Live Nation has delivered its best ever quarter, with revenue rising 11% to £3.8 billion (£2.9bn) and operating income and AOI both up 16% to $234 million, while ticket sales for 2018 shows have topped 85 million.
For the nine months, revenue (11%), operating income (24%) and AOI (17%) all recorded increases, with all divisions — concerts, sponsorship, and ticketing — delivering their strongest third quarter AOI results ever, according to the promoting giant's Q3 2018 report.
The company attracted more than 33m fans to shows globally in the quarter, up 12% year-on-year, and is on track to sell over 90m tickets this year.
"With continued strong global demand for concerts through the third quarter, we drove an 8% increase in attendance to 71 million fans attending our 24,000 shows across 40 countries, driving revenue up 11%, operating income more than doubling and AOI up 29% for the nine months," said Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino.
"As we approach the end of 2018, we are confident that our strong performance will deliver another record year of results. All of our businesses – concerts, sponsorship and ticketing – have delivered growth year-to-date through September, and based on their key operating metrics, we expect each to deliver record revenue, operating income, and AOI for the full year.
"As we look forward, we see tremendous opportunities to continue the global expansion of our concerts and ticketing businesses, and for further growth in sponsorship and ticketing from the concerts flywheel."
Live Nation's Ticketmaster business experienced 15% growth year-to-date through September in GTV, driving revenue growth of 13%, operating income growth of 7% and AOI growth of 11%.
The firm will deliver almost 500 million tickets worth approximately $31bn in GTV across 28 countries for the year.
Rapino added: "Ticketmaster's results are validating our dual strategy of delivering a great marketplace for fans to buy tickets while providing the greatest enterprise tools to venues, teams and artists looking to control their tickets and maximise the value of their events. By continuing to do both effectively, I expect us to deliver high-single-digit growth in ticketing operating income and AOI this year."
