Ticketing and live entertainment provider CTS Eventim has strengthened its position in the Rhineland region of Germany by acquiring Kölnticket and Bonnticket.
The regional ticketing providers previously belonged to the media houses Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Medien in Cologne and Rheinische Post Mediengruppe in Düsseldorf, and have partnered successfully in recent years with CTS Eventim in the areas of ticketing software and platform technology.
Kölnticket and Bonnticket are well-known brands in the Rhineland and give CTS Eventim a large presence in the region as well as numerous contacts – across venues, artists and promoters – in the local entertainment scene.
Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS Eventim, said: “As the operator of the Lanxess arena (pictured) in Cologne, we are well aware of how much potential this vibrant region has for holding events of all kinds.
“By making this acquisition, we are ensuring that the providers permanently retain their regional focus and that fans and promoters can continue to rely on their top ticketing service despite the pandemic situation.”
Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Medien has dispersed of Kölnticket as part of its forward-looking strategy. Commenting on the deal, Christian Kirschner, chief financial officer of Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Medien, said: “It will allow us to focus even more on our core brands and really push forward their use of digital technologies.
“We enjoy a long-standing and very successful partnership with CTS Eventim and are confident that our regional ticketing business will be in good hands with Germany’s market leader in this segment. And we would like to maintain this close relationship going forward – for example as part of regional collaborations.”
Rheinische Post Mediengruppe has sold Bonnticket as it sees its growth opportunities in the regional media business and in digitalisation. Thorsten Greschner, commercial manager of Rheinische Post, said: “We believe that our long-standing partner CTS Eventim provides the best ownership solution for the successful development of our ticketing activities going forward.
“And we will continue the partnership in future through the provision of media services. We wish the new owner, CTS Eventim, the Derticketservice management team, with its Kölnticket and Bonnticket brands, and the employees the greatest of success.”
CTS Eventim last month posted a positive third quarter, following strong pre-sales for concerts from international artists.
From July to September 2021, revenue in the ticketing segment of the business surged by 225.5% to €61m (£51.3m/$69.2m), compared to €18.7m in 2020. Normalised EBITDA for this sector came to €27.1m as opposed to last year, which amounted to a loss of €11.3m. From January to September, ticketing revenue went up to €110.6m, a year-on-year rise of 3.2%. Normalised EBITDA for this period increased to €91.3m, compared with a loss of €12.7m in the same time frame in 2020.
Image: Raimond Spekking/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size