Live Nation has reported north of $6 billion in revenue for the second quarter, up about 7% YoY. But against the backdrop of an intensifying Justice Department antitrust lawsuit, shares dipped on the news.
The Ticketmaster parent unveiled its Q2 2024 showing this afternoon, doubling down on expectations for a “record” 2024 in the corresponding report. Taking aim at indications of a potential concert-attendance plateau, Live Nation emphasized off the bat that it hasn’t observed any “signs of [a] concerts slowdown.”
(CFO Joe Berchtold during the Q2 earnings call described Live Nation’s own cancellation rate as aligned with “historical norms” and “below last year,” underscoring for good measure that the figure is “absolutely in line with historical trends.”)
Behind the declarations, the Beverly Hills-based promoter pointed to total quarterly revenue of $6.02 billion, up from $5.63 billion during Q2 2023. And within the newer sum, nearly $4.99 billion derived from concerts (up 8% YoY), another $730.7 million came from ticketing (up 3% YoY), and sponsorships as well as advertising delivered a cumulative $312.2 million (up 3% YoY), according to the report.
Furthermore, on the concerts side, the business noted $270.7 million in operating income, up 61% from the same period last year. Notwithstanding the well-documented cancellation of several tours and slower-than-usual festival ticket sales, Live Nation identified 9,990 estimated events for North America during Q2.
That’s up 23.2% from the second quarter of 2023; international shows, for their part, increased in number by 13.5% YoY to 4,688, the Quicket owner said.
But the sizable YoY jump in events is more interesting yet when considered alongside Ticketmaster ticket sales for the quarter. Fee-bearing tickets sold dipped during Q2 2024 from 78.88 million to 78.47 million in part because of “reduced stadium activity.”
Alongside a 5.5% YoY increase in non-fee-bearing tickets sold (75.13 million total), Live Nation reported total estimated Q2 2024 ticket sales growth of 2.3%.
Though it perhaps goes without saying, that modest figure starkly contrasts the 23.2% expansion in live events held in North America and, against the backdrop of an uncertain economy, might raise new questions about the live sector’s trajectory.
Nevertheless, tickets still managed to deliver $292.5 million in operating income for Q2, down slightly from 2023. The sponsorship and advertising category, for its part, brought in $222.6 million in Q2 2024 operating income (up 10% YoY), per the report.
Shifting to not-so-positive elements of the earnings report, with all but one Astroworld wrongful-death lawsuit having been settled, Live Nation acknowledged $279.9 million in “Astroworld estimated loss contingencies” for the first half of 2024. The sum includes $94 million attributable specifically to the second quarter.
At the time of this writing, Live Nation stock (NYSE: LYV) was down 3.3% in after-hours trading for a per-share price of $91.50.
