Germany-based live music promoter DEAG reported a 72% jump in revenue in Q3 versus pre-pandemic levels in 2019, a further sign that live music has bounced back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic despite recent macroeconomic headwinds.
DEAG, which hosts live events at 17 locations in its core markets including Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland and Denmark, raked in €101.7 million ($106 million) in revenue in Q3, up from €59.2 million in the same period in 2019 and a six-fold increase from €16.7 million last year.
“Revenue and operating profit were massively improved both year-on-year and compared to the pre-crisis year 2019,” DEAG said in its preliminary earnings results released Friday (November 25). DEAG is set to release its full quarterly earnings results on Wednesday (November 30).
The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) soared 110% from 2019 level to €10.2 million, and up 134% from €4.3 million a year earlier.
The Kilimanjaro Live Group owner attributed its performance to the lifting of Covid-19 curbs in the markets where it operates and to the companies that the group acquired since 2019, which contributed to its financials.
In the first nine months of the year, DEAG’s revenue rose 91% versus 2019 level to €235.1 million, and up almost tenfold from €24.1 million in the year-ago period.
From January to September, the company’s EBITDA came in at €20.3 million, up from €13.3 million in Q3 2021 and an increase of 155% from Q3 2019.
“We are extremely satisfied with our performance in the third quarter. Despite a challenging economic environment overall, the excellent development in the first six months of 2022 continued with high momentum in the third quarter.”
Professor Peter L.H. Schwenkow, DEAG
The strong results prompted DEAG to reaffirm its revenue outlook for the year to more than €300 million, with EBITDA also expected to improve.
“We are extremely satisfied with our performance in the third quarter. Despite a challenging economic environment overall, the excellent development in the first six months of 2022 continued with high momentum in the third quarter,” says DEAG CEO Professor Peter L.H. Schwenkow.
As live events continue to bounce back from the pandemic, the group hosted a number of events and concerts in the recent quarter including the sold-out open-air events ‘Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival’ in the UK and ‘Sion sous les étoiles’ in Switzerland.
DEAG’s electro music festivals NATURE ONE, Ruhr-in-Love and MAYDAY also proved successful after attracting around 100,000 visitors.
The company says it’s portfolio of more than 30 annual festivals draws more than 580,000 visitors in Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Ireland.
“2022 will be a record year for DEAG. The first quarter of 2023 is already characterized by high visibility. We expect our dynamic growth to continue beyond 2022.”
Professor Peter L.H. Schwenkow, DEAG
“We successfully staged countless concerts and events and recorded a record summer in ticketing with 3 million tickets sold between June and August alone,” Schwenkow said, stressing that the company is seeing “unabated high demand for tickets to events and concerts.”
“2022 will be a record year for DEAG. The first quarter of 2023 is already characterized by high visibility. We expect our dynamic growth to continue beyond 2022,” the executive added.
DEAG has been on an acquisition spree over the past three years, snapping up a number of key live events and ticketing companies including British promoter and event organizer UK Live Ltd. (in 2021), Gigantic Holdings (in 2019), Collective Form (acquired a stake in 2021), Switzerland’s Live Music Production and Live Music Entertainment (acquired a majority stake in 2019), Germany’s C2 Concerts (acquired a 51% stake in 2019), and I-Motion, the German arm of US-based electronic music giant LiveStyle (acquired a 50.1% stake in 2019), among many others.
Fast forward to 2022, DEAG says it has continued its M&A strategy, acquiring, among other events, the electronic music festival Airbeat One’and the Classic Open Air am Gendarmenmarkt, one of Germany’s most popular classical and crossover events.
These latest acquisitions allowed DEAG to expand its range of events in the rock/pop and classic and jazz divisions.
The company’s strong earnings result is further evidence that live music has bounced back after the industry was upended by Covid-19 restrictions that forced artists, promoters and organizers to postpone or cancel concerts across the world.
Earlier this month, US-based concerts giant Live Nation said it delivered what it described as its “biggest summer concert season in history” after more than 44 million people across nearly 50 countries attended concerts that it hosted in the third quarter alone.
It marked the company’s highest quarterly attendance in history.
The Ticketmaster owner’s revenue surged 63% year over year to $6.15 billion in Q3.
A recent study by market monitor Luminate (formerly MRC Data / Nielsen Music) showed that live concert interest in the US alone is close to reaching pre-Covid levels. In a survey of US consumers aged 13 and above, 36% indicated their plans to attend a concert in the following year, while Google searches for the keyword “concerts” have aligned almost close to pre-pandemic levels, the Luminate study found.
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