The rebound of core markets for CTS Eventim has resulted in its ticketing and live entertainment segments posting a significant increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2022.
Revenue for the first quarter came in at €139.2m (£119m/$149m) compared to €19.6m in the same period for the year prior.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to €23.7m, an improvement on the -€19.6m during the first quarter of 2021.
Revenue for the ticketing segment of the business amounted to €76.5m compared to €13.5m during the same period last year. Revenue was driven by a jump of 8.1 million tickets sold online to 9.4 million, compared to 1.3 million sold between January and the end of March in 2021.
EBITDA for the ticketing segment totalled €27.115m in the first quarter of 2022, compared to -€13.5m the year prior.
The live entertainment section of the business boasted a revenue of €65m compared to €6.8m in the first quarter of last year. EBITDA improved slightly from -€7.4m to -€4.4m in Q1.
CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said: “Concert and festival venues are finally coming back to life. The strong start to 2022 makes us all optimistic that live entertainment will make a robust comeback this year.”
Schulenberg also highlighted that April and May have both seen positive sales in the ticketing segment.
He said: “We are delighted that ticket sales in April and so far in May too have been well above the level seen in the same period of 2019, which had been a record year. This underpins the hope that the live entertainment sector will really bounce back after an enforced two-year break due to coronavirus.
“The live entertainment business ramped up again in our European markets and overseas much sooner than in Germany, where coronavirus restrictions were lifted relatively late.”
The first quarter of 2022 presented positive news when an arbitration tribunal ruled that autoTicket – a joint venture between CTS Eventim and Kapsch TrafficCom – is entitled to claim for compensation and reimbursement of expenses from the Federal Republic of Germany. The first stage of the arbitration proceedings are complete, with the claim amount to be ruled upon in the next phase.
After the operator agreement concerning the collection of the car toll in Germany was terminated, autoTicket brought claims for compensation of around €560m against the Federal Republic of Germany.
CTS Eventim has also teamed up with ticketing company France Billet to provide ticketing software and related services for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, with the deal being signed last month.
Image: Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash