Higher ticket prices lead to German growth

Higher ticket prices for events in Germany have seen industry sales jump 31 per cent to €5bn ($6.2bn/£4.42bn), according to a study of the country’s live entertainment market.

The total number of tickets sold actually declined from 120.6 million in 2013 to 113.5 million between 2016 and 2017.

The sales growth has mainly come from increased ticket prices and higher visit frequency, which refers to the number of visits to events each year. This increased by eight per cent from 3.7 to four when comparing the two periods.

Germany’s main consumer research association GfK conducted the study on behalf of the country’s promoters association BDV, with the support of ticketing firm CTS Eventim.

BDV states in the study that the German events sector “has thus moved into first position among the revenue drivers in the German entertainment markets – just ahead of the book trade.”

The association’s president Jens Michow (pictured below), said: “The study shows that despite the significant increase in sales, the total number of tickets sold declined from 120.6 million (2013) to 113.5 million in the period investigated.

Image: Klaus Westermann

“It also demonstrates that the sales growth is largely due to increased ticket prices and a higher visit frequency, and not increasing visitor numbers. Artists and event organisers must give this some thought.

“These figures should also not obscure the fact that the main beneficiaries of the strong demand for live entertainment are not the organisers, but the artists.

“Their continually increasing earnings expectations together with the ever-increasing production costs and rising operational costs are without doubt the main reason for the sales performance from events ticket sales.”

Where the data becomes valuable, according to BDV, is in terms of the overall economic importance of the live events sector.