking runs in Australasia and the UK.
Those 2,624,148 tickets translate into profits of $213.9 million gross for Sheeran, nearly twice as much as the next highest grossing Bruno Mars tour. According to Pollstar Boxoffice reports, this is the largest ever profit recorded on the mid-year chart. It represents a 40% increase over last year, leaving top spot winners Guns N’ Roses way behind.
With only half of 2018 completed, he has already nearly doubled this figure, selling a total of 2,624,148 tickets and counting
The ÷ tour officially kicked off in Turin in March 2017 with a 32-date European leg around the continent. Following Europe, Sheeran took the show to Latin America, North America, Asia, Australasia and then back to Europe again. Before the final show in Cape Town in March 2019, 210 shows in and some two years after the tour began, he will be visiting North America again.
Since its beginning, the tour has broken numerous records around the world. In Ireland, more than 300,000 tickets were sold in a single day, making Sheeran the first artist to sell that many tickets so quickly in the country. Across the world in Australasia, the ÷ tour broke the official record for the most tickets ever sold, with over one million.
Sheeran and runner-up Disney on Ice were the clear winners of the mid-year round up, as the only tours that have so far managed to break into the millions. Filling out the rest of the top five are Bruno Mars with 739,575 tickets sold, Pink with 691,953 and Kenny Chesney with 669,646.
Photo: © Drew de Fawkes / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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Co-founders step back as Pollstar announces move to LA
Pollstar co-founders Gary Smith and Gary Bongiovanni are to scale back their involvement with the US concert business magazine, ahead of an impending relocation to Los Angeles after 37 years in Fresno, California.
Editor in chief Bongiovanni will retire this month, while former CEO Gary Smith will remain with the magazine in an advisory capacity, owner Oak View Group (OVG) has announced.
OVG – the venue development and investment vehicle founded by ex-AEG CEO Tim Leiweke and former Live Nation chairman Irving Azoff – bought Pollstar last July.
“When Gary and I founded this publication, we set out to revolutionise the quality of data available to those who make their living in the live entertainment industry, and we accomplished that goal,” says Smith. “I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the next era in the history of Pollstar, building on that legacy with the team at OVG.”
Former Billboard reporter Ray Waddell, now president of the OVG Media & Conferences division, which includes Pollstar, adds: “Pollstar built a remarkable media brand in Fresno, synonymous with credible live entertainment business news and industry data, and perfectly positioned for growth in influence and relevance.
“Relocating Pollstar’s HQ to the epicentre of the live music business is the right move at the right time”
“I couldn’t be more excited about the team we have in place as we remain focused on becoming an even more powerful tool for those in the business of live entertainment and facilities.”
The relocation, which begins immediately, will “necessitate staffing transitions and reorganisation”, according to a statement from OVG. In a Celebrity Access article, Pollstar’s former news editor, Joe Reinartz estimates that, of the 50 staff based in the Fresno office, “about 12 will remain on the OVG payroll”.
OVG says the “editorial, technology and box-office staff, the latter two led by CTO Dan Martin and box office manager Brad Rogers [sic], respectively, will remain largely unaffected”.
“Live is leading the way in the music business in terms of popularity, revenue and career development, and the majority of the most influential [US] agencies, promoters and managers are based in southern California,” comments OVG CEO Leiweke. “We are reacting to this robust market by investing significant resources in growing Pollstar across all metrics: editorial influence, superior data and global reach.
“Relocating Pollstar’s HQ to the epicentre of the live music business is the right move at the right time.”
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International live biz recognised in Pollstar Awards 2018
Some of the biggest names in live music were honoured at last night’s Pollstar Awards in Los Angeles, bringing the curtain down on the 2018 edition of the annual Pollstar Live! conference.
The awards, hosted by America’s Got Talent-winning illusionist Mat Franco, wrapped up the three-day event, whose highlights included appearances by Garth Brooks, Jon Bon Jovi and Mark Cuban along with a host of high-profile industry figures.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were presented with the major tour of the year award, with manager Tony Dimitriades picking up the gong alongside the late Petty’s band members. Petty also won rock tour of the year, while Dimitriades was named personal manager of the year.
Elsewhere, Gregg Perloff of California’s Another Planet Entertainment won the Bill Graham award for promoter of the year, with Paradigm scooping the prize for booking agency of the year. CAA’s Emma Banks was named best UK booking agent, while The O2 took home the award for international venue of the year.
Goldenvoice’s Stacy Vee, who won talent buyer of the year, thanked thank AEG, Goldenvoice, their partners at WME, CAA’s Rod Essig, the whole team at Paradigm, agent Marsha Vlasic and her husband Brian, all of whom she said “have been my champions, and especially Paul Tollett for the opportunity and kindness shown to me for a lot of years.”
Cara Lewis, meanwhile, became the first woman to win agent of the year.
A full list of Pollstar Awards 2018 winners is below:
Major Tour of the Year: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Comedy Tour of the Year: Dave Chappelle
Country Tour of the Year: Chris Stapleton
Rock Tour of the Year: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Urban / R&B Tour of the Year: Bruno Mars
Latin Tour of the Year: Enrique Iglesias
Pop Tour of the Year: Bruno Mars
Best New Headliner: Portugal. The Man
Music Festival of the Year: Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival | Indio, CA
International Music Festival of the Year: Glastonbury Festival | Pilton, UK
Nightclub of the Year: 9:30 Club | Washington, DC
Theatre of the Year: Ryman Auditorium | Nashville, TN
Arena of the Year: Bridgestone Arena | Nashville, TN
Red Rocks Award / Best Small Outdoor Venue: Greek Theatre | Los Angeles, CA
Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue: Hollywood Bowl | Los Angeles, CA
Best New Concert Venue: Brooklyn Steel | Brooklyn, NY
International Venue of the Year: The O2 | London, UK
Venue Executive of the Year: David Kells | Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
Nightclub Talent Buyer of the Year: Melanie Cantwell | 9:30 Club, The Anthem, Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC
Talent Buyer of the Year: Stacy Vee | Goldenvoice
Bill Graham Award / Promoter of the Year: Gregg Perloff | Another Planet Entertainment
International Promoter of the Year: Barrie Marshall | Marshall Arts
Bobby Brooks Award / Agent of the Year: Cara Lewis | CLG – Cara Lewis Group
Third Coast Booking Agent of the Year: Joe Atamian | Paradigm Talent Agency
UK Booking Agent of the Year: Emma Banks | Creative Artists Agency UK
Independent Booking Agency of the Year: High Road Touring
Booking Agency of the Year: Paradigm Talent Agency
Rising Star: Lenore Kinder, AEG Presents
Personal Manager of the Year: Tony Dimitriades | Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Road Warrior of the Year: Dale “Opie” Skjerseth | The Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses
Lighting Company of the Year: Upstaging
Sound Company of the Year: Clair Global
Staging / Equipment: Company of the Year: Stageco
Transportation Company of the Year: Rock-It Cargo
Video Company of the Year: Moo TV
Tech Enhancement of the Year: 3D Live, Flying Lotus
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Top 100 tours grossed $5.65bn in 2017
The 100 biggest concert tours of 2017 collectively generated a huge US$5.65bn in revenue – a 15.8% year-on-year increase – in a “record-crushing” year for the international live music business.
That’s according to the 2017 edition of Pollstar’s traditional year-end special features, which track the value of the year’s biggest tours, promoters, arenas, festivals, individual concert grosses and more. The top 100 worldwide tours chart, topped by U2’s Live Nation-promoted Joshua Tree 2017 tour, also shows the tickets sold by the top 100 reached a new record high of 66.79 million – a 10.4% increase on 2016.
Average ticket prices rose by nearly 5% to $84.63, with 11 tours generating more than $100m worldwide – U2, Guns N’ Roses, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Metallica, Depeche Mode, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran, the Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks and Celine Dion – compared to 2016’s seven.
Tickets sold by the top 100 tours reached a new record high of 66.79 million – a 10.4% increase on 2016
This, says Pollstar, demonstrates that “the most successful artists are clearly getting better at recapturing some of the revenue that had leaked into the secondary ticket market”, with Taylor Swift’s tout-beating ‘slow ticketing’ model putting her in pole position for the biggest tour of 2018.
Other headline year-end figures include Live Nation once again taking the number-one promoter spot, reporting a record 52.2m tickets sold, followed by AEG Presents (14.4m tickets), Mexico’s Ocesa (4m), Feld Entertainment (3.2m) and SJM in the UK (2.4m); Goldenvoice’s Coachella generating 2017’s biggest festival gross, at $114.6m over two weekends; and the UK punching above its weight in the top 100 arenas chart, with first-placed The O2, third-placed Manchester Arena and fourth-placed SSE Hydro leading a British invasion of the top five.
The top 20 venues, especially, show the “importance of the growing global concert market”, says Pollstar – confirming the findings of PwC, which noted the business is becoming “increasingly international”, earlier this year – with only seven located in the US; five are in the UK, two in Mexico and one each in Germany, Spain, Canada, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
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It’s official: Oak View Group acquires Pollstar
Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke’s Oak View Group (OVG) has completed its long-rumoured acquisition of Pollstar, adding the US-based concert business title to its portfolio of trade magazines.
The buy-out of Pollstar follows OVG’s acquisitions of SportTechie last November and Venues Today in December, and was announced at Venues Today’s inaugural VenuesNow conference in LA yesterday.
In addition to its weekly magazine and daily news service at Pollstar.com, Pollstar’s assets include its box-office database, which provides information on tour ticket sales and grosses, annual year-end reports and the annual Pollstar Live! conference in the US.
Speaking at VenuesNow, Leiweke said: “Pollstar has represented the voice of record for the live music and ticketing industries for over three decades, and bringing them into the OVG family is a true honour for all of us. Working hand in hand with Pollstar’s leadership team, we’ll look to greatly optimise the reach of its print, digital and conference assets.”
Pollstar president/editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovanni and CEO Gary Smith will remain in their positions under the new management.
“Working hand in hand with Pollstar’s leadership team, we’ll look to greatly optimise the reach of its print, digital and conference assets”
Oak View Group (OVG), a venue development and investment vehicle founded by former Live Nation chairman Azoff and ex-AEG CEO Tim Leiweke, was launched in November 2015. It comprises five divisions: the 26-member Arena Alliance; Narrative Partners, a sponsorship/partnership operation; Prevent Advisors, its security advisory arm; OVG Consulting, whose services include venue design and seating, branding and ticketing strategy; and the OVG Ventures venture-capital fund.
Azoff is also a partner in Azoff MSG Entertainment, a joint venture with Madison Square Garden Company. The company is currently embroiled in a public ‘booking war’ with rival venue operator AEG, with both parties barring acts from playing some of their venues unless they tie it in with a show at another: for example, MSG’s LA Forum and Madison Square Garden and AEG’s Staples Center and The O2.
“We are very excited to become part of the growing OVG family and its vast array of worldwide resources,” said Bongiovanni. “After 35 years of independent operation, a key factor in our making the deal was OVG’s understanding of the importance of keeping our editorial coverage and services neutral as we speak to, and for, the entire concert industry.”
“Pollstar has served our industry as a trusted and invaluable resource during an era where music and ticketing have evolved dramatically,” added Azoff. “Their insights and analysis are fundamental to the success of our business and we’re looking forward to growing the brand’s influence and impact for years to come.”
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OVG in $40m arena partnership deal with Walmart
Oak View Group (OVG), the venue development and investment vehicle launched in November 2015 by former Live Nation chairman Irving Azoff and ex-AEG CEO Tim Leiweke, has entered into a commercial partnership with Walmart.
Walmart – the world’s second-largest retailer, after first-placed Alibaba, which has its own ambitious plans in the live entertainment space – becomes OVG’s “official big-box retailer” in a deal valued at US$40 million over three years.
The agreement will give Walmart a significant marketing presence at 21 US arenas, reaching 70m people a year, says OVG’s Dan Griffis. All are part of the Arena Alliance, the 22-venue membership organisation established by OVG last September.
“This is the first step for Walmart into this space,” Griffis, head of OVG’s Narrative Partners sales agency, tells SportsBusiness Journal. “They liked the national platform with buildings in the top 25 [markets]. There is one contract and it provides economies of scale.”
“This is the first step for Walmart into this space”
According to SBJ’s Don Muret, Walmart’s brand ‘activation’ will centre on the Walmart Community Playmakers programme, in which residents local to each arena will be celebrated for charitable efforts, including education, sustainability and poverty alleviation. will be celebrated for their work in education, fighting hunger and sustainability, among other efforts.
Muret says while “details are still being worked out” in most cases Walmart will allowed to use arenas’ branding in its stores.
OVG, which describes itself as “a positive disruption to business as usual in the sports and live entertainment industry” comprises five divisions: Arena Alliance; Griffis’s Narrative Partners, a sponsorship/partnership operation; Prevent Advisors, its security advisory arm; OVG Consulting, whose services include venue design and seating, branding and ticketing strategy; and the OVG Ventures venture-capital fund.
It is also expanding into trade media, acquiring Venues Today – now headed up by Billboard’s Ray Waddell – last December and reportedly eyeing a takeover of Pollstar.
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