Vivendi makes it live venue no10 in Africa
Vivendi has inaugurated its second CanalOlympia in the capital of Togo, Lomé, and its tenth in Africa.
The French media conglomerate – whose subsidiaries include See Tickets, Universal Music Group, ad agency Havas and pay TV operator Canal+ Group –opened its first CanalOlympia venues, which serve as both cinemas and live performance spaces, in Africa in early 2017, with Conakry in Guinea, Douala in Cameron, Niamey in Niger and Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso chosen as the initial locations.
There are now CanalOlympia venues in seven west African countries (the ninth venue, a second in Ouagadougou, opened this summer), and Vivendi says each have quickly found a keen audience of local film fans and eventgoers.
“The CanalOlympia venues have become important cultural hubs with the organisation of concerts, most often in association with Universal Music Group, as well as numerous events,” according to the company.
“The CanalOlympia venues have become important cultural hubs”
“For example, Vivendi Sports is organising an official boxing competition as part of the IBO (International Boxing Organisation) world championship being held at the CanalOlympia in Dakar, Senegal, on 20 October. Also, many local businesses often use these venues for private events.”
The venues are designed around a modular 300-seat film theatre, which can be transformed into an open-air stage with an audience capacity of several thousand. They come under the Vivendi Village corporate group, which includes Vivendi Ticketing (See Tickets UK and US, Digitick and Paylogic, acquired in April), live event producers Vivendi Talents&Live and Olympia Production, and several music venues and festivals.
Vivendi-owned Universal Music Group in July announced the expansion of its operations in Francophone Africa, including a new office in the Ivory Coast.
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Vivendi H1: Ticketing grows as African venue network expands
Vivendi’s ticketing businesses continued to display what the company calls a “dynamic performance” in H1 2017, earning the French media giant €27 million in the first six months of the year.
That’s a 16.5% increase on the same period in 2016, and comes amid strong growth for the company’s Vivendi Village subsidiary – which includes Vivendi Ticketing (See Tickets UK, See Tickets US and France’s Digitick); events producers Vivendi Talents&Live, Olympia Production and Festival Production; and Vivendi’s music and entertainment venues – as a whole.
Vivendi Village’s H1 2017 revenues topped €56m – up 7.9% – although EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation) fell to -€9m, from -€4m in H1 2016, due to “investment costs”, according to its latest balance sheets.
These investment costs include opening more venues in Africa: its sixth entertainment and film venue in Senegal launched in May, while two more, in Togo and Benin, are due to open their doors in September.
Recorded-music revenue, from Universal Music Group, climbed 7.8% to €5.44bn – helped along by ‘Despacito’, by UMG Latin America artist Luis Fonsi, which last month became the most-streamed song of all time, clocking up 4.6bn streams in six months.
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