Australia’s live entertainment business saw its ticket sales revenue increase 87.8 per cent in 2017 to Aus$826.1m ($585m/€516m/£458m).
According to Live Performance Australia’s (LPA) latest Ticket Attendance and Revenue Report, ticket sales reached their highest level since the country’s body for the live performance industry began recording figures in 2004.
Major international tours from the likes of Adele, Paul McCartney, Guns N’ Roses, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Bieber, Drake and Ariana Grande helped to drive the country’s industry to “record breaking” sales, according to LPA.
The growth was driven by both significant growth in attendance, which was up 49.6 per cent, to 8.5m, and a 23.9 per cent increase in the average ticket price, to Aus$105.73.
“The growth in contemporary music revenue is primarily due to the large number of prominent acts with arena or stadium tours that attracted large crowds and toured to almost all the five major cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) in 2017,” according to the report.
Ticket sales revenue increased 31.7 per cent and attendance 22.6 per cent across all live performance categories, including ballet and dance, children’s/family events, circus and physical theatre, classical music, comedy, contemporary music, festivals (multi-category), festivals (contemporary music), musical theatre, opera, special events, and theatre.
“The live performance industry had a record-breaking year in 2017,” said LPA chief executive, Evelyn Richardson.
“The live performance industry continues to contribute significantly to our economy and cultural ecology. In 2017, 23 million tickets were issued to live performance events, generating total ticket sales revenue of $1.88 billion.
“That’s more than the combined attendances at AFL (Australian Football League), NRL (National Rugby League), soccer, Super Rugby, cricket and NBL (National Basketball League) in 2017.”
Image: Bertrand
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