Consumers Line-Up for Tickets

Key Takeaways:

• After a significant slump during the pandemic, ticketing apps have seen a rebound in both US downloads and MAUs, as consumers resume attendance at live events

  • US downloads for the cohort have risen for ten consecutive quarters, though growth has been decelerating. From 3Q22 to QTD 3Q23, US downloads have grown an average of 11% YoY per quarter, led by strength from SeatGeek and Vivid Seats, while StubHub has stumbled

  • US MAU growth followed a similar pattern, with QTD 3Q23 declines at Ticketmaster (-3% YoY), AXS Tickets (-8% YoY) and StubHub (-5% YoY), while SeatGeek and Vivid Seats continued to see robust growth, up 61% YoY and 52% YoY, respectively

• As Ticketmaster has expanded its presence globally, it has seen a surge in growth in the UK, Canada and Mexico, with the former two geographies having 1.1mn and 1.9mn MAUs, respectively, in QTD 3Q23

  • Given that Ticketmaster had little to no presence in the UK, Canada or Mexico during the pandemic, the app has seen a spike in downloads, averaging 400% YoY, 533% YoY and 200% YoY, respectively, from 1Q21 through QTD 3Q23. Over the same period, MAUs have also increased, but at a much slower pace, up 143% YoY, 413% YoY and 600% YoY, respectively

• Ticketmaster’s global MAU growth, based on ST estimates, has historically moved inline with Live Nation’s (parent of Ticketmaster) revenue growth. For QTD 3Q23, global MAUs are growing mid-single digits YoY, suggesting that Live Nation should continue to see slowing but positive revenue momentum

• Live Nation (parent of Ticketmaster) is the largest advertiser within the ticket sales and distribution cohort, with ~33% of that spend allocated to Facebook. This is down from 54% in 2019, as the brand has increased its spend on Instagram (22% of its allocation in YTD 2023)

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