European Arena Yearbook 2018

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE EUROPEAN ARENA MARKET Exclusive Data & Analysis of Every European Market SPECIAL FOCUS Protecting the Events Sector Tomorrow’s Technology Tips 2018 Arena Directory

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CONTENTS

Dear Reader Building on the success of the inaugural European Arena Yearbook (EAY) in 2017, this year’s edition includes data from 73 venues across the continent and underlines just what a buoyant, progressive sector the European arenas business is, employing thousands of people and supporting other industries such as hotels, restaurants and bars by attracting large-scale audiences to concerts, family shows, and other forms of live entertainment.

As we explained in last year’s book, IQ Magazine has been examining the arenas business on an annual basis since 2009, making this is the tenth such specialist report that we’ve undertaken on this crucial European industry.

With the cooperation of both the European Arenas Association and the UK’s National Arenas Association, the comprehensive data we can hand over to our economist, Live Data Agency’s Chris Carey, has been enhanced by a growing number of non-member venues, and we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to provide their 2017 statistics, as well as extending an open invitation to other arenas around Europe to participate in next year’s EAY survey.

As for the major statistics from this year’s EAY, our surveyed venues reported total box office revenues of €1.65billion, with more than 37.5m people visiting their premises for more than 6,200 events and performances.

With artist fees and production costs continuing to rise, it’s no surprise that average ticket prices for live music again increased, hitting €54.88 in 2017. But non-music event tickets averaged out at €32.31, marking the third year in a row that prices across Europe have fallen.

This year's EAY also contains two special features on venue tech and security. And if that isn’t enough to persuade you to keep the publication on your desk over the coming year, then our arenas directory, detailing all of the venues that participated in this year’s survey and the relevant booking contacts, should surely do the trick.

Thanks go to everyone named on the right-hand side of this page for helping to produce this second edition of the EAY. It takes a mammoth effort, but we hope our hard work pays off, and that the reports, data and features in the following pages help inform some of your business decisions over the coming year.

Gordon Masson Editor

CONTENTS Welcome

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Features Ten Tech Tips Protecting the Events Sector

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Statistical Analysis Europe: The Big Picture Central & Eastern Europe France & Benelux Germany, Switzerland & Austria The Nordics Southern Europe UK & Ireland

18 24 32 38 46 52 58

Venue Directory

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European Arena Yearbook 2018 Unit 31 Tileyard Road King’s Cross London N7 9AH Publisher ILMC Editor Gordon Masson (gordon@iq-mag.net) Analysis Chris Carey (chris@livedata.agency) www.livedata.agency Design Philip Millard (rathernicedesign.com) Sub-editor Michael Muldoon (michael@ilmc.com) Marketing & advertising Terry McNally (terry@iq-mag.net) Archie Carmichael (archie@iq-mag.net) Contributors Chris Austin, James Drury, Anne-Marie Harwood, Nancy Skipper, Richard Smirke

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WELCOME The European Arenas Association (and its 35 arena members in 22 countries) is pleased to continue its support of the European Arena Yearbook 2018.

As the largest participating organisation in the publication, the European Arenas Association (EAA) has provided a significant amount of data to the Yearbook, analysing nearly 3,000 events and some 18 million event-goers.

While music continues to drive the arena business – accounting for over 50% of attendees – our research and evaluation has been further refined to include a wide variety of specific event categories, providing additional insight into various sporting and family attractions in order to recognise the continued growth of the arena business throughout Europe.

Given the new realities affecting our business following the terrorist attacks, the EAA initiated and supported the inaugural Event Safety and Security Summit (E3S). We will continue our focus on these critical safety initiatives to ensure our venues, guests, partners and tenants are provided with up-to-date security technology and procedures.

In 2018, the EAA will host its biannual meetings at Lisbon’s Altice Arena, and in Basel at the newly renovated St. Jakobshalle. During these events we will meet with a variety of industry professionals in order to enhance our business objectives. These include the EAA’s participation in the Association 4

of Luxury Suite Directors’ recently announced expansion into Europe with its inaugural ALSD International Conference & Exhibition, which will take place 11–12 October in London.

The EAA is grateful to IQ Magazine for its continued support of the arena business.

We hope you find the information and data in the following pages useful.

Peter van der Veer

President European Arenas Association

WELCOME

“Our arenas are coming off the back of a record 2017 for both attendances and performances in our venues, with over 13.6m attendees.”

Martin Ingham, chairman NAA

The 22 members of the National Arenas Association (NAA) in the UK and Ireland are pleased to have once again contributed to the European Arena Yearbook.

The NAA’s members continue to see a buoyant market across a range of genres of music and different types of event from comedy to sport. Our arenas are coming off the back of a record 2017 for both attendances and performances in our venues, with over 13.6m attendees, which is a testament not only to the quality of the artists and their shows on tour but also the venues themselves that are delivering continuous investment in facilities and service to make each customer’s experience the best it can be, and ensure those customers return again and again.

The NAA’s venues are proud to work together alongside the NAA to deliver worldclass formal training with the Professional Certificate & Diploma in Event & Safety Management, which provides a uniquely practical qualification, and consists of subject modules ranging from crowd science to event leadership & management.

It will always be a fundamental requirement that our venues are the safest and securest that they can be for everyone, and as such the NAA was keen to be an active partner for the excellent E3S event held in London in October 2017, and will continue its involvement in future editions of the event.

management, and accessibility.

Supported by expert guest speakers in order that arenas are aware of marketleading solutions and best practice, these meetings ensure all venues can learn from the consistent challenges that we all face albeit in different formats and locations.

Our crossover members from the EAA and events such as ILMC and E3S mean that best practice isn’t just shared throughout the UK and Ireland but wherever it can be found, and as such we are delighted to continue to build relationships with venues from across Europe.

Martin Ingham

Chairman National Arenas Association

However, just as important as formal training, NAA members hold regular working groups on subjects as broad as health & safety, event & facility 5

FEATURE

Chris Austin profiles ten, techdriven ideas that arena managers should consider introducing in order to improve their businesses‌

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rena concert productions have become increasingly spectacular in recent years but that is not where the use of cutting-edge technology in venues need end – an array of remarkable tech solutions has been created that can not only enhance the concert-going experience for fans but can drive revenue, increase security, and minimise the environmental footprint for arena operators.

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NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

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Mercedes-Benz Arena goes green

The 17,000-cap Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin has taken a series of innovative measures to ensure that it is one of the most environmentally friendly venues in the world.

As part of AEG’s environmental sustainability programme, AEG 1EARTH, the venue recently began purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset 100% of the carbon emissions associated with its purchases of electric power. The arena’s energy is sourced through hydroelectric plants in northern Europe and is certified with the RenewablePLUS label issued by the strict TÜV Rheinland certification programme.

A block heating power plant installed on the roof of the arena generates energy from natural gas and captures waste heat for use in the arena, thereby

reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions caused by natural gas consumption are offset with ÖkoPLUS credits to support a hydroelectricity project in Malana, India.

Other measures include providing parking space for 400 cycles, biodegradable cups made from cornstarch, and food sourced from local or regional producers.

The venue’s general manager, Michael Hapka, says that in partnership with energy supplier GASAG, the arena has found a way to be carbon neutral without increasing energy costs.

“It was a very big step forward to 100% neutralise the carbon footprint of the arena, which we achieved in January. We don’t advertise it to the public but we have noticed that artists have taken a real interest in the environmental efficiency of the arena.”

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FEATURE

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LiveStyled

Launched in 2014 by CEO Adam Goodyer, LiveStyled specialises in creating mobile apps and interactive technology designed to enhance the experience of concertgoers while boosting revenue for venue operators.

“Our vision is to be the glue that binds the physical and digital concert-going experience together,” says Goodyer.

Among the core digital functionality offered by LiveStyled, which can be embedded in a white-label app, a venue’s website or its Facebook pages, are access control and loyalty rewards, through to helping customers navigate their way around an arena.

“It not only enables users to pre-order and quickly collect food and beverages, they can also easily digitally share tickets they have purchased with friends — we are then able to pick up the data about their friendship group,” says Goodyer.

LiveStyled’s many clients include AEG, O2 and Live Nation, with the technology currently being used at 55 venues around the world, including London’s O2 Arena and SSE Arena Belfast. Goodyer says the results speak for themselves: “It was used to run a promotion at the SSE Arena Belfast, where users were encouraged to spend more on food and beverages by being rewarded with a small digital wallet credit. That small incentive to encourage them to spend a little more resulted in a 16% increased in overall food and beverage expenditure in the arena.”

The LiveStyled boss says the next step for the technology is its integration into venue IPTV systems so that content can be personalised on every single screen around a building to reflect the known interests and tastes of the individuals gathered near each of them.

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Hypervsn

Award-winning British company Kino-mo, which is backed by investors including Richard Branson and Mark Cuban, has launched an innovative advertising solution that generates 3D images that appear to float in mid-air.

The system’s 3D images can not only be used to promote upcoming shows, food and beverage product lines or to draw attention to a retail outlet, but can be used by artists during a show as on-stage visuals.

The Hypervsn product, which is able to produce 3D holographic advertising visuals of up to three metres high, is made up of multiple modular units that look like propellers, with each of the arms containing programmable LEDs. The unit’s processor sends signals to each of the LEDs and instructs them when to turn on and off. As the lights change, the whole device spins and the eye perceives the light emitted as a hologram, much like those featured in the film Blade Runner 2049.

Kino-mo can create custom 3D content for clients

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but also offers a content creation tool that enables them to transform their existing 2D assets into 3D visuals suitable for Hypervsn. Images or videos can be uploaded and displayed using a cloud-based management platform.

Designed for commercial use at sites such as entertainment venues and retail outlets, the system is simple to install and relocate, with accessories available that make it possible to mount devices to ceilings, walls and shelves.

Kino-mo caused a major stir in January when it launched Hypervsn at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and an equally warm reception when it was showcased at ILMC in London. Among the brands already using Hypervsn are Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Pernod Ricard.

“Hypervsn has already proven itself to be a powerful technological solution to create immersive experiences, drive advocacy, and articulate the value of a brand,” says Kino-mo co-founder Kiryl Chykeyuk.

NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

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Steerable Sound

Among the many innovations that the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) has promised will be at the heart of its new cutting-edge MSG Sphere venue design concept is a remarkable sound system that will enable audio to be targeted to every individual seat in the building.

Instead of blasting sound via speakers spread throughout a venue, the system enables audio to be sent directly to specific locations. Developed by German firm Holoplot, the technology known as ‘beamforming’ enables every audience member to enjoy the same quality of sound, no matter where they are seated.

Beamforming offers several applications, including tailored monitor mixes that follow performers around the stage, and assistive listening for the hearing impaired.

The sound can even be tailored so that an audience member can only hear dialogue in their native language.

Erik Hockman, who is principal, audio systems and

acoustics at MSG, says the sound can be directed as if it were a laser or a spotlight: “I can make that beam whatever width or height I want it to be, and I can digitally focus it. With a traditional stereo system you only get really good sound if you are in the middle of the speakers, and if you move to the side you lose the imaging. With this type of technology everyone in the venue gets a really good image.”

The beamforming sound system will be one of the centrepieces of the new 18,000-seat MSG Sphere arena in Las Vegas, which is due to open in 2020.

MSG report that the technology will also be a central aspect of its proposed MSG Sphere London venue.

It is important to keep queues to a minimum and to create a positive atmosphere, with fans reassured by the apparent security measures rather than alarmed by them

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Human Security Radar

In light of recent events, the level of security at concert venues has never been higher.

Mitigating the threat of terrorist attacks on concerts, however, is not an easy task, with traditional search and screen methods proving difficult due to a lack of time and/or available space at venues. It is important to keep queues to a minimum and to create a positive atmosphere, with fans reassured by the apparent security measures rather than alarmed by them.

Designed to offer increased safety at events in a proportionate and cost-effective manner, Apstec Systems’ Human Security Radar (HSR) is an automatic screening solution that scans people in real time for hidden explosive threats and firearms as they enter a venue. HSR is capable of screening multiple targets simultaneously and can scan up to 10,000 people per hour, without disrupting the flow of people entering a venue.

As fans arrive at a venue they are directed between two pillars, approximately 2.5 metres apart,

and then screened within a 6 metre-long inspection zone. HSR analyses the data and swiftly identifies any individual of interest and where the suspect item is being carried, whether on their person or in a bag.

Photographs of potential offenders are automatically transmitted to security personnel who can then conduct a secondary, more detailed screening of those individuals.

Steve Cooper, who has worked for the British Government and oversaw security at the London 2012 Olympics, is an independent advisor to Apstec Systems. He says HSR has been used at airports, shopping malls, and major international sporting events but is yet to debut at a concert venue.

“We launched it commercially in the autumn, and because this is a cutting-edge technology everyone wants to run a comprehensive pilot before rolling it out. It is well-suited to entertainment venues, and unique in that it is particularly good at automatically screening shoulder bags and handbags in real time,” he says.

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FEATURE

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The Bot Platform

While bots may have a deservedly bad reputation in the live music industry due to their nefarious use by ticket touts, Syd Lawrence, CEO and co-founder of The Bot Platform, is proving that bots can also be used as a force for good.

The Bot Platform enables clients to set-up automated, own-brand, messenger services that enable concertgoers to directly communicate with an artist or venue operator in real time.

With around 1.3 billion people worldwide using the Facebook Messenger app, The Bot Platform’s AI-driven messenger bots enable automated dialogue with those users. Its clients include artists Olly Murs and Hardwell, and organisations such as Sony Music, the BBC and Universal Music.

Venue operators can use the bot technology to create a dialogue with customers by providing tailored information in advance of an event, on everything from forthcoming gigs to ticket on-sale dates, and during a show to handle queries ranging from what track is being performed, to where the nearest toilets are.

Says Lawrence, “The bot can respond to frequently asked simple questions and then, when necessary, a human jumps in to deal with a new or more complex question. For venue customers, there is no need to download an app, and for venue owners, no need to invest heavily in developing one.

“Bots are very good at encouraging people to do something, so they are ideal when you want to create a real call to action — that is where we see the power of the technology.

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The Sound Box

The 20,000-capacity Altice Arena in Lisbon is not only Portugal’s largest arena, it also offers a unique VIP experience. Four of the arena’s 30 skyboxes have been fitted out to resemble a recording studio, with their floor, walls and ceilings fully coated in acoustic material.

The Sound Boxes, which directly face an end-on stage set-up, don’t just look great, they provide a vastly improved listening experience. The reverberation time in the boxes has been measured at between 0.63 and 1 second, some 80% less than in the main hall.

Altice Arena general manager Jorge Vinha da Silva says, “Two years ago, we made a huge investment in the refurbishment of the acoustics of

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Amsterdam ArenA's Energy Storage System

The huge power demands of major concert productions mean that venues often place pressure on the local grid, but the Amsterdam ArenA will soon be selling electricity back to its grid operator due to the venue’s revolutionary new Energy Storage System.

The 68,000-capacity Amsterdam ArenA, which is the biggest concert hall in mainland Europe, has become the first carbon-neutral stadium in the Netherlands due to a series of green energy initiatives that include the Energy Storage System, which is due to go live during an Ed Sheeran show on 29 June.

Some 10% of the venue’s energy requirements are delivered via solar panels on its roof, with the remainder coming from wind turbines – both of which are reliant on conditions being favourable.

In order to find a way to store energy, the team at Amsterdam ArenA began working with battery storage providers Eaton, and car manufacturer Nissan, in 2016, and a dedicated company, Amsterdam Energy Arena BV, was set-up to oversee the project.

The result is a system that generates revenue whilst reducing both costs and Co2 emissions.

The 3MW system uses 280 Nissan Leaf batteries to store enough energy for use during live events when the venue’s energy consumption can be up to ten times higher than usual. Surplus energy can then be sold off or shared with neighbouring businesses, including the 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome.

Amsterdam ArenA facility director and chief innovations officer Henk van Raan says that a key advantage of the system is the certainty it brings to powering concerts: “We only supply 10% of our building’s power onsite, so if there is a problem with the grid during a concert it would cause a major problem. Having these batteries means we are able to ensure energy supply continuity for events,” he says.

the main hall, so the idea was to do something similar in the new skyboxes to enhance the customer experience. The best asset we have is the artist on stage and the show itself, so we wanted to build on that by improving the sound for VIPs. “Customers can really feel the difference in sound quality from the other lounges and premium seats, it is huge, you don’t have to be a sound technician to appreciate it.”

Each Sound Box is fitted with 12 seats but it is possible to combine two boxes in order to create a larger VIP area. However, anyone wanting to hire one will have a long wait. According to Da Silva, the concept has proven hugely popular: “We wanted to create something special for our customers and it is certainly working. We very quickly sold the four new boxes and we have a waiting list for them.”

NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

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Pogoseat

Offering fans an improved experience, and event organisers and ticket agents an opportunity to monetise unused ticket inventory, seat upgrade app Pogoseat enables fans to move to better seats or VIP areas that they can see are unoccupied while at a live event.

Already well-established in the US, the San Francisco-based startup has forged partnerships with companies including Ticketmaster and AEG, the latter having made an equity investment in the company and integrated its technology within its

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AXS ticketing platform.

Event-goers use the technology to search for an available seat upgrade, they then receive images that show the view from a desired seat, and are given the opportunity to purchase the upgrade. Having clicked on the desired upgrade, the fan then enters the barcode from their original ticket and receives a credit for the cost of it.

Aside from real-time seat upgrades, Pogoseat enables venue operators to offer fans opportunities to purchase VIP experiences such as behind-the-scenes meet-and-greets or access to exclusive deals like autographed merchandise.

Pogoseat has partnered with numerous sports teams and venues across North America since the company was founded in 2012. In February, the 30,000-capacity Amex Stadium in Brighton, UK, became one of the most recent venues to adopt the technology.

“The key benefits for venues include additional revenue and data analytics, while maximising the fan experience,” says Pogoseat CEO Kiran Patel.

He says the company recently launched a text-to-buy service enabling fans to register to receive texts offering last-minute ticket availability offers.

“It has proven a great way of selling last-minute inventory. We are moving to a more on-demand society and our technology enables event organisers to capitalise on impulse purchases,” says Patel.

Arenametrix

Award-winning software platform Arenametrix is a CRM (customer relationship management) tool that provides detailed audience analysis by centralising and analysing data gathered from numerous sources, including ticketing platforms, merch sales, access control, and cashless payment systems.

Developed by Paris-based dynamic ticket pricing specialist Tech4team, Arenametrix has already proven a hit in France with clients including the Printemps de Bourges Festival, Marsatac Festival, and venues such as the 25,000-capacity Stade Océane in Le Havre.

"We are expanding rapidly, the response has been great,” says Arenametrix’s UK country manager Louis de La Marnierre. He says the company accesses data from most major ticketing operators in France, and has relationships with operators in the UK, Belgium and Switzerland.

If a venue uses more than one ticketing platform, Arenametrix can combine and analyse all their data in order to provide a comprehensive insight into customer behaviour and interests.

The web-based platform enables clients to accurately categorise their customers according to information such as their location, demographic,

interests, and buying behaviour. As a result, users can tailor marketing activity so that it is highly relevant to recipients.

Aside from enabling the creation of personalised messaging designed to entice customers back to a venue, Arenametrix can be used to target probable new customers. By using the knowledge the system provides about existing customers, users can build profiles of potential new customers. Profiles can then be shared with Facebook, which searches for and supplies details of people with homogenous characteristics, enabling the creation of relevant marketing messages.

Says Marnierre, “The more you use the platform, the better you become at it, and the more you gain from it. We have a customer success team that works with event organisers and shows them how to make the most of the platform.”

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Protecting the Events Sector Sharing the latest intelligence information, tapping into new technology to thwart terror attacks, and trying to boost security measures without disrupting the experience of the paying public are but some of the challenges facing today’s arena security teams.

Richard Smirke reports…

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any years ago, security for concerts and music events was quite simple,” reflects Reg Walker, director of Iridium Consultancy, which works with a number of UK venues and festivals. “It was either, ‘Yes, you can come in’; ‘No, you can’t come in’; or ‘Sorry, you’re misbehaving, you’ll have to leave’.

That was effectively it. If you fast-forward to now, security staff are expected to be cognisant in crowd safety and crowd management. Be able to secure evidence. Be welfare officers. We expect them to take part in counterterrorism security measures, be search experts, first aiders, carry out drug detection, and deal with organised crime groups and pick pockets. The list goes on and on. The demands on security staff, and their roles, have changed so dramatically that they’re almost unrecognisable from what they were 20 or 30 years ago.”

Driving those changes has been a constant and ongoing focus on improving crowd safety and, in turn, the customer experience. Top of the agenda for many security professionals today is combating the heightened threat of terrorism – a historic danger that became tragic reality following the Bataclan and Paris attacks of 2015, and last year’s Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people, many of them children, and injured hundreds more.

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SECURITY | FEATURE

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FEATURE | SECURITY

“In the last 12 months, there’s been a massive improvement in standards, with a total revision of how live music venues and sporting venues – or basically, any crowded space – are secured,” says Walker. He cites a “mass uplift in the training of staff and personnel,” extra police patrols, and infrastructural modifications to deter vehicle attacks, as just some of the ways that the sector has adapted and modified to meet the threat.

The demands from touring artists and productions have similarly increased, says Eventsec’s Andrew Murphy, who looks after security at Belfast’s 11,000-capacity Odyssey Arena.

“Certainly, since what happened in Manchester there’s been a big surge from touring artists for increased security precautions, extra searches, and backstage sweeps taking place,” he explains.

Costs and the number of security staff employed at the arena have increased as a result, he says, although in his venue’s case the impact has been moderate. “Coming from Belfast, where we’ve had these issues for many years, we’ve always been mindful that the threat exists, and have always had a high level of security at our venues. In light of what happened [in Manchester], we reviewed our security procedures and we continue to constantly review and change things, so that we’re not predictable and make it difficult for someone who has the intention to cause harm.” “[The] Manchester attack was a big wake-up call for how we should view events, but what we have tended to do in the past is throw out our carefully prepared plans, [and] it is often not the plans that are wrong. It is just that areas need constant review to make them fit for purpose as threats change,” advises security professional Chris Kemp of Mind Over Matter Consultancy. He advocates a “measured and proportionate” approach that continually evaluates weaknesses and adapts to meet the threat, “so that it destabilises the aggressor and enables us to continue to think carefully about how we make our venues and events as secure as possible during a time of changing terrorist attack methodologies.

“After Bataclan and Manchester, security became very high on the agenda but if we relegate other elements that are just as important, such as crowd

“To make our events a success, we have to plan them with the assumption that something bad will happen.”

Alain Habib, Byblos Group

management, we are only shifting the problem and not tackling it,” he warns. “What we’re getting better at is identifying what to do before, during and after an attack. But we all know that it’s not if, but when and where, the next attack will take place.”

PLANNING IN DEPTH

In response, safety provisions have been strengthened at venues across Europe with airport-style security screening, bag checks, canine sweeps, and pat-down body searches introduced across the board. The banning of large bags and rucksacks has also become the norm, while venues are deploying higher numbers of security personnel, both overt and covert, at transport hubs and routes of ingress and egress.

“To make our events a success, we have to plan them with the assumption that something bad will happen,” says Alain Habib at Byblos Group, which handled security for France’s UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament, and counts Le Tour de France and Paris’s AccorHotels Arena among its clients. In light of recent events, he says the focus has shifted from concentrating resources inside a venue or event space, to transport hubs and pedestrian access routes.

“The parking lot, foyer, patio – we need to start reallocating and addressing those areas, working and communicating with the police and [French Army] Special Forces on a wider perimeter,” he states.

In the past 12 months, the AccorHotels Arena has installed permanent search arches to complement its already comprehensive security operation, which includes preliminary security screening outside the building, the closure of rue de Bercy (opposite the venue’s main entrance) to traffic on show days, and armed police and dog handler patrols.

TALKING HEADS Alain Habib Byblos Group

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Chris Kemp Mind Over Matter Consultancy

Michael Lischer Sport Concepts

Andrew Murphy Eventsec

Matthias Brezina Se2 Solutions Service & Security

SECURITY | FEATURE

“There’s a great deal more planning in-depth and deployment in-depth, as well as intelligence sharing between the police and national security agencies,” says Walker, who calls the recent launch of the National Events Intelligence Unit (NEIU) – the UK’s first dedicated intelligence unit for live music and sporting events – a “quantum leap forward.”

Tasked with collating and assessing intelligence, which is then disseminated to police and, in turn, the security and events industry, Walker says its role will be pivotal in “harnessing synergy between the police and private security.”

“Everybody is talking more openly about measures and ideas than two years ago,” agrees Matthias Brezina of Se2 Solutions Service & Security GmbH, which looks after Austria’s 16,000-capacity Wiener Stadthalle. Like many security providers, he is encountering increased demands from touring productions and has introduced more intense checks and bag searches as a result. The number of police officers onsite and outside the venue has also risen over the past 12 months, and new vehicle blockades have been installed around Wiener Stadthalle’s exterior to prevent car attacks.

Brezina, however, worries that too much focus is now being placed on the threat of terror attacks compared to the wealth of crowd management and safety issues that security professionals face on a day-to-day basis. “Security and terror attack prevention has become a big part of our job but it’s not the only part. We have to remember all the other things that we’re good at like our proven concepts for ingress and egress, and not destroy those. For example, if you want to introduce car blockades that prevent vehicle attacks you cannot just place a big

object in front of an access route because you may be blocking an emergency exit.”

Without downplaying the importance of terrorism prevention, Brezina says a considerable amount of his time and resources are spent dealing with the “crazy” demands of VIP packages, with big shows typically selling up to six different VIP experiences to fans, each involving different arrival times and access to different parts of the venue.

“Even though we have proven concepts for these sorts of packages, it’s somehow different for every show, so we have to reinvent the wheel each time.

Also, these are the hard-core fans, so you have to deal with them in a different way,” he explains.

“Everybody is focused on terrorism but some of the biggest issues for us remain the normal bread-and-butter things like assaults, crime, and minimising insurance risks,” agrees Murphy.

“Managing simple issues like slips and falls, and making sure you adhere to protocols, are probably some of the most important things. Increasingly you find yourself getting called into public liability issues, which take up an awful lot of time. Whereas it wasn’t a significant issue ten years ago.”

MEETING NEW DANGERS

Murphy also questions how effective some of the security measures introduced in the wake of Manchester have been. Although generally in favour of enhanced checks and customer patdowns, he says the knock-on consequence is often larger queues to get inside a venue. “All you’re doing then is moving the locus of a potential problem, which for me is slightly counterproductive,” he states. “I’ve noticed a lot of increased search

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FEATURE | SECURITY

techniques at many venues and, in a lot of cases, what they are actually doing is increasing the density [of people] external to the venue, which ultimately becomes an easier target.”

Echoing the views of others in the industry, he says that training, recruiting, and retaining security staff “has to be at the forefront” of everybody’s mind going forward. “Many people don’t want to pay security high rates. I know a lot of venues and promoters that do but many still see it as a lower-end service, and it’s one of the things they always try and cut costs on. That makes it hard to attract people into the business because it’s long hours, it’s not great pay, and when the economy is buoyant people can get jobs elsewhere for probably better money.

“There has to be a realisation that if you pay low wages then the quality of the service can be impacted,” he states. “Although everyone will say that security is top of the list of priorities, the reality is that the bigger spend remains elsewhere.”

“What we’re getting better at is identifying what to do before, during and after an attack.

But we all know that it’s not if, but when and where, the next attack will take place.”

Chris Kemp, Mind Over Matter Consultancy

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“There’s not a security company that I know of that is not struggling to recruit and retain good staff,” confirms Walker. “There’s been a massive drop off in people renewing badges, and a significant drop off in people coming into the industry. The challenge for security companies moving forward is to encourage back some of the experienced staff that we have haemorrhaged in recent years.”

Technology also has an important role to play, say experts. Earlier this year, Chinese police were reported to have used state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to locate and arrest a man among a crowd of 60,000 people attending a concert by pop star Jacky Cheung. There have also been strong developments in next-generation, non-invasive, thermal imaging search technology over the past several years, all of which will soon be available to venue operators and security professionals. “Inevitably these things decant down from state- or police-use to the private sector, and they have great potential to speed up the search process and yet be incredibly efficient and robust for making sure that you’re not letting a threat into your venue,” says Walker.

Despite those advances, manual searches will continue to remain a key tool in security staff’s arsenal for many years to come, believe those working at the coal face. “Metal detectors and wanding are a nice add-on but they do not replace full pat-down body checks,” believes Brezina.

“You’re looking into the eyes of people, and find a lot more prohibited items with body checks than you

SECURITY | FEATURE

would if you just used a hand-held metal detector or X-ray arches. Especially when you take the limited time that we have for patron searches at concerts into account.” He makes the point that at airports people are used to the security protocols and show up early. “At concerts, especially seated ones, 60-70% of the people will show up 30 minutes before show start or later, which gives us very little time to check everybody.”

Although not a total solution, one effective defence is training customer-service operatives, as well as all security staff, in profiling and identifying behavioural characteristics. Habib additionally recommends that the same access protocols for ticket holders are extended to all staff and visiting crew members through the use of an “established and well-communicated accreditation and access system.” He notes that at big events or occasions there are often different security companies on duty, and that effective communication and cooperation between all parties is essential to prevent gaps in the chain from appearing.

The risk of a mass-shooting incident, like October’s tragedy at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, taking place in Europe is relatively slim, agree experts, due to Europe’s strict firearm laws. “The resources you would need to obtain that amount of firearms and ammunition would inevitably flag up something on the intelligence service’s radar,” says Walker. “There’s simply not the availability of weaponry and ammunition to carry out that type of attack over here.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

Thankfully, when it comes to physical infrastructure, venue owners and operators are already in a strong position to meet the heightened terror threat, says Michael Lischer, director of London-based architectural practice Sport Concepts, which has worked on over 250 facilities worldwide, including Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, Echo Arena Liverpool, Turkey’s Ankara Arena, and the Budapest Sports Arena.

“Terrorism and the safety of our building users, and understanding how people move into, and more importantly, exit a building, have always been a fundamental part of our designs right from the beginning. I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and that hasn’t changed,” explains Lischer. The increased focus on terrorism has, however, led to clients raising the issue earlier in the conversation, he says. More time and consideration is also being given to looking at crowd protection from vehicular attacks and, where possible, “changing circulation routes, rather than having a long driveway that goes right up to the front of the building where someone could build-up acceleration.”

Other standard considerations when designing new venues include minimising the use of external glass; providing ample room for bag and security

checks; and planning for progressive collapse in the event of a structural failing, as opposed to a catastrophic collapse. “There are roofs out there where if one cable fails the whole roof will come down. The likelihood of that cable failing is extremely small but if a terrorist targeted it, that could change,” says Lischer.

“Security is no longer something just the responsibility of a security company or a security manager. It has to be considered by many more people,” reflects Brezina, citing the vital role of promotors and ticket vendors to clearly communicate to customers about security provisions, such as the banning of large bags, well in advance of the event. “All of us are in the same boat and have the same goal: ensuring a secure, well-run event in a cost-efficient way,” he states.

It’s a view shared by everyone in the business, as is the need to be alert to the ever-changing risks that threaten an industry all too aware of the dangers it still faces. “The terror threat remains at severe and there is no sign of that being dropped any time in the near future,” cautions Walker. “There is an inherent danger that as time goes by people start to become complacent, and that’s something that must be avoided at all costs. We need to maintain a high level of vigilance. As soon as that starts to slip, bad actors will notice, and that is when you are likely to get incidents.”

17

The NEC used land outside its venues to host The Specials in May 2017

18

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

2017 KEY STATISTICS AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

2,630

7,327

19,270,443

€54.88

€1,057,588,381

FAMILY

1,096

3,828

4,195,221

€43.81

€183,792,049

395

6,490

2,563,377

€38.54

€98,783,399

SPORT

1,694

5,471

9,267,668

€25.61

€237,306,874

DANCE

75

3,058

229,322

€40.50

€9,286,723

338

6,118

2,068,079

€30.38

€62,830,597

6,228

6,036

37,594,110

€43.87

€1,649,588,023

TOTAL ATTENDANCE

TOTAL SPEND

TOTAL EVENTS

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

2,303,059

€86,580,409

412

€39.19

5,590

CENTRAL & EASTERN

6,744,661

€204,381,153

1,382

€30.17

4,902

GSA

7,412,248

€356,229,625

1,269

€48.06

5,841

2,895,004

€155,018,993

403

€53.55

7,184

3,439,121

€128,899,417

402

€37.48

8,555

14,770,016

€718,478,426

3,218

€48.64

6,124

37,564,109

€1,649,588,023

7,086

€43.87

6,036

PERFORMANCE GENRE

PERFORMANCES

COMEDY

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

REGIONS

NORDICS

FRANCE & BENELUX SOUTHERN UK & IRELAND TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 73

T

he feeling of confidence across the European arenas business is palpable.

Now fully emerged after the economic crisis a decade ago, its population of over 740million is hungry for live entertainment and is frequently open to new content formats.

The 73 arenas who participated in our EAY 2018 survey accounted for €1.65billion in revenue – a demonstration of the economic clout this sector of the live industry has.

A large proportion of the arenas surveyed reported record-breaking results for 2017, and are looking at 2018 with even greater ambition.

Consumer confidence and economies are growing hand-in-hand, and the live industry is benefitting.

This is a region of many countries and significant differences between markets – not least considering income per capita varies from €24,000-€93,400. The opportunities, challenges, and results vary according to regional circumstances, but Europe remains one of the top places to tour In the world.

Live music continues to dominate both in terms of high attendance and high ticket prices. However, could its position be under threat as new content strands emerge and start to challenge for space in the calendar?

There are detailed breakdowns and analysis by region later in this publication, but here we’ll take a look at trends and statistics from across Europe.

Attendance

More than 37.5m tickets were sold to over 6,200 events hosted by the venues in our survey.

Live music was the most popular genre, making up 42% of all events – a slightly increase on last year’s result of 39%. The live music genre attracted the highest average attendances across Europe, attracting 7,327, compared with an all-events average of 6,036.

Fans of live music made up 51% of all audiences.

Sport was the next biggest draw to arenas, attracting 9.3m people to 1,694 events – 27% of programmes. Average attendance was below the total average, at 5,471. Of the 42.5m people who came to these arenas, 25% were sports fans.

With 1,096 performances, family shows constituted 17.6% of the total number of events, but averaged the second-lowest attendance figures at 3,828 – just 11% of the total audience.

Once again, the region of Southern Europe takes the crown for the highest average attendance – at a whopping 8,555, well above the overall average and a long away ahead of its closest competitor, France & Benelux (7,184).

Making up the 37.6m tickets sold last year were 14.8m in the UK & Ireland, 7.4m in Germany, Austria & Switzerland, 6.8m in Central & Eastern Europe, 3.4m in Southern Europe, 2.9m in France & Benelux, and 2.3m from the Nordic countries.

The strong performance this year looks set to continue, with many arena bosses predicting even better results in 2018.

19

GROWTH PREDICTIONS 7%

n Grand Total

6%

n The Nordics

5%

n Central & Eastern

4%

n GSA n France & Benelux

3%

n Southern Europe

2%

n UK & Ireland

1% 0%

Average growth prediction 2018

Average growth prediction 2019

Ticket prices

Perhaps surprisingly, the average ticket prices across all events fell slightly compared to the previous year, at €43.87, compared to €44.34 in 2016.

Less surprisingly, considering its dominance in the market, music events commanded the highest average price – €54.88, more than €10 above the overall average. People attending music events spent over €1bn across the venues surveyed – that’s 64% of all expenditure.

At an average price of €43.81, family entertainment netted 11% of spend across Europe, valued at €183.8m.

Despite a low average ticket price of €25.61, the high number of sports events in Europe (1,694) saw people spend €237.3m in this sector – 14% of all expenditure.

Across Europe, the 395 comedy events averaged a ticket price of €38.54, netting €98.8m, or just 6% of the total spend; tickets to dance events cost on average €40.50, although there were only 75 that took place in respondents’ venues. Miscellaneous events were attended by 2m people, bringing in revenue of €62.8m.

The most expensive tickets are in France & Benelux, where music events reach an average €63.46 – €20 above the average for all events. Other highpriced tickets can be found in Germany, Switzerland & Austria, where the average price is €48.06, and the UK & Ireland, where the average is €48.64.

Central & Eastern Europe have the lowest average ticket prices at €30.17, and as low as €19.45 for dance events. Promoters in this part of the continent say one of their key challenges is balancing artist fees and cost of production with a ticket price that’s affordable for local budgets.

Challenges

The horrors of the attacks in Paris, Brussels and Manchester, and the continued threat from terrorists, are foremost in everyone’s minds.

Striking the right balance between security measures that are visible enough to reassure customers (and deter would-be attackers), with needing to create a fun atmosphere is a major

20

Average growth prediction 2020

challenge for the whole industry.

Technology, planning, liaison with authorities, and communication across the close-knit arena community are being put to good use to keep everyone safe.

Outside of that issue, challenges vary across the continent. For countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, finding and retaining good staff can be challenging, as jobs are plentiful and employees can choose where they want to work.

Ensuring the workforce is happy and motivated to stay has become much more important for these venues.

In Central & Eastern Europe, rising production costs and artist fees are a worry. The impact on the affordability of tickets for the local market, where ticket prices are below European average – and the knock-on effect that expensive tickets have on F&B sales – is a challenge.

In contrast to 2016, there were considerably more tours out in 2017 – but this brings its own problems: too much content, and especially too much content of the same type in quick succession, is an issue from Luxembourg to Lithuania.

Concerns

Survey respondents were asked how worried they felt about a variety of factors affecting their businesses, ranging from artist fees, a lack of future headliners, and production costs, to political interference, shortage of skills, and competition from other venues.

What the results indicate is there’s a feeling of optimism across the industry, with very few reporting feeling “very” or “extremely” concerned about any of the topics.

Concerns shared most commonly were artist fees and their effect on ticket prices and the state of the national economy. Competition from other venues was also high on arena bosses’ minds – unsurprisingly, considering the number of new venues coming on stream in the next five years.

That arenas do not sit alone in the live entertainment ecosystem is on the minds of some respondents. They worry that threats to the survival

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

Lack of suitable headliners

28% 3% 14% 21%

State of economy 5%

Political interference Lack of suitable content

of smaller venues through gentrification, taxes or local authority regulations, could have an impact on the pipeline of talent. As well as being flexible with their own configurations to enable artists to make the leap to arenas sooner, some are actively supporting grassroots venues.

Opportunities

100%

7%

Production costs Licensing regulations

75%

16%

Competition Industry consolidation

50%

25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

Shortage of skills / Trained personnel

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR EXTREMELY WORRYING

New types of content are being warmly welcomed by all arenas – some even going as far

11% 12%

as to shoulder the risk of hosting the new formats themselves to prove to local promoters that there’s a market.

Across Europe, venues have spent years investing to help local artists develop and grow to arena level, and it’s now paying dividends. This is particularly true in Central & Eastern Europe, where in the last four or five years, countries including Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia and Hungary are now seeing an explosion in home-grown talent filling

The final phase of a refurbishment programme is under way at Basel’s St. Jakobshalle arena, ahead of a grand reopening in October 2018

21

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

AVERAGE TICKET PRICES & VENUE USAGE €60

n Music n Non-Music

€54.88

€54.01

€52.89 €50.86

€50 €47.82

€40

€39.05

€38.38

€36.82 €34.80 €32.31

€30

2013

2014

2015

9

9

13

2016

6

2017

9 18

3

6

5 44 14

17

45

39

17

14

37

6

48 15

24

23

23

Venue usage key (percentages): n Music

32

n Sport

arenas. At Arena Zagreb, 50% of the concerts were

by Croatian acts, and the Siemens Arena in Vilnius says shows by Lithuanian artists have doubled. Not only is this great news for the musicians, it means the venues – particularly those in secondary or tertiary markets – are less reliant on the vagaries of international artists’ touring schedules.

For many, eSports continue to grow. As we heard at the ILMC in March, these events can be watched by millions around the world, as well as those packing arenas – giving venues huge opportunity for profile-building, and providing massive potential sponsorship audiences.

New sporting events for arenas are also on the rise, not least of which is darts, currently hitting a bullseye across northern Europe and selling out the likes of Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena and Ahoy Rotterdam in minutes. Other sports, such as mixed martial arts, and boxing, are proving hits as they grow into arenas.

Last year, YouTuber and influencer events were the hot new thing, but there are indications that the market might be cooling off. Although some arenas are still hosting this type of content, the enthusiasm for such events is muted. In Italy, Live Nation’s Roberto De Luca says while in 2016 the market was

22

n Family

24

n Comedy

n Other

“good,” 2017 saw fewer such events, and he has no plans to promote any this year. Other venues reported similar situations.

The explosive growth of one genre can’t be ignored. Urban is the new pop music, dominating streaming charts and – frequently – packing arenas. Even markets where it has previously struggled to get a foothold, such as Luxembourg, are seeing more and more urban artists touring and more and more fans coming to their shows.

VIP market

Strengthening economies are being reported across Europe, with even those that were still struggling after the economic crisis now well and truly back on track. As an indicator of this consumer confidence, almost 60% of venues report that VIP sales were stronger in 2017 than the previous year.

However, the traditional model of selling VIP suites to companies and very wealthy individuals for long leases is fast being replaced by demand from individuals who want one-off VIP experiences.

As people begin to prioritise experiences over material possessions, they want unique memories at live entertainment events, from priority queuing and VIP bars, to hospitality suites and meet and

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

greets. At the same time, in some markets, there’s been a downward trend of companies leasing hospitality suites for extended periods. As a result, some arenas are remodelling their VIP offer to be focussed on individuals rather than companies.

Larger hospitality suites are being converted to accommodate a mix of VIP ticket holders rather than a select group of people invited for corporate entertaining. Restaurants are being upgraded and food and beverage offer across the board is becoming more sophisticated. As one arena boss told us: “Everyone wants to be a VIP these days.”

Technology

Consumer demand is driving faster and faster Wi-Fi speeds at arenas; any venues that don’t already have Wi-Fi are installing it, while many are upgrading to high-speed networks so their customers can share their experiences on social media to their hearts’ content.

Last year’s standout trend in technology was venues launching their own apps. This year, we’re seeing the evolution of those apps into

increasingly sophisticated tools. Apps are being used to reduce queues, increase food and drink sales, sell more merchandise, tailor offers to customers in much more sophisticated ways, and even as a precise seat-finding service. Belfast’s SSE Arena is planning to integrate with Ticketmaster’s system to offer interactive seating charts and a view-from-seat service, as well as a full ticketbuying process from within the app and its social media channels.

Looking further into the future are venues such as Austria’s Wiener Stadthalle and Spain’s WiZink Center, which are encouraging experimentation with augmented and virtual reality experiences.

Even venues that are more cautious about some of the latest gadgets are using technology to improve the customer experience, whether that’s by finding better and more sophisticated ways of communicating with them; upgrading screens and signage; or just investing in infrastructure to create a more comfortable visit. After all, ensuring audiences and artists leave the venue having had a good time is everyone’s priority.

23

REGIONAL PROFILES

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE POPULATION: 9.9m (AZ); 4.3m (HR); 10.6m (CZ);1.2 (EE);9.9m (HU);1.94m (LV); 2.8m (LT); 38.5m (PL); 7.1m (RS); 80.8m (TU) INTERNET USERS: 7.7m (AZ); 3.1m (HR); 8.6m (CZ); 1.1m (EE); 7.8m (HU);1.6m (LV); 2.1m (LT); 26.2m (PL); 4.7m (RS); 46.8m (TU) GDP/CAPITA (US$): 17.4K (AZ); 24.1K (HR); 35.2K (CZ); 31.5K (EE); 28.9K (HU);27.3K (LV); 31.9K (LT); 29.3K (PL); 15.2K (RS); 26.5m (TU) SMARTPHONES: 6.6m (AZ); 4.4m (HR); 13.9m (CZ);1.9m (EE); 11.8m (HU); 2.6m (LV); 4.2m (LT); 56.8m (PL); 9.1m (RS); 44.7m (TU)

T

here’s a buoyant mood across Central and Eastern Europe. Although there are still regional variations, overall the picture of the live entertainment market is very positive. Some countries are seeing very strong growth, while others are expanding at a more modest rate.

The development of local talent is paying dividends, with the result that venues are not as reliant on the touring schedules of international artists.

However, economies are still behind their Western European counterparts, meaning balancing artist fees and affordable ticket prices can be challenging.

REGIONAL MAP n = Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia & Turkey

24

We surveyed arenas in Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Turkey. The arenas taking part sold 6,774,662 tickets to 1,382 events in 2017. The total spend was €204.4million.

Attendance

Average attendance figures are the lowest in Europe, at 4,902 per event, compared with a survey average of 6,036.

Sport accounted for the most events, making up 45% of the overall number, followed by music (33%), and family shows (10%). But music topped the average attendance figures, drawing 5,938 people per event (survey music average: 7,327). Sport attracted on average 4,688 people (5,471), followed by miscellaneous events at 3,846 (6,118), and family shows at 3,787 (3,828). Comedy drew on average 3,079 (6,490), and dance, 2,920 (3.058).

Music events were worth a total of €119.9m – 59% of the total spend, whilst sports events netted €54.4m – 26% of all revenue, despite taking up 45% of the dates. The value of family shows was €17m, or just 8% of total spend.

From the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, Tibor Lak says: “2017 was a record-breaking year for us. We had 113 event days, which represents a 20% increase on the previous year, while the audience numbers increased by 15% and reached almost 700,000. It seems Budapest is more and more popular for international stars, plus there are more Hungarian bands who have enough fans to play an arena show.”

The 20,400-capacity Tauron Arena in Kraków, Poland, opened in 2014. Konrad Kozioł says: “While 2017 wasn’t quite as good financially as 2016, we had more events. Every year we host some of the biggest events in Poland, such as Metallica, 30 Seconds To Mars, Ed Sheeran, and the Rolling Stones.”

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

468

5,938

2,779,106

€43.14

€119,886,670

FAMILY

143

3,787

541,512

€31.56

€17,089,780

21

3,079

64,658

€21.63

€1,398,697

SPORT

617

4,688

2,892,700

€18.82

€54,439,624

DANCE

16

2,920

46,724

€19.45

€908,903

117

3,846

449,962

€23.69

€10,657,479

1,382

4,902

6,774,662

€30.17

€204,381,153

COMEDY

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 13

Also in Poland, at the 14,000-capacity Ergo Arena in Gdańsk, Kamil Kukułka says: “We noticed an increase in the number of events and overall arena income. However, there was a small decrease in attendance figures, mainly due to increasing ticket prices and a growing competition for people’s spare time and entertainment budget.”

The Ostravar Aréna in the eastern Czech Republic has a capacity of 12,500. “2017 was successful for the arena, mostly due to increased attendance at concerts, family and other shows, plus international sports events such as the Figure Skating European Championship, and the Tennis Federation Cup,” says Jan Kostecký. Ģirts Krastiņš at Arēna Rīga in Latvia says: “2017 wasn’t quite as busy as 2016, because we had fewer events, and as a result fewer total visitors, but overall average attendance was up, thanks to some really good sold-out events, especially in sport, such as the World Boxing Super Series.”

The 13,000-capacity Siemens Arena in Lithuania is the country’s best-known arena. Živilė Sangailaitė says it hosted over 90 events, including Depeche Mode, Cirque du Soleil, Kings of Leon, and strong performances by local acts Andrius Mamontovas and Marijonas Mikutavičius.

And in the Estonian capital, Tarmo Hõbe of the 10,000-capacity Saku Suurhall, says business in 2017 was “great” and included a mix of local and international artists.

Miroslav Stanec at the 19,000-cap Arena Zagreb in Croatia says business in 2017 was fruitful. “We had over 40 major events, of which half were domestic performers.” Đorđe Milutinović of Štark Arena (formerly the Kombank Arena) in Belgrade, Serbia, says, “We’ve seen significant improvements in 2017. Our venue has a new title sponsor for the next five years, so we are now called Štark Arena.

“We’ve had many successful concerts that we

As with many European venues, Lithuania's Šiaulių Arena relies on sport for much of its business

25

REGIONAL PROFILES

James Blunt proved a popular draw when he visited the Siemens Arena in Vilnius

promoted ourselves: Sting, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kraftwerk, Luis Fonsi.”

Ticket prices

Ticket prices in the region are the lowest in Europe at an average €30.17 – a slight rise on last year’s figure of €29.89 but still below the European average of €43.87.

Unsurprisingly, music commands the highest ticket price, at €43.14 (survey music average: €54.88), followed by family events (€31.56; survey family show average: €43.81), and miscellaneous events (€23.69; survey average: €35.37). Comedy shows average €21.63 per ticket, while sports events are the cheapest at €18.82.

In Belgrade, the challenge is balancing high artist fees with ticket prices that are affordable in the local market, says Milutinović. “We have to do all kinds of media and other partnerships to make it work,” he says.

Secondary ticketing companies are undermining audience confidence in Poland, says Kukułka from Gdańsk – an issue recognised by Lak in Budapest, who says one of the biggest challenges is ticket fraud. “We always try to communicate through our channels to only use official ticket-selling companies. Unfortunately, dozens of people still risk access by buying e-tickets on the secondary market where you cannot check how many times the same ticket was sold.”

26

Challenges

Robert Schaffer of O2 Arena in the Czech capital, Prague, speaks for many when he says security is paramount and a challenge faced by all arenas. “As security is one of our priorities we’ve invested a lot into new technology such as new cameras and an evacuation system. We uphold the highest professional security standards.”

But there are other issues the business faces across the region. Krastiņš from Arēna Rīga says: “There are a lot of inexperienced smaller promoters who want to promote concerts at the arena but don’t understand the market sufficiently; so we have to invest time educating them and explaining the market to them.”

It’s rising production costs that are on the mind of Hõbe in Tallinn. “We can accommodate all the best international shows, but for the promoter, finding the audience to attend all these shows and to meet all those costs is still a challenge. Luckily, there are more and more local shows, sports, conferences and so on to fill in the gaps.”

Ensuring a diversity of content is an important matter in Zagreb, says Stanec. “Our challenge is similar to most venues: how to bring more people to events, as well as understanding what events would be profitable, and staying on top of market changes.”

In Kraków, working with promoters to ensure their events provide the best possible customer

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

OSLO

STOCKHOLM GÖTEBORG

GLASGOW

HELSINKI

TURKU

TALLINN

RIGA

BELFAST MALMÖ

KAUNAS

BIRMINGHAM

VILNIUS HAMBURG

LONDON

ROTTERDAM

BRUSSELS

BERLIN

DÜSSELDORF PRAGUE LUXEMBOURG

PARIS

MUNICH BASEL

KRAKÓW

VIENNA

ZURICH BUDAPEST MILAN

BELGRADE

ACCOR HOTELS ARENA

LISBON

MADRID

BARCELONA ROME

The EAA was founded over 25 years ago and today represents 36 leading European arenas across 22 different countries dedicated to hosting the most innovative and popular entertainment in Europe.

27

EUROPEAN ARENAS ASSOCIATION

EUROPEANARENAS.COM

REGIONAL PROFILES | CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

Lack of suitable headliners

Production costs

30% 15% 30%

Shortage of skills / Trained personnel

15%

Political interference

15% 30%

service is something Tauron Arena is addressing.

“If a promoter does something wrong and upsets people, it reflects on the venue too,” says Kozioł. “So we’re working closely with promoters to ensure the highest quality entertainment comes through, with the highest possible customer service.”

With five arenas serving a population of just under 3m people, competition is a challenge in Lithuania. “Sometimes we find there are more events than our economy can handle,” says Sangailaitė.

Technology

Two major improvements have been introduced at Budapest Arena. The first is a mobile app where audiences can store their e-ticket, and buy parking and order catering in advance.

“One of the biggest features of the app is the guaranteed security of your ticket,” says Lak. “The ticket is represented as a QR code that is half covered, and which becomes fully visible when you reach the entrance, using BLE technology.”

The other significant change is the venue’s buffets have gone cashless. “To reduce queuing time you can only pay with a bankcard. As the typical value of a purchase is below HUF5,000 (€16), you can pay by using PayPass technology, which is the fastest payment solution.”

Last year, Arēna Rīga invested heavily in a new video cube, and upgraded the fascia boards – they are now 360 degrees around the venue, says Krastiņš.

“We are planning to invest in new screens in the lobby and hospitality areas, where we expect to see a return from selling advertising.”

In Lithuania, the Siemens Arena is implementing digital technology including the installation of LED screens outside and inside the venue, and TV screens all around the arena.

Tauron Arena in Kraków has also launched a mobile app, which alongside the usual suite of options offers a seat-finding function.

“We use over 200 beacons in the venue to help people find where they’re sat,” explains Kozioł. “We also communicate to our customers through the app, presenting them with offers and information. We’ve had a very positive response so far.”

The Štark Arena in Belgrade is in the process of

28

100%

7%

State of economy

Lack of suitable content

75%

30%

Competition Industry consolidation

50%

54%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

technical improvements, installing a new LED ring, new cube, and new audio and security systems.

High-quality audio-visuals are very important for the visitors at the venue, says Milutinović.

The next major focus for O2 Arena in Prague is building a new ‘small arena,’ says Schaffer. “Works have already started and we hope to be able to open the new modern, multifunctional congress centre – Including up to 24 halls and meeting rooms of different sizes, and a total capacity of almost 10,000 – in the second quarter of 2019.”

Trends

The Tauron Arena in Kraków has a strong reputation for eSports as well as hosting the country’s biggest indoor concerts. But it’s diversifying into new content strands, says Kozioł.

“We’ve had another good year for eSports – we hosted the final of Counter-Strike, which had over 15,000 people here for three days and was watched by over 1m people. We won an award for the best eSports venue in Poland.

“We’re also seeing more events with YouTubers – we had two last year, which drew 6,000 and 11,000 people; and ‘hackathons’ for programmers – we did two in 2017, one attracted 1,600 people, and the other was smaller at 300 people.”

In the Czech Republic, the arena business is very stable level at the moment, so much so that the venue is getting booked up a long time in advance – it’s a nice problem to have, says Schaffer.

In the east of the country, Kostecký sees a similar trend. He adds being close to the borders of two neighbouring countries, the Ostravar Aréna is also seeing another new development: the willingness of fans to travel from farther away – including Slovakia and Poland, to events. But it’s a double-edged sword, as their willingness to travel means the arena is competing with venues in Brno (Czech Republic), Kraków (Poland), and Bratislava (Slovakia).

There’s an equally positive mood in Budapest.

“After a long period in the past decade, salaries are starting to increase, meaning their [punters] disposable income for live events is growing too,” says Lak. “Furthermore, the government is trying to support the industry by allowing companies to give

The NAA (National Arenas Association) was founded in 1991 as a forum for managers of concert and event venues with a minimum indoor seated capacity of 5000.

nationalarenasassociation.com

REGIONAL PROFILES | CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

Metallica took their Worldwired Tour to Prague's O2 Arena in April 2018

part of their taxes to registered promotion companies.”

In Latvia, there’s been a significant growth in sports. Increasing types of event and growing attendance figures are helping to generate stable, year-round revenues, meaning Arēna Rīga’s income is less reliant on the vagaries of touring schedules.

At the Saku Suurhall, the team is experimenting with new content ideas that haven’t been tried in Estonia yet. “Trying these completely new shows and events means we are not competing with any preexisting ones or with promoters in the local market, but offering new ideas and targeting new audiences,” says Hõbe.

In Zagreb, Stanec and his team are focusing on events that are a minimum of three days, such as family shows. “Multiple-date shows are a focus for us because the length of run amplifies the marketing messages,” he says. “Plus, there’s the obvious logistics cost savings.”

Milutinović says, “Being the only big arena in Serbia, the key trend we’re seeing is investment in hospitality and VIP. Also we’ve seen a strong growth in concerts by local and regional artists.”

This trend is echoed in Lithuania, where the Siemens Arena is seeing double the number of shows by local talent, says Sangailaitė. “The huge number of local concerts is the result of the past 4-5 years’ activity. It came as a huge surprise at first, and now everyone wants to have an arena tour.

“Family entertainment, stand-up, and musicals

30

are also growing significantly here.”

It’s a trend that Kukułka in Gdańsk also sees.

“In terms of ticket sales, we’ve seen increased popularity of stand-up shows, family shows, and new formats of sports (MMA, supercross) as well as eSport tournaments. However, there’s decreasing attendance for local traditional sports.”

VIP market

The growing demand for VIP and hospitality opportunities at the Ostravar Aréna means the venue is investing in upgrading its facilities, says Kostecký.

Tauron Arena’s VIP boxes are all sold out on long leases, reports Kozioł. “There’s a lot of interest in our VIP offer, so we’re planning to develop it further for individuals.”

In Belgrade, there is increasing demand for VIP lounges, special catering, and hospitality offers, says Milutinović.

Schaffer reports the most significant change is the increased demand for VIP services, which clearly reflects the on-going positive economic situation.

The arena´s VIP products are almost sold out.

In Budapest, the demand for VIP services is increasing, says Lak. “We have two VIP areas, the skyboxes, and the Sky Bar & Restaurant. The occupancy level of the 20 skyboxes is 100%. The occupancy level of the Sky Bar & Restaurant is also rocketing – revenue from this sector more than doubled in 2017, compared to the previous year.”

Event Safety & Security Summit 30 October 2018 The Congress Centre | London

400 delegates • 40+ speakers & presentations • 1 day of dialogue & networking

www.e3s.world e3s@ilmc.com • +44 (0) 20 3743 0300

REGIONAL PROFILES

FRANCE & BENELUX POPULATION: 62.8m (FR); 17m (NL); 11.5m (BE); 594,130 (LU) INTERNET USERS: 57.2m (FR); 15.4m (NL); 9.8m (BE); 567k (LU) GDP/CAPITA: $43,600 (FR); $53,600 (NL); $46,300 (BE); $109,100 (LU) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 67.5m (FR); 20.8m (NL); 12.9m (BE); 813k (LU)

T

he boom time for arenas in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg shows no sign of abating. Strong economies and high numbers of tours mean that this is one of the strongest markets in Europe.

For the first time, average ticket prices in this region exceeded the usually more expensive Nordics – and yet attendances did not wane.

Those arenas that took part in our survey hosted a total of 403 events, selling 2.9million tickets for a total spend of €113.8m.

Attendance

The arenas surveyed saw the second highest average attendance figures in Europe: 7,184, compared to a European average of 6,036. This is despite having the highest average ticket price in Europe, at €53.55.

REGIONAL MAP n = France, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg

32

Music dominated the programme, making up 62% of all tickets sold, and selling 1,792,734 tickets.

These concerts attracted above average attendance figures of 8,039.

Sports events saw above average attendances of 6,819, compared with a European average of 5,471.

It made up 32% of the programme and 20% of the total spend.

The proportion of family events was 7%, and although almost half the average attendance for music, figures remain above average for the genre, drawing 4,573 people per show compared with a European average for family shows of 3,828.

Dance shows drew average audiences of 3,971 (survey average: 3,058), making up 3% of programming and 12% of total attendance.

Rotterdam Ahoy (cap. 15,000) is not only an arena but an exhibition and conference space too. “2017 was a good year. We had a good number of events, plus some major refurbishment of the exhibition centre, which is almost finished,” says Peter van der Veer.

“People here still like to spend money on entertainment. Of course, there’s competition in every market so it’s important for us as a venue and as an organiser to be competitive.”

In Belgium, Sportpaleis Group runs the Sportpaleis (cap. 23,001) and neighbouring LOTTO Arena (8,050) in Antwerp; Forest National (8,000) in Brussels; and the Ethias Arena (18,000) in Hasselt.

“We are experiencing probably the best 12 months ever,” says Jan van Esbroeck. “We are lucky to have a couple of good promoters here, which we like to support with our marketing and data intelligence. We run four arenas, one of which is the largest in Europe, Sportpaleis, which enables promoters to offer high guarantees to top artists. And we have, with Forest National in Brussels, one of the warmest venues, with a good mid-sized (8,500) capacity, enabling us to present new talent that is on the edge of breaking through or has just broken through.

“Thanks to many strong touring acts we’ve had a busy schedule in all our arenas. The most astonishing is that although in this period we’ve offered

FRANCE & BENELUX | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

223

8,039

1,792,734

€63.46

€113,769,137

FAMILY

29

4,573

132,616

€47.55

€6,305,891

COMEDY

8

3,138

25,106

€38.35

€962,815

SPORT

130

6,819

886,488

€35.55

€31,515,863

DANCE

11

3,971

43,681

€42.57

€1,859,500

MISCELLANEOUS

2

7,190

14,379

€42.13

€605,787

403

7,184

2,895,004

€53.55

€155,018,993

MUSIC

TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 8

approximately double the number of concert tickets compared to the previous year, the tickets are being sold as never before. Ticket sales are very successful, in numbers and in grosses.”

It’s also good news over the border in Luxembourg, where MD of 6,500-capacity Rockhal, Olivier Toth, says 2017 was another very busy year.

“We had slightly fewer shows – 161 compared with 167 in 2016, and attendance was 220,000 – down from 230,000 the previous year.

“That being said, the concerts we did have had very high attendance figures.”

And in France, La Halle Tony Garnier (17,000) in

Lyon had a record year. “We had more events and more attendees than we’ve ever had,” reports Charlène Piot.

Meanwhile, in Paris, business was in line with 2016, says Marine Leparry from the 6,000-capacity Le Zénith.

Ticket prices

The high attendance figures and recordbreaking years are coupled with the highest average ticket prices – with venues throughout this region enjoying an average ticket price of €53.55 (survey average: €43.87).

Music tickets were the most expensive at €63.46 (survey music average: €54.88), while sport were the

Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam can use its state-of-the-art fascia to promote visiting artists

33

REGIONAL PROFILES

cheapest at €35.55 (€25.61).

Family shows attracted average prices of €47.55 (€43.81), comedy tickets were €38.35 (€38.54), and dance reached €42.57 (€40.50).

“I wonder where all this money is coming from, because a person or family can only spend their entertainment budget once,” ponders Van Esbroeck.

“There are only two possibilities: the budget has increased because of a good economic period, or the budget has increased because another budget has been cut. I guess the reality is a bit of both. Fortunately, we are on the right side of the balance, and I have to conclude that people are looking more and more for concert experiences and are ready to pay for it.”

The healthy market in the Netherlands is being helped by competition, suggests Van der Veer: “The

34

market here has grown since the arrival of the Ziggo Dome. Competition drives quality in a good way, it challenges us to be sharper and to deliver the highest quality.”

Developments

Van Esbroeck says the venue will likely move to a cashless environment within the next few years, adding: “The number of apps and new software applications that should raise the efficiency in our industry is booming. It will be a matter of making the right choice.”

Rotterdam Ahoy is opening a new club venue in Q4 2020, with a theatre configuration of 2,750. The seats can be removed to create a 7,000-capacity venue, which will be unique in the Netherlands, says Van der

FRANCE & BENELUX | REGIONAL PROFILES

The next step will be a major refurbishment of the public areas of the building, including a new entrance, new digital signage, and much more.

In the meantime, the venue has been picked for a pilot project in sustainable development. It will see solar panels added to the venue that will generate the equivalent of approximately 60% of the venue’s electricity use.

Le Zénith is investing in new interactive touch screens in the venue. It also has an app, which provides straightforward information on the programme, as well as having the ability to share Instagram photos, explains Leparry.

Challenges

Rockhal in Luxembourg recently hosted David Guetta

Veer. “AFAS Live [formerly Heineken Music Hall] in Amsterdam is 5,500-capacity, so we will be competing with that at the top end, but it’s unique in its theatrestyle capacity, too.

“With the new venue and the exhibition halls and the arena we’ll be able to do more festivals,” he says.

“We are the host of the North Sea Jazz Festival, the biggest festival in the Netherlands, and we would like to do more. Dance music is still popular here and we had some electronic events in the Ahoy last year that we think have the potential to grow.”

Building work starts on the venue in July.

Rockhal is also undergoing a programme of redevelopment. The first phase was redesigning the workflow at the bars, which has resulted in fewer queues, happier customers and increased F&B income, says Toth.

Understandably, with the strong economic results being produced by this region, arenas don’t cite many significant worries about the performance of their market. Our survey showed that the biggest worries were industry consolidation and increasing production costs.

For Van der Veer, one of the biggest challenges the market faces is availability of labour. “Because the economy is stronger now, there’s a lot of choice in the job market, so it’s a challenge for the hospitality sector to recruit and retain the right people,” he says. “We work extra hard to deliver a great job experience for our staff.”

And although ticket sales bounced back quickly after the terrorist attacks in Belgium in 2016, the outrages – and other such tragedies across the world – still cast their shadow over the industry, says Van Esbroeck. “It looks like this will be a concern which will not go away, meaning that we are moving from an occasional security issue to a structural one. On the other hand, we feel there’s strong confidence from our arena visitors, thanks to all the efforts being made on this issue.”

Being a comparatively small market, Luxembourg sometimes struggles with the sheer amount of similar content coming through in the same time period, says Toth. “At the end of last year, we had two weeks in a row of big musical productions, and the market had difficulties. Variety is key.”

For Leparry, creating a point of difference to other venues in the market is something Le Zénith is working on. “It’s important to have a different offer to our competitors, in order to stand out in the market,” she says.

Opportunities

While music often reigns supreme over arena programmes, across France and Benelux, other forms of entertainment are starting to nip at its heels.

At Rotterdam Ahoy, Van der Veer has seen comedy grow for the last few years – both with local and international artists.

“We also think eSports is a format that’s growing very quickly. We’ve been to a few events around Europe and seen how big it’s getting, plus I’ve seen its popularity at home with my 14-year-old son,” he says.

35

REGIONAL PROFILES | FRANCE & BENELUX

Average Number of Staff (Excl. No Answer): FULL-TIME STAFF 46

VIP OVERVIEW

n Number of VIP Boxes (%) n Number of VIP / Premium Lounges (%)

59

PART-TIME STAFF

VOLUNTEERS 1

2017 VS 2018 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

40% 60%

n No Change n More Popular 13 13

13 25

None

1–9

0

0

0 13

0

10–19

20–29

30–39

“We hosted League of Legends here recently, which was very popular, and we’re getting more and more eSports competitions and exhibitions. Right now we’re looking at whether we can be more involved either as an organiser, or working with another organiser, because I see that as being an important part of our business in the future.”

It’s not just online sport that’s showing growth in the Netherlands. New formats of previously established events are producing good results.

“We’re seeing new sports come to the arena. For many years, we’ve hosted world championships of traditional sports, but now we’re getting things like the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, and BMX. “We’re also the first country outside the UK to host the Professional Darts Championship, which did 11,000 tickets in five minutes, which was the fastest selling show in their history. Five years ago it was not of arena size so it’s shown huge growth.”

From over the border in Belgium, Van Esbroeck says: “Although it is not a significant part of our activity, we see that nightlife events are doing much better than before. Concept parties are also successful.

On the other hand, DJ concerts are the only segment that needs special attention in order to stay in line with the success of the other activities.”

Being flexible is key to success, says Toth.

Rockhal’s site can host club shows of 250-capacity, or main hall events from 1,100-6,500.

“We serve a very diverse audience in terms of attendance figures and genres,” he explains.

And much like many European countries, Luxembourg is seeing the growth of hip-hop and urban music. “Several years ago, that was not the case,” says Toth. “That genre used to be a hard sell, but there’s been a shift in audience. It’s got a big younger audience and they come to the shows in numbers. English-spoken hip-hop is strong but so is French hip-hop. We’re right next to a train station so French fans come over the border to see their favourite artists here.

“The French comedy market is also showing strong growth in Luxembourg – we put our first show with Jamel Debbouze on sale and it sold out within a

36

0

0

0

40–49

25 25

50 25

50+

No Answer

day. Now we’ve added a second.”

Rockhal will host its first open-air concert, with Sting on 30 June. It’s the first time the venue has used this open space, and capacity will be up to 9,000. “It’s going to be amazing,” says Toth. “If we get a good response from people we’ll certainly look at doing more.”

And in France, there’s been a significant increase in musicals and concerts compared with last year, says Piot from the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon.

Leparry also reports growth in family entertainment.

“Business is good at the moment,” she adds.

The strong economy in the Netherlands has resulted in the strong growth of corporate entertainment events, says Van der Veer. Companies are increasingly looking for unique venues to make their client-entertaining events more memorable. So, for the last two years, Ahoy has been operating another venue in the harbour, called Onderzeebootloods, a former submarine wharf that can hold up to 5,000 people. The industrial-looking building has been attracting more and more bookings as companies seek out unique event spaces.

VIP market

Growth for VIP boxes is strong, although across many arenas the demand is higher among individuals than from companies. Businesses are less likely to buy a box for a year as they seek other forms of client entertainment and staff rewards. But as is common across much of Europe, people are seeking out individualised or higher-end experiences as part of their visit to an arena.

Van der Veer says “We have a small percentage of VIP visitors at every show. Usually they’re clients of ours. But at Ahoy we chose not to have VIP boxes. We wanted a straight rock & roll venue, with little advertising and no VIP experience. VIP is interesting but what we think is more interesting is that everyone who wants to go to an event can get a ticket.”

Well-established and new events are creating strong competition in the French market, as arenas vie with other VIP experiences for customer spend.

There’s also additional pressure coming from increasing numbers of outdoor festivals and big events in Paris.

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05/02/2016 11:47

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REGIONAL PROFILES

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA POPULATION: 80.7m (DE); 8.2m (CH); 8.7m (AT) INTERNET USERS: 72.3m (DE); 7.3 m (CH); 7.3m (AT) GDP/CAPITA: $50,200 (DE); $61,400 (CH); $49,200 (AT) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 94.4m (DE); 11.7m (CH); 13.4m (AT)

W

ell located and with strong economies, the live entertainment markets in Germany, Switzerland and Austria are motoring.

The success of well-researched new content strands, such as darts and eSports, show the markets still have room to grow, as audiences seek out high-quality productions.

But what impact are the second-highest average ticket prices in Europe having on attendance? Some arenas are starting to sound alarm bells.

In 2017, the venues surveyed in these three countries sold a total of 7,412,248 tickets to 1,269

REGIONAL MAP n = Germany, Switzerland & Austria

38

events, worth over €356million.

Attendance

Hosting a total of 1,269 events last year, music accounted for 41% of content in arenas, followed by sport at 23%, and family shows (17%). Miscellaneous events made up 11% of the programme, with comedy (7%), and dance (1%), making up the remainder.

Average attendance – at 5,841 – was below the European average (6,036). Music drew the highest audiences, averaging 6,747 tickets (survey music average: 7,327) and making up 47% of all tickets sold; followed by sport (5,986 average and 24% of tickets); and miscellaneous events (5,578; 10%). Family shows were the only category to draw above-average ticket sales: 4,121 compared to European average, 3,828; they made up 12% of all tickets sold. Comedy averaged 5,240, and dance drew 2,171.

Despite lower average attendance figures compared with other regions in Europe, almost all arenas here reported record-breaking years. Steve Schwenkglenks, general manager at Hamburg’s Barclaycard Arena (16,000 cap) is typical when he says: “2017 was our most successful and profitable year ever.

“We have a great team at the arena that works hard, with passion and dedication, plus Hamburg attracts millions of visitors every year – many of whom combine sightseeing with a visit to one of our events.”

Hannes Krosta, head of event management at the 15,000-capacity SAP Arena in Mannheim, also reports a record year: “With 117 shows and 922,906 visitors, we were ranked No. 3 arena by German magazine Stadionwelt.”

In the east of the country, Matthias Kölmel from Arena Leipzig (12,000) says: “With 551,828 visitors at 136 events, we set a new benchmark for the arena.

Among the events were Cirque du Soleil, Holiday on

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

518

6,747

3,495,150

€57.38

€200,561,548

FAMILY

216

4,121

890,147

€55.58

€49,477,217

COMEDY

85

5,240

445,408

€35.41

€15,773,692

SPORT

292

5,986

1,747,943

€35.21

€61,544,587

DANCE

14

2,171

30,392

€61.67

€1,874,255

144

5,578

803,208

€33.61

€26,998,328

1,269

5,841

7,412,248

€48.06

€356,229,625

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 13

“There will be more indoor concerts in the summertime because of the high risk in terms of weather conditions.”

Matthias Kölmel, Arena Leipzig

Ice, The Music of John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and sports events such as the German Indoor Athletics Championship, World Fencing Championship, and World Women’s Handball Championship.”

Stefan Löcher at Cologne’s 18,000-capacity Lanxess Arena reports that 2017 was “exceptional.”

“We had 216 events and attracted 2.2m guests. It was the most successful year in our company’s history.

Once again we were the fourth most successful arena in the Pollstar rankings.”

At Berlin’s AEG-owned, 17,000-capacity MercedesBenz Arena, Michael Hapka says business in 2017 “was a good-average year,” with 145 events.

“Attendance overall dropped a bit compared to the previous year due to an unusually high number of major shows that were cancelled or postponed, such as Lady Gaga,” he explains. “We managed to replace some of them with smaller events.” 2018 is shaping up well, with the postponed shows now taking place, and tours such as U2 coming through, he reports.

Claus Lederer, from the Hanns-Martin-SchleyerHalle (15,500), and the Porsche-Arena (8,000) in Stuttgart, says: “We had a very good year, with 212 events covering national and international concerts, comedy, shows, company events, as well as sports, which drew almost 1m visitors in both arenas.”

Following the departure of Michael Brill to run Düsseldorf Congress Sport and Event, Stephan Ulm was appointed deputy MD at the 12,650-capacity KönigPilsner Arena in Oberhausen. He says: “Business was good in 2017. Highlights include the finale of Germany’s Next Topmodel; Drake and Iron Maiden; plus longrunning events such as Disney on Ice.” In the south of Germany, Munich’s Olympiahalle

(12,150) saw over 400 events in its venues and almost 4m visitors.

The 16,000-capacity Stadthalle Vienna in Austria saw artists such as Helene Fischer, Die Toten Hosen, Queen & Adam Lambert, Gorillaz, and David Garrett.

MD Wolfgang Fischer says being the largest venue in Austria with a reputation as one of the top-10 venues in Europe, means it’s a must-stop for tours.

Messe Congress Graz runs seven venues in Austria, including the Stadthalle Vienna. Christof Strimitzer says: “In 2017, the number of events was about the same as 2016, but the number of visitors and exhibitors grew. There were more than 1.1m visitors and nearly 2,000 exhibitors at 409 events on 745 event days.

“On the one hand, these figures are the result of the attractive variety of events, while on the other hand, our full-service packages, as a one-stop shop for experiences for event organisers, is important.”

In Switzerland, St Jakobshalle in Basel is undergoing a major refurbishment that will see it grow in capacity from 9,000 to 13,000. General manager Thomas Kastl says the works had an impact on the number of events the venue could host in 2017.

“The renovation is on schedule. There are two main developments coming up: the hospitality area – a restaurant with direct views of the centre stage of the arena, and the main arena itself.

“The reopening takes place in autumn and we have forthcoming events such as Apassionata, Hans Zimmer, Andreas Gabalier, Andrea Bocelli, and Art on Ice. We are also hosting the world championship of badminton, and the indoor cycling in 2019.”

Felix Frei of Zürich’s newly expanded, 15,000-capacity Hallenstadion says: “Business in 2017 was quite hard. Our entertainment business was one of the weakest we’ve had in years; we had about half the number of entertainment shows compared to 2016, and the artists that did come weren’t the top-selling acts.

“But I’m not worried because this is the cyclical nature of the business. Every three years we have a drop like this, and this was not a particularly unusual ‘drop year’ for us.

“2018 looks much better, especially our

39

REGIONAL PROFILES

The Eurovision Song Contest was hosted by Wiener Stadthalle in 2015

entertainment business. We have a good number of shows and high-quality artists.”

Ticket prices

With the third-highest average ticket price in our survey of €48.06, the affluence of people in this region is apparent.

Dance events commanded the highest average ticket price (€61.67, compared to survey dance average of €40.50), followed by music (€57.38; survey music average €54.88), family (€55.58), and comedy (€35.41). Average sports ticket prices were €35.21.

Strimitzer is mindful of increasing ticket prices, and says he’s started to notice an effect on sales. “As ticket prices and the number of events are increasing, not everyone is able to visit every event.

40

People therefore pick out their most preferred shows and think twice about paying for the ‘secondary events’ on their wish list. For example: When there are seven musical productions in town within four weeks, even musical fans will only visit one or two at a max. So variety may be the key.”

Tickets are also on Fischer’s mind, but for a different reason. “Online ticketing is increasing,” he reports. “There’s competition between ticketing providers, legal regulation, cash register, and tax on tickets.

“Another big challenge can be seen with Amazon.

The company is trying to strengthen their business in tickets, which means there will be another strong competitor in the European market.”

But there is some good news in Austria: the recent

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR EXTREMELY WORRYING

25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

75%

100%

27%

Competition Shortage of skills / Trained personnel

9%

Industry consolidation

9%

Production costs

9%

elimination of entertainment tax. “This is attracting more people to concerts and more promoters,” says Fischer. “It’s also a positive thing for the Viennese culture scene, as well as an increase within the economy.”

Technology

50%

9%

If it’s not already installed, adding public Wi-Fi tops most arena tech wish lists, but with growing production demands, high-speed Internet is becoming more and more important.

In summer 2018, the Mercedez-Benz Arena will launch an app that covers the arena and its entertainment district, including the Verti Music Hall, which opens in autumn. “Offers and content will be tailored to wherever the app user is, so if they’re at the Music Hall, it’ll be different to when they’re in the arena,” he explains.

“We expect it will produce good data, as long as we provide true value and benefits and additional services to the user. We’ll use the data to create a more tailored service for the user, such as more targeted content. These things only work if it’s give and take.”

As well as improving Wi-Fi speeds, SAP Arena has invested in new VIP lounges and new F&B outlets, says Krosta. “In 2018, we are going to invest in a new backstage area and nicer artist dressing rooms. We are also looking into better indoor navigation via heat maps on screens.”

In Graz, Strimitzer says his company is investing in modern stands. “The seats will be very comfortable for our guests, plus it reduces the time needed between different event settings. We already offer more than 30 different variations of standing and seating settings, and the new seating will create even more possibilities.”

Ulm says the König-Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen has recently refurbished and modernised its artist dressing rooms, and is planning to install cashless payments for F&B facilities. And for Kölmel, the two largest investments in 2017 were renewal of catering infrastructure and two movable emergency staircases.

Being able to live stream concerts and the use of augmented reality are on the horizon for Wiener Stadthalle, Fischer says.

A programme of refurbishment at Munich’s Olympiahalle comes to an end in 2019, reports Tobias Kohler. The stadium, built for the 1972 Olympics, will undergo modernisation in 2023.

“We do a lot of training with our staff, and we keep them motivated and happy to work here by creating a good atmosphere to work in.”

Stefan Löcher, Lanxess Arena

Opportunities

Esports is showing a varied rate of growth across the region. In Munich, Kohler says it’s growing well, although the technical demands can be a challenge for the venue.

Schwenkglenks was an early adopter of the format in the German arenas business, hosting its first event in 2016. “This brought us to a whole new level. 20,000 ‘kids’ took over the arena for several days, and it was broadcast live to almost every country in the world.”

Arena Leipzig plans to host more eSports events, says Kölmel, while Lanxess Arena’s Löcher reports three sold-out, three-day ESL events, which had worldwide online viewer figures of 40m. “We expect that sector to grow in the next year,” he says.

YouTuber events, which saw expansion in 2016, are having mixed success. Hapka says his arena will host a two-day influencer show called VideoDays.

“Last year, we were considering promoting our own YouTuber events, but we’ve dropped that idea because the VideoDays promoters from Cologne approached us, plus we’re getting more and more promoters talk to us about running influencer events.

“The trend we’re seeing with these events is they’re becoming more specialised around certain niches, such as gaming, music and so on. We think that trend will continue.”

In Cologne, Löcher says: “A few years ago, I would have said I was worried about all the heritage artists retiring, but now there are so many new artists coming through due to social media. We’ve had YouTube stars for the last two or three years now and each time we run them they get better.”

But it’s not a universal story of growth. Frei says: “Esports and YouTube events are growing, but it’s slow. There are some events in smaller venues but

41

REGIONAL PROFILES

they’re not growing fast enough to become arenaformat yet. We had a YouTube event called Tubecon in December, which was a good experience and the audience was good.”

A series of summers that saw poor weather wash out a number of outdoor festivals in Germany has had an impact on ticket sales, admitted Stephan Thanscheidt of promoter FKP Scorpio at this year’s ILMC conference in London.

This is resulting in an increase in indoor concerts in the summer, notes Kölmel at Arena Leipzig, who says: “There will be more indoor concerts in the summertime because of the high risk in terms of weather conditions. We’re preparing our venue for the changes and requirements following this situation.”

With the production cost savings that can be made due to less transport, and set-up/breakdown costs, multiple-night residencies are growing in popularity. Lederer says: “We may see a trend towards two- to five-day events.”

Löcher has also noticed this trend: “We’ve seen a number of multiple-night shows, such as five

42

sold-out, back-to-back dates with Phil Collins. This works for the artist because it’s more cost-effective and they don’t have to travel as much. Where we are located in the North Rhine-Westphalia it’s close to Belgium and the Netherlands. We’ve seen the radius people will travel from increasing to 250-350km to see a star here.”

At the same time, the trend for bigger touring productions with more equipment is pushing SAP Arena to improve its facilities for hosting back-toback events.

Fischer is typical of responses when he says flexibility is key for future success. “Since 2017, Wiener Stadthalle’s E-Box has been available in a club set-up. With a capacity for 1,200 standing or 508 seated guests, this venue offers the perfect facility for individual events. The abolition of Vienna’s entertainment tax makes the club layout and the unique atmosphere it creates, an even more attractive option.”

Strimitzer says in Austria there’s a strong trend for ‘in concert’ productions, such as Hans Zimmer in

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

Average Number of Staff (Excl. No Answer): 38

FULL-TIME STAFF

VIP OVERVIEW

n Number of VIP Boxes (%) n Number of VIP / Premium Lounges (%)

PART-TIME STAFF 86 VOLUNTEERS 2

2017 VS 2018 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

n No Change n More Popular 44%

56%

concert, the Disney movie Frozen in concert, and movie series like Lord of the Rings in Concert or Harry Potter in Concert.

“Also, there’s a trend for urban music festivals across Europe, and our audiences are responding very well to those,” he adds. “We have an open-air space for

The ability of Hallenstadion in Zürich to transform into an ice rink makes it ideal for productions like Art On Ice

11 11

22 67

22 0

22 0

0

0

None

1–9

10–19

20–29

30–39

11

0

40–49

11 11 50+

0

11

No Answer

up to 35,000 people and have already hosted events including the NUKE Festival 2015, Andrea Bocelli 2017, and Volbeat 2017. Elton John will play in 2019.”

Shows is a growth area at the Lanxess Arena, where Cirque du Soleil has increased performance intervals from once every two years to every year, because the market is there.

Lederer notes: “Another growth area is special events combined with special requirements, on catering, for example. We also notice the increasing intention to offer merchandising products.”

Catering is also on the mind of SAP Arena’s Krosta, who says consumer demand is driving an increase in the variety on offer at F&B outlets.

In Berlin, the Mercedes-Benz Arena is looking forward to opening a new club-size venue in October, next to the arena, with a maximum capacity of 4,500.

Called the Verti Music Hall, following a five-year naming rights deal with the insurance company, the programme will be headed by booking director Paul Cheetham.

“We’ve had great feedback from the German promoter market already,” says Hapka. “We’ve run some tours of the site and everyone is really impressed. We’ve got bookings already.

“It has the multi-flexibility of club- and theatreformat, with the quality standards of an arena, from the back of house to front of house.”

Challenges

According to our survey, arenas here are among the most relaxed when it comes to thinking about concerns for the future. Most common among people’s concerns were industry consolidation, ticket fees, and production costs, with around 25% of respondents remarking on these issues.

All arena staff that responded to the EAY survey agree with Leipzig’s Kölmel, who says the biggest concerns are security standards and data privacy. Ulm agrees, citing that establishing new and ideally universal security standards in the live entertainment business is top of his list of challenges.

Maintaining standards is another key matter for Lederer, who says: “The Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-

43

REGIONAL PROFILES | GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA

The Olympiahalle at Olympiapark Münich can be used for multiple live entertainment events

Halle was built in 1983. It has been permanently kept in shape, and in the last ten years we have modernised the catering areas, renewed the sanitary facilities, riggings, arena floor and so on.

“The same applies to the Porsche-Arena [opened in 2006] where we recently renewed the video cube.

In addition to our good consulting service we feel well prepared for the next few years. In fact, our biggest challenge is finding enough available dates for promoters.”

A fairly new challenge facing arenas is raised

by Löcher, who says: “There are lots of jobs in Germany, so hiring and retaining staff is something we’re really focussed on. We do a lot of training with our staff; and we keep them motivated and happy to work here by creating a good atmosphere to work in.

It helps that the arena has a good image – it’s seen as a good place to work.”

According to Frei, “The real worry is the festival season and its impact on music shows in arenas.

Switzerland has the highest number of festivals per capita than any other country, and there’s an additional two or three every year.

“The venue market here became more competitive recently, when the new Samsung Hall (5,000) opened in Zurich in January 2017; and the St Jakobshalle in Basel recently underwent a major renovation to increase capacity.

“That’s good for everybody, because it drives the market.”

The SAP Arena’s focus is on faster changing between two shows overnight. “With better planning and more manpower we overcome this challenge,” says Krosta.

Because it was built for the ‘72 Olympics, Olympiahalle has a stunning location, but keeping up to date with current event formats is a challenge says Kohler. The venues are undergoing modernisation.

VIP market

Demand for VIP packages is growing across

44

the region, but the trend tends to be away from corporate boxes and entertainment, to individuals buying better seats, entertainment packages or high-end treatment.

In Graz, Strimitzer says: “VIP packages or ticketPLUS packages are more popular.

“We upgraded our catering and hospitality offer.

Our visitors can choose from a wider range of food and drinks, and enjoy it on modern and comfy seating arrangements while waiting for the show to begin.”

Löcher says: “We are offering a broader range of VIP packages. People want to have VIP experiences in a variety of ways, so we’re offering more options than previously.”

Over the last two years, Hallenstadion has undergone significant reconstruction to the main arena, and converted five VIP boxes into one large VIP space for 60 people, which can be bought on a ticket-by-ticket basis.

“It’s a new offer for the market but it is working well,” Frei says. “Before, we only rented these VIP boxes to companies, all year round; now anybody can buy a ticket for a show and sit there, or companies can rent it. It gives us a new potential offer and it’s proving popular.”

For Berlin’s Hapka, VIP business is steady. “It’s always been and still is an important part of our business model. Year-on-year we’re growing and offering different premium experiences because we see there are not only the premium suites or entertainment experiences, but also restaurants and new packages because people demand different levels of experience. A personalised experience is really important for people.”

Kölmel says: “We see a change in the commercialisation of hospitality packages. The increasing variety comes along with rising prices and growth in competition. We built a comfortable VIP area in our venue in 2012, which we are constantly improving. The sales figures have continued to rise and we think this positive progress will continue.”

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

Premium location

All-Rounder Olympic Park Munich Multifunctional location Extraordinary architecture Flexible planning Competent contact person

Information and booking Phone: +49 (0)89 3067 2054 event@olympiapark.de

olympiapark.de/b2b

45

B2B2018_ANZ_184_132.indd 1

14.05.18 11:27

REGIONAL PROFILES

THE NORDICS POPULATION: 5.6m (DK); 5.5m (FI); 5.3m (NO); 9.9m (SE) INTERNET USERS: 5.4m (DK); 5m (FI); 5m (NO); 9m (SE) GDP/CAPITA: $49,600 (DK); $44,000 (FI); $70,600 (NO); $51,300 (SE) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 6.9m (DK); 7.4m (FI); 5.8m (NO); 12.6m (SE)

T

he Nordic countries punch above their weight when it comes to live entertainment.

Comparatively low in population, they have strong average attendance for music and family shows, and healthy ticket prices.

All arenas report strong financial results for 2017, with corresponding growth in demand for VIP facilities from individuals.

One sign of the robust market is the increasing number of arenas being built, including Copenhagen’s Royal Arena, which opened in 2016, and two under development in Finland.

The arenas responding to our survey hosted a total of 412 events in 2017, worth €86.6million.

Attendance

Arenas in the Nordic countries saw slightly below average total attendance levels in 2017, with 5,590, compared with a European average of 6,036.

However, music and family concerts achieved above average attendances, drawing 8,288 (survey music average: 7,327), and 4,728 (survey family show

REGIONAL MAP n = Denmark, Finland, Norway & Sweden

average: 3,828), respectively.

Sport, which made up 57% of events among the arenas surveyed, drew average audiences of 4,980 (5,471). Comedy drew an average 5,460 (6,940), and miscellaneous events sold on average 5,113 tickets (6,118).

Music constituted 19% of the programmes, but achieved 43% of total spend, at €37.4m. However, while sport dominated the calendars, it accounted for 37% of spend, worth €31.9m. Family shows made up 18% of all events taking place, and were responsible for bringing in 15% of all spend (€13.5m).

“The market for live events in Sweden is really strong,” says Daniel Stålbo from AEG-owned Stockholm Live, which runs Ericsson Globe (cap.

16,000), Tele2 Arena (40,000), Hovet (9,000), and Annexet (3,500). It recently took on the 60,000-capacity Friends Arena too.

“Tourism is growing, and we’re see a rising interest in live events in Stockholm. More and more events sell out faster and are adding extra shows. It is particularly good to see the growing interest for local acts and shows, and smaller, new, creative festivals.”

Business is also good in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, where Kimmo Kivisilta at the 15,500-capacity Hartwall Arena reports hosting 138 events including sold-out sports events such as the world figure skating championship. Forthcoming shows include Roger Waters, The Killers, and Walking with Dinosaurs.

Also in Finland, the Gatorade Center (cap. 11,820) in Turku had a very successful 12 months, says Toni Autio. “Event days have grown significantly, and as a

“Obviously, we live in one of the richest parts of the world, so for really hot artists we’re able to charge a lot of money, but so do the other countries in Europe even though they might have 20m more people than we do.”

Martin Nielsen, Live Nation Norway

46

THE NORDICS | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

80

8,288

663,075

€56.36

€37,370,818

FAMILY

75

4,728

354,636

€37.96

€13,462,293

COMEDY

8

5,460

43,680

€45.21

€1,974,704

SPORT

236

4,980

1,175,204

€27.08

€31,821,197

DANCE

0

0

0

€0.00

€0.00

13

5,113

66,464

€29.36

€1,951,396

412

5,714

2,303,059

€39.19

€86,580,409

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 9

Sweden's Malmö Arena remains Xxxx a popular attraction for fans from neighbouring Denmark and Norway for big name tours

47

REGIONAL PROFILES

The Saab Arena hosts Linköping Hockey Club on its ice rink when it is not being used for concerts and other events

result, we also exceeded our VIP sales predictions for the year.”

The largest arena in Norway is the Telenor Arena (25,000). Torgeir Stegane says forthcoming shows include Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Roger Waters.

Copenhagen’s 16,000-capacity Royal Arena opened in February 2016, and saw its first full year in operation in 2017, with acts such as Metallica, Gorillaz, Drake and the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

“For decades Copenhagen trailed behind other capitals with modern multifunctional venues, and so the city didn’t attract the number of attractive, big, music and sport events that the city’s other qualities justify,” CEO Dan Hammer told us. “Now Copenhagen is up to speed in the global competition between attractive cities to live in and visit.”

Ticket prices

Despite having a reputation for having high living costs, tickets in the Nordic countries were surprisingly low – below average at €39.19, compared with a survey average ticket price of €43.87.

Music achieved an above-average ticket price of €56.36, compared to the survey average for music events of €54.88. However, it is below the highest average music ticket price of €63.46 in France and Benelux.

48

Average ticket prices for comedy reached €45.21 (survey comedy average: €38.54), family shows reached on average €37.96 (survey family show average: €43.81), and sport fans paid on average €27.08 (€25.61).

High ticket prices is one of the concerns cited by Telenor Arena’s Stegane from Norway. Compared with the rest of Europe, ticket prices in the country are high, but this is to be expected because – as shown by The Economist’s Big Mac Index, which uses the price of a Big Mac to measure purchasing-power parity – the Kroner is 29% above Eurozone levels.

“Ticket prices are healthy,” says Martin Nielsen, head promoter at Live Nation Norway. “Obviously, we live in one of the richest parts of the world, so for really hot artists we’re able to charge a lot of money but so do the other countries in Europe even though they might have 20m more people than we do. The key thing is scaling the ticketing correctly. We have to be able to sell the best seats and push the ticket price so we can afford to lower the less expensive tickets. We know that affluent people who have a steady job and can afford to buy tier 1 tickets won’t buy tier 4.”

Opportunities

Kimmo Kivisilta at the Hartwall Arena says for the last three years the venue has been supporting local artists and promoters to develop their events by

THE NORDICS | REGIONAL PROFILES

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

50%

75%

100%

28%

Lack of suitable headliners

28%

Competition

28%

Production costs

14%

Lack of suitable content

14%

State of the economy

14%

investing to help them grow. This is paying dividends, he says, as local acts are now playing many sold-out dates at the arena.

“We now have 10-15 local acts who can play the arena and do very well.” The result is a healthy domestic market for arena-level acts, leaving venues less exposed to the cyclical nature of international artists’ touring schedules.

Live Nation Norway’s Nielsen says a new trend in the country is films accompanied by a live soundtrack.

Working in partnership with the arena’s home ice hockey team, Malmö Arena has been growing into the corporate events market. “Our efforts have been paying off, with good results,” says MD Karin Mårtensson.

Challenges

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR EXTREMELY WORRYING

In a country of 5.3m people, Norway is a comparatively small market. Sheer amount of content can be a problem for a limited number of ticket buyers.

“Sometimes we’ve had Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at Spektrum in Oslo,” says Nielsen. “If all those shows are the same genre, we have a problem.

Whereas in more populated countries they might have one market for J Cole and one for Travis Scott, for us it’s the same market.”

“It is particularly good to see the growing interest for local acts and shows, and smaller, new, creative festivals.”

Daniel Stålbo, Stockholm Live

He adds that the last two years have seen a particularly strong increase in acts touring in Q1, but fewer on the road in Q4. This can bring them close to the summer, and into competition with the festivals.

Competition is also on the mind of Autio from Finland’s Gatorade Center. He says: “Competition for customers’ time is increasing and we need to overcome their expectations in every area of business – starting from the arrival to every step of the customers’ path in the arena. Every time we open the arena doors, we need to be ready to show everyone the value of live events.”

Finland is set to get two new arenas within the next few years: the 10,500-capacity Garden Helsinki, and 11,000-capacity Tampere Arena. When they open, the country will effectively have doubled its number of major arenas.

Iron Maiden thrilled their fans at Helsinki's Hartwell Arena in May 2018

49

REGIONAL PROFILES | THE NORDICS

Average Number of Staff (Excl. No Answer): FULL-TIME STAFF

34

PART-TIME STAFF

136

VIP OVERVIEW

n Number of VIP Boxes (%) n Number of VIP / Premium Lounges (%)

VOLUNTEERS 41

2017 VS 2018 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

40%

n No Change n More Popular

60%

0

0

None

0 100 1–9

0

0

33 0

17 0

17 0

17 0

17 0

10–19

20–29

30–39

40–49

50+

No Answer

Autio and Kivisilta both say they’re confident about their own arena's offer in the market.

The biggest challenge for Kivisilta is the summertime. The long, dark winters mean people want to spend their time outside when it’s light, rather than indoors.

“However, when we handle 1m visitors in a year it’s good to have a few weeks of quieter time so we can carry out renovations and staff can have a holiday,” he says, sanguinely.

From Stockholm, Stålbo says: “As with all other venues, we depend on constantly presenting new acts in our arenas. We have such a great base of events with our six home tenants within football and ice hockey but we need to work hard to always make sure that we also fill the calendar with international artists, championships and business events. We are always looking at new types of events to include in our venues.”

Technology

The Hartwall Arena launched an app last year that has since had 10,000 downloads. “Registered users have all sorts of advantages such as a ticket lottery and discounts on food and drink.

“We analyse the data from the app because we want to help event organisers with their marketing – we’re in the same boat because we all want a show to do well. It’s also our aim to improve the consumer experience at the arena, so the next phase is likely to include a food and drink ordering system, which we expect to be ready by December. We also can get feedback quickly on what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing so well – it helps us improve quickly.”

Norway’s Telenor Arena launched an app last year, which features event information, a map, seating chart, and opportunities for engaging on social media.

It also offers customers the chance to pre-order and buy food and drinks from their phones. This reduces queuing times.

In Turku, the Gatorade Center is planning to buy a new jumbotron, which will be one of the best in Europe, says Autio.

At the Malmö Arena, Mårtensson says the venue is investing in new LED media, including a four-sided

50

media cube and new LED-banners.

“We’re also upgrading the lighting in foyers and skyboxes,” she says.

At Stockholm Live, the main focus is on minimising all the pain-points that visitors may meet in their customer journey. “We have several different projects ongoing to see if these can be reduced with help of better technology and real-time information,” explains Stålbo. “We have great partners at our campus that share our view of increasing the experience when visiting an event with the help of new technology.”

VIP market

The Europe-wide trend of more individuals wanting VIP seats and experiences rings true in the Nordics too, with good growth in this sector.

Stockholm Live is among those companies adapting their venues to this development by converting some of the individual suites into larger areas for individual ticket buyers. Stålbo says: “The strong interest in live events in Stockholm translates to our hospitality business too. Our VIP audiences are enjoying our new bigger lounges where they can meet others and network but at the same time have the best seat in the house. It becomes more like a members’ club, which is great fun and has seen a great response.”

In Malmö, ten of the arena’s skyboxes are being converted into one large lounge with 250 premium seats, says Mårtensson. The seats all have excellent views of the arena and can be sold individually.

Hartwall Arena owns 99 skyboxes, of which 88 are on long-term leases to companies and individuals, and 11 are owned by the arena for VIP ticket packages.

“We’re seeing more and more use of the skyboxes, which means more F&B revenue,” says Kivisilta. “As the national economy has grown, so people have more money in their pockets to spend on such things.”

At the Gatorade Center in Turku, VIP sales have exceeded their targets, says Autio. “Everyone wants something more and something new these days.

We are in a good position to fulfil this because the in-house catering company is highly aware of this and has been successfully meeting the need.”

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Prefered partner

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malmoarena.com facebook.com/malmoarena Booking phone +46 40 642 04 04

REGIONAL PROFILES

SOUTHERN EUROPE POPULATION: 62m (IT); 416,000 (MT); 10.8m (PT); 48.6m (ES) INTERNET USERS: 40.5m (IT); 321,000 (MT); 7.4m (PT); 39m (ES) GDP/CAPITA: $38,000 (IT); $42,500 (MT); $30,300 (PT); $38,200 (ES) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 92.5m (IT); 310,000 (MT); 11.7m (PT); 51m (ES)

N

ow recovering strongly since the economic crash, the countries of southern Europe – Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain – are experiencing a strong and busy market, with all venues surveyed reporting excellent results.

While ticket prices remain low, audiences are the most passionate in Europe and come out in droves for events.

The arenas surveyed hosted a total of 402 events, worth €129million.

Attendance

Venues in Southern Europe continue to boast the highest average attendances – pulling 8,555 compared with a survey average of 6,036.

REGIONAL MAP n = Italy, Malta, Portugal & Spain

52

Music events drew average attendance of 9,492 (survey music average: 7,327), sports drew 7,282 (5,471), and family shows sold on average 7,154 (3,828).

Both comedy and dance accounted for a tiny proportion of the programming.

Italy’s growth since the crash is continuing well, says Roberto De Luca, president of Live Nation Italy, which as well as promoting concerts, operates two arenas on the former Winter Olympics site in Turin: Palavela (cap. 12,000) and Pala Alpitour (cap. 13,347).

“2017 was a fantastic year for us. We increased ticket sales and grew profits. We had shows with U2, Coldplay, Robbie Williams. We even launched two new festivals: I-Days, which was four days and had 220,000 people; and Firenze Rocks, which was three days and sold 140,000 tickets. It has already sold 190,000 tickets for 2018, and is expanding to four days. We’ve launched a new festival, Milano Rocks, which is in September 2018.”

Management company Forumnet runs Milan’s Mediolanum Forum (12,700) and Rome’s PalaLottomatica (10,500). “Though there were no changes in the number of dates we filled, we’ve noticed a change in the mix of the genres we hosted in 2017, which kept revenues stable,” says Francesca Battistoni.

Portugal’s recovery from the economic crash is paying dividends at the 20,000-cap Altice Arena (formerly MEO Arena) in Lisbon, says Jorge Vinha da Silva. “2017 was the best year we’ve ever had. The Portuguese economy is recovering well from the big crash and we’re now in a better position than before; plus the industry is growing too, so we’re getting the benefits of that. Our strategy and investments in the building are all paying off. Tourism is also booming in Portugal, showing double-digit growth, and we are benefitting from that too.

“Portugal took a strategic decision to focus on tourism after the crisis, and that’s been paying dividends. For us, it’s meant a big increase in corporate events, which makes up a significant part of our business.”

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

222

9,492

2,107,158

€43.62

€91,923,014

FAMILY

55

7,154

393,483

€36.42

€14,330,056

1

5,790

5,790

€34.00

€196,860

SPORT

101

7,282

735,457

€13.98

€10,284,942

DANCE

1

11,600

11,600

€50.00

€580,000

22

8,438

185,633

€62.41

€11,584,545

402

8,555

3,439,121

€37.48

€128,899,417

COMEDY

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 8

Madrid is home to three arenas – the 17,453capacity WiZink Center, 11,500-capacity Palacio Vistalegre, and the 10,500-capacity New Cover Arena, which opened under new management in 2016.

WiZink Center general manager Manuel Saucedo reports another record-breaking year. His firm Impulsa Eventos e Instalaciones won the management contract for the Madrid local-authorityowned venue in 2014. “We have been growing in number of events every year since we started. We went from 121 events in 2014 to 156 in 2017 – a 15.5% increase on 2016, when the arena hosted 135 events.

“We recently presented a study by consultancy company KPMG, which showed our activity in 2017 had a local economic impact of €220m for Madrid – that’s 0.1% of GDP.” At the Palacio Vistalegre, director Juan Ignacio Carbonel says: “While 2017 was an excellent year in terms of music artists on tour, corporate events saw an increase of 9% in quote enquiries and 6% growth in

the number of events.”

The New Cover Arena commercial manager Isidro Sevilla reports a pleasing year: “2017 was very positive – we hosted more than 20 events, which is excellent considering it was our first full year in action. We had all kinds of events: sports, music, companies, parties, and fairs. A key reason for our success is that our parent company, Friends Group, has been in the sector for 25 years, so we started with some good contacts.”

The number of events at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi was in line with previous years, although there were some cancellations due to artist illness, reports Teresa Sala.

“There was a considerable increase of corporate events such as gala dinners and product launches,” she adds.

Hosting a combination of concerts, consumer fairs, conferences, sports, theatre productions and parties led to an “exceptional” 2017, reports CEO of Malta Fairs

Lisbon’s Altice Arena was block-booked for weeks this year as preparations for Eurovision 2018 took place

53

REGIONAL PROFILES

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR EXTREMELY WORRYING

25%

Competition Lack of suitable headliners

50%

33%

Production costs

50% 67%

Licensing regulations

50% 33%

“By all means offer secondary ticketing as a last-minute service for those that are desperate to attend... But it must all be clear. Never make the spectator feel he is being fooled.”

Manuel Saucedo, WiZink Center

and Conventions Centre (MFCC), Anita Mifsud.

“MFCC is a very flexible multipurpose arena, and logistically suppliers and the clients love working in our environment,” she says. “Malta is also enjoying a strong economy and the events and the meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions business is growing rapidly.”

Ticket prices

The countries in Southern Europe had the second lowest average ticket price in the EAY survey, at €37.48. Music commands an average €43.62, against a survey music average of €54.88. Family shows average €36.42 (survey family average: €43.91), comedy €34 (€38.54) and sport is just €13.98 (€25.61).

However, music accounts for 71% of all spending on live entertainment among the arenas surveyed, followed by family shows (11%), and sport (8%).

Despite the region’s low ticket prices, WiZink Center’s Saucedo says a key challenge is speculative secondary ticketing for profit.

“We must have transparency in our business. By all means offer secondary ticketing as a last-minute service for those that are desperate to attend a sold-out event, but with other prices. But it must all be clear.

Never make the spectator feel he is being fooled.”

Technology

A large part of the IT budget at Palacio Vistalegre was assigned to communication and security. “We are installing Wi-Fi networks that can handle high-user density,” says director Carbonel.

“We are also considering the creation of an app that, through beacon technology, allows us to offer our customers a more personalised service at each

54

100%

17%

State of economy Political interference

75%

33%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

event; for example, locating lost friends, telling people of sudden changes in the schedule in real time, and telling them about upcoming events.

“At the security level, we are considering installing a system that performs a bidirectional count of people entering and leaving the site in real time. Technology offers us significant advantages when it comes to carrying out rigorous capacity control, a need and a requirement to ensure compliance with regulations and safety for the people present at our events.”

WiZink Center’s Saucedo has also invested in public and production Wi-Fi, but he says its most significant investment was in the grid from which all the sound and lighting equipment is hung.

“We also have 400m2 of LED screens, plus we can also precisely control temperature and sound through mobile devices.

“Our venue is in condition to offer the latest technology and can make the configurations as easy as possible.”

It’s more about physical growth at the MFCC in Malta, which is expanding by 2000sqm to accommodate events taking place in 2018. “The demand for the arena in 2018 has peaked,” says Mifsud.

“We have invested in new carpeting and new break-out rooms, which compliment the flexibility of the venue.”

In Lisbon, Silva says: “We’ve been working with LiveStyled to develop an app. We have a ticketing company too, and we will integrate the ticketing process into the app; it means people will be able to buy tickets, order food and drinks in advance, book VIP boxes and so on. It’s a huge investment for us but the returns are projected to be good.”

Sevilla from New Cover Arena says: “We intend to set up a big screen facing the very busy street in front of our building, to announce events and to rent it to our customers.

“We also acquired a technical professional floor to cover all the arena. Internet connection i s very important nowadays, since many artists want to stream their concerts, so we are focusing on that too.”

Battistoni says that, in Milan, the Mediolanum Forum is undergoing a facelift, including entrances, halls, concessions and merchandising points; while in Rome the firm will refurbish its food and beverage concessions once it has agreed a new contractor.

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

Challenges

Like all, Carbonel cites security as a top concern: “As a venue, we are aware of the role we must play in the face of new global threats, the importance of strategic communication, security, regulatory frameworks, accessibility and protocol at events; the applicable technology; and the role of social networks in security and emergency communication, among others.

“We have a team of professionals who carefully design specific plans that integrate human and technological resources for each event.”

Battistoni says the Mediolanum Forum is working with the Milanese local authorities to implement a new plan that will limit access to the venue. “Barriers and speed bumps have been built to prevent cars arriving at high speed,” she says.

While it’s very safe, insists Mifsud, Malta is also being cautious around security. “We have increased our security controls, especially in events with bigger crowds,” she adds.

The local-authority-owned Palau Sant Jordi is seeking to provide additional experiences for

audiences as well as developing new ways to achieve greater interaction with its customers, says Sala.

Live Nation Italy’s De Luca laments the country’s bureaucracy, which he says is burdensome.

He also says that because artists are selling fewer records than in the past, they’re relying heavily on touring for revenue. This can lead to situations where an act returns too frequently to the territory, resulting in soft ticket sales.

For Lisbon’s Silva, protecting grassroots venues is an important role for arenas, to ensure the content pipeline remains healthy.

“If you don’t promote the grassroots level venues you will run out of content. Business is growing around Europe, but we have to protect the pipeline.

We have to make sure the pipeline is strong so we will continue to have enough shows coming through in the future.”

Opportunities

“We are very keen and attentive to new trends, and our marketing team is getting them programmed in our venue,” WiZink Center’s Saucedo

55

REGIONAL PROFILES

Average Number of Staff (Excl. No Answer): FULL-TIME STAFF

29

PART-TIME STAFF

66

VIP OVERVIEW

n Number of VIP Boxes (%) n Number of VIP / Premium Lounges (%)

VOLUNTEERS 0

2017 VS 2018 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

25%

n No Change n More Popular

75%

0 13

13 87

37 0

50 0

0

None

1–9

10–19

20–29

30–39

says. “YouTube stars are an example, but there are many more, such as eSports.

“We would like to progress with some innovative promoters in applying virtual reality to music.”

Carbonel says: “Promoters are asking for versatility in capacity so they can accommodate concerts from established artists to emerging artists.

“Today, audiences can use digital platforms to show they want a certain artist to perform in their city. It creates a great opportunity for promoters to hear the voice of the public. So venues must adapt to the market. We have created different spaces to accommodate from about 2,000 people to sold out, making each concert unique.”

Whereas in 2016, ‘YouTuber events’ was the phrase on many promoters’ lips, 2017 showed it may not be more than a passing fad for Italy, suggests De Luca. “2016 was good, but in 2017 we didn’t do many of these shows and we don’t have any planned for 2018 – I don’t see it being as successful as it was,” he says.

“We’re developing other areas that are more stable.

Pop and rock are still the main business for us, but there’s a new genre that is growing impressively: hip-hop. In Italy, there are new artists coming through and they’re selling out shows. This is an area that hasn’t been so big in the past, but now it really is. On Spotify, the top 20 artists here are hip-hop.”

Sponsorship growth continues for Forumnet’s venues in Milan and Rome, says Battistoni. “We also are seeing growth in commercial events at our venues, such as conventions and congresses; as well as for examinations and competitions.”

VIP market

Altice Arena’s Silva says: “Last year, we added more VIP boxes, and this year we’re aiming to create different levels of VIP offer. It’s important to have a variety of VIP offers because that’s what consumers are demanding. Of course, the artist is the reason people come, but nowadays people also want more from how they experience the show, and where they sit and the level of comfort they have. This is something we as arenas can offer that something like a festival cannot – it’s an experience you just

56

0

0

0

40–49

0

0

50+

The Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre is helping put the Mediterranean island on the tour circuit

0

0

No Answer

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

can’t get in the open air.”

For the WiZink Center, VIP packages are being improved. “Until now, it was the promoter who brought the VIP packages to our venue, and we only rented the space for them. But now, every VIP package in our venue will be managed by us,” says Saucedo. “We will be in charge of the attendants´ experience, our catering (we have our own kitchen and kitchen staff in the venue) will prepare their meals and so on."

Palacio Vistalegre’s Carbonel says: “The improvement in the economy is spreading to

companies and the public. Every day we see an increase in special requests for VIP clients.

“For this reason our commercial and production department provides diverse options for all types of public: extras in catering, drinks, VIP seats, special receptions, personalised early entry with exclusive access and so on.”

In Italy, De Luca says his company is increasing not only the number of VIP tickets but also adding new types of VIP package to include things like a meal, fast-track entrance, or meet-and-greet opportunities.”

57

REGIONAL PROFILES

UK & IRELAND POPULATION: 65.7m (UK); 5m (IE) INTERNET USERS: 61m (UK); 4m (IE) GDP/CAPITA: $43,600 (UK); $72,600 (IE) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 78.5m (UK); 4.9m (IE)

A

s the second largest live music market in Europe, the UK & Ireland is a soughtafter touring destination. Continually demonstrating strong sales, high ticket prices, and event innovation, its position as one of the world’s most popular markets remains strong.

Despite political uncertainty over Brexit, it doesn’t appear to have had a significant impact on consumer confidence so far. However, this is a competitive market and arenas have to work hard to maintain their positions.

In 2017, the arenas surveyed sold 14.8million tickets to 2,410 events, worth €718.5m.

Attendance

Ticket sales to shows in the UK & Ireland were on average 6,124, compared to a survey average of 6,036. Music topped the charts, with an average attendance of 7,536 (survey music average: 7,327).

Comedy was especially strong, pulling an average 7,275 compared to a European average for the genre of 6,490. Family shows averaged 3,257 (3,828), while

REGIONAL MAP n = UK & Ireland

58

sports events attracted on average 5,754 (5,471).

From one of the most famous venues in the world, the 12,000-capacity SSE Arena Wembley, John Drury says: “2017 was our best year since reopening in 2006, with a good number of full-on arena tours, academysized tours playing an arena date in London, and a wide mix of other event types, formats and capacities.”

Key to the 2017 success was a desire to bring in first-time headliners alongside established arena fillers, the venue’s VP and general manager says. The programme included Jack Whitehall, Bob Dylan, and Hans Zimmer, alongside first-time headliners A Day to Remember, Weezer, and Nicky Jam. Also in London, The O2’s general manager John Langford says: “2017 was another record year. We had a great mix of content from music to comedy, entertainment and sport, and our tenth birthday too.”

At the 13,600-capacity FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield, general manager Joe Waldron says: “Business was very good, with concerts including The Who, Bruno Mars, Iron Maiden, Take That, Little Mix, and Queen & Adam Lambert.”

Arena business continues to be buoyant in Glasgow, says Debbie McWilliams at the SEC, which runs The SSE Hydro (cap. 13,000), SEC Armadillo (3,000), and exhibition space SEC Centre.

“The SSE Hydro continues to record high attendee figures, and finished the year at No.4 in the Pollstar rankings and No.1 in the Billboard rankings,” she adds.

Lucy Noble, artistic and commercial director at London’s renowned Royal Albert Hall, says the venue had another record-breaking year, with 385 performances on the main stage and 504 in other areas, as well as hundreds of education and outreach events.

On the north-west coast of England, Kay Wilson, head of sales – concerts, entertainment and sports – Echo Arena Liverpool, reports “One of our busiest years to date. 2018 is a milestone for us as we celebrate our tenth birthday.” She adds: “Since 2008, we have welcomed 5.4million visitors to more than 1,200 performances.”

Across the Irish Sea, Cormac Rennick at Dublin’s 13,000-capacity 3Arena says: “2017 was a great year, with business 20% up in terms of number of shows.

The economy here has definitely turned the corner

UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2017 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

1,119

7,536

8,433,220

€58.59

€494,077,195

FAMILY

578

3,257

1,882,827

€44.15

€83,126,812

COMEDY

272

7,275

1,978,735

€39.66

€78,476,630

SPORT

318

5,754

1,829,876

€26.07

€47,700,661

DANCE

33

2,937

96,925

€41.93

€4,064,065

MISCELLANEOUS

90

6,107

548,438

€20.12

€11,033,063

2,410

6,124

14,770,021

€48.64

€718,478,426

TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 22

The SSE Hydro has dramatically changed Glasgow’s skyline, as well as Scotland’s live entertainment landscape

59

REGIONAL PROFILES | UK & IRELAND

2017 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Lack of suitable headliners

7%

Production costs

7%

State of economy

21% 7%

and the numbers were helped by a new festival, Bluesfest, and 17 nights of comedy.”

In the UK’s second city, Birmingham, Guy Dunstan is general manager, arenas, at the NEC Group, which runs the Genting Arena (15,683), Arena Birmingham (15,800), and exhibition hall The NEC. “From January-December we saw 1.7m visitors through the NEC Group’s arenas' doors. This was one of the best calendar years for combined visitor numbers in my time here.”

He adds that comedy was particularly strong, with seven performances of Good Mourning Mrs Brown, six from Mickey Flanagan, three nights of John Bishop, and two of Jack Whitehall.

At London’s 10,400-capacity Alexandra Palace, director of event operations, Simon Fell, says 2017 was “a brilliant year” from a live music perspective, with 31 shows. “We’ve put a lot of work in over the last few years and it’s really paying off.”

He says the venue’s investment in craft beer and street food is resulting in earlier footfall from audiences, who know the venue has a reputation for good quality food and drink before a gig.

Belfast’s 10,800-capacity SSE Arena is known as an early adopter of new tech. Its app has been downloaded 80,000 times and was recently upgraded to a new version bringing new functionality and design.

“Version two promises to push the boundaries of mobile user experience,” says arena general manager Neil Walker. “The new platform creates a superior user experience in comparison to version one and aims to engage, interact, communicate, and monetise to a higher level.

“We have now installed a number of iBeacons across the venue that will integrate with our app to allow us to tailor and target more specific messaging and observe our customers as they move through the building.”

But that’s not the only tech being upgraded at the arena. Walker says it’s also working with Ticketmaster Ireland to roll out e-ticketing on all shows, plus interactive seating charts, view-fromseat, and eventually using Ticketmaster’s API to integrate the ticket-buying process into its website, app and social media channels.

“We are also undertaking a two-year project with

60

100%

28%

Shortage of skills / Trained personnel

Technology

75%

7%

Competition

Lack of suitable content

50%

14%

“There seems to be a growing number [...] of what used to be seen as niche or cultural music types, but are now becoming more mainstream..."

John Drury, SSE Arena Wembley

Ulster University to look at the data that we hold across our business and how we can use and integrate datasets to increase ticket sales, food and beverage sales, and merchandise sales. Next on our list will be to consider more interactive digital signage, a brand new website, and version three of our app.”

In Glasgow, McWilliams reports: “In 2017, investment of £225,000 [€257,000] was assigned to upgrade digital signage across the entire campus, allowing us to provide flexible, targeted messaging within the concourse spaces and entrance ways. To coincide with the launch of our new brand, we unveiled two new mobile-optimised and responsive websites.”

Wi-Fi is top of the SSE Arena Wembley’s list, reports Drury: “We’ll be putting Wi-Fi into the auditorium this year, and will also be pushing ahead with our new venue app, which will give customers an easier way to access information, pick up special offers and win competitions; and will give artists another platform with which to interact with their fans.”

Dunstan says that as well as a major backstage extension to the Genting Arena, the venue has gone cashless across its food and beverage concessions.

“We were the first UK arena to do this, reducing cash transactions on F&B from 70% to just 20%,” he says.

“At Arena Birmingham, we’re also enhancing our Wi-Fi coverage, making this far stronger across the venue.

“Another technological advancement we will introduce in 2018 is an event management solution, Event Connect, that will make our sales and event management teams work smarter, and improve the way our promoters and clients interact with us when planning events at the arenas.”

At the Royal Albert Hall, investment is being

REGIONAL PROFILES

Average Number of Staff (Excl. No Answer): FULL-TIME STAFF

91

PART-TIME STAFF

184

VIP OVERVIEW

n Number of VIP Boxes (%) n Number of VIP / Premium Lounges (%)

VOLUNTEERS 12

2017 VS 2018 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

n No Change n More Popular

23%

22 16 None

77%

5

79

1–9

16 0

37 0

10–19

20–29

made in the venue’s website to reduce waiting times and improve the online experience for everyone, explains Noble. “This recently involved a relaunch of our select-your-own-seat tool, and will continue throughout 2018 with enhancements to our site, from making restaurant bookings easier, to streamlining the path for booking tours.

“We’ve also rolled out Wi-Fi in all front of house areas, and are introducing e-tickets to give more options to customers and use less paper. We see someone’s experience of the hall as one that extends beyond their visit, and we look to continually improve our digital communications with as many visitors as possible.”

Providing arena-wide public Wi-Fi is on the list for FlyDSA Arena’s Waldron, who says it’s expecting to go live soon: “We are also looking at innovative food and drink solutions, which I believe will bring about a big growth in earnings and improvements in quality of service over the next couple of years,” he adds.

Opportunities

Growing niches is an opportunity for growth, Wembley’s Drury has identified. “There seems to be a growing number (in London, particularly) of what used to be seen here as niche or cultural music types, but are now becoming more mainstream and much bigger in production values and audience size,” he says. “So last year, for example, we had two huge shows with Jay Chou, and could easily have played three, and the broad Latino genre took more of a hold, as we hosted dates for Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam. Outside of music, we’re seeing more eSports events.”

At the other end of the country, in Glasgow, McWilliams says that comedy, live music and family events are all experiencing growth, as is country music. She reports more indoor sporting events.

FlyDSA’s Waldron says: “Over the past 12 months, music has been very strong. For the coming six months, family product is stronger, with Dancing on Ice, Fast & Furious Live, Walking with Dinosaurs, Paw Patrol, and Cirque de Soleil.”

Family shows is also a growth sector in Belfast, says Walker, who cites Marvel Universe Live!, Cirque du Soleil, and Fast & Furious Live as examples of

62

5

0

30–39

5

0

40–49

5

0

50+

5

5

No Answer

successes. He says sporting events such as mixed martial arts, wrestling, and boxing are also strong.

“There’s a willingness to explore smaller-format set-ups such as half-hall and our theatre-style format. On the venue’s part this reduces the reliance on full-hall concerts, and for the promoter it can help manage their risk,” he says.

Dunstan says: “HelloWorld was hosted at the

UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

Genting Arena in the autumn, with high attendance figures across the two days. The YouTube ‘live’ market is definitely an area of growth, and will undoubtedly be a strong genre in the future.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that another emerging genre is eSports. We’ve recently secured the international gaming event ESL One Dota 2 Major – the first Dota 2 Major and ESL One to be held in the UK.” He also cites the success of Slam Dunk Festival at the arena as a growth opportunity. “We’ve essentially used a festival model in an arena space, which had always been a vision of mine. With this event, we’ve demonstrated our ability to combine halls and outdoor space to create a unique environment for a festival.

We’re currently in talks with other festival organisers.”

Film with live orchestra is strong for the Royal Albert Hall, Noble says. “We’re continuing with our hugely successful films with live orchestra strand, which has expanded this year to some incredible titles – including Star Trek, Star Wars and The English Patient.

“We’re also continuing to present themed festivals across the year, allowing us to group events

Located opposite the city's famous beachfront, Brighton Centre mixes its conference and exhibition space with live entertainment events

and activate the entire building, using many smaller spaces around the Hall for performances. Festivals have really allowed us to offer visitors more – from pre-show talks, to late-night performances in the Elgar Room.”

Alexandra Palace has also launched its own festival, Kaleidoscope, which will use a 15,000-capacity space on the parkland in front of the venue, which has the London skyline as a backdrop, plus the venue’s main room and its basement. The line-up includes The Flaming Lips, Ghostpoet, Mystery Jets, The 2 Bears, plus theatre, comedy, circus performances and spoken word.

“With the combination of the outdoor space – with its incredible view over London, plus the indoor aspect, it’ll be one of the most unique festivals in the UK,” says Fell.

When the venue’s new space, a restored Victorian theatre, opens in late 2018, it will be a 1,500-capacity standing venue. “We’ve had a good response from promoters so far,” reports Fell. “We’ve already got comedy and music shows booked in.”

The O2’s Langford says that, compared to last

when you want to play play at the Brighton Centre

always at the centre of Brighton to discuss dates t: +44(0)1273 292667 e: rebecca.esteves@brighton-hove.gov.uk www:brightoncentre.co.uk

REGIONAL PROFILES

year, 2018 is a quieter year in terms of music concerts, although he describes it as “not an unexpected cyclical trend, with next year already showing early signs of delivering strong content.”

Echo Arena Liverpool’s Wilson agrees there were fewer tours in 2017, adding: “There seems to be fewer arena tours this year compared to last year. Live film screenings with accompanying orchestras are proving popular.

“Meanwhile, we are experiencing growth in commercial boxing, especially since developing The

SSE Arena Belfast punches well above its weight when it comes to attracting international A-list artists

64

Auditorium at Echo Arena Liverpool – a 1,350-seater venue in our adjoining convention centre. Combat sports in general are more popular. Cage Warriors returned to the venue about 18 months ago and has gone from strength to strength.

“Comedy remains strong and The Auditorium is the perfect size for talent emerging from smaller clubs before then progressing into half the arena and then the full arena. Paul Smith has progressed from playing the Hot Water Comedy Club in the city to selling out eight Auditorium shows and is now

UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

playing to a full Arena in November this year.”

3Arena’s Rennick also says comedy is playing a strong role in 2018, with 13 shows confirmed to date. “We will also be doing our first eSports show here this year, and we are hopeful that [arena festival] Bluesfest will grow to four days. Live music, however, still dominates, with four nights of U2, three nights of The Script, and two each by Roger Waters and Bryan Adams.”

Outside of new content formats, Dunstan points to growth of merchandise as worth noting.

“The NEC Group Arenas has seen a spectacular increase in sales over the last 12 months. This is a result of the quality on offer from productions, but also the way we’ve improved access to merchandise.

Outdoor units are now positioned around both arenas, plus the traditional kiosks inside, which have been far more efficient in reducing queue times and improving financial results.”

Challenges

Considering the strength of the market, it’s unsurprising that there are few major business worries for arenas here. The biggest concerns for the

market are the state of the economy, artist fees, and competition – something Waldron at FlyDSA in Sheffield notes: “There is increasing competition in the music marketplace, not just from other arenas but also from increasing numbers of outdoor shows. It is important that the venue is able to accommodate a whole range of events from different areas, with different capacities and configurations. Our flexibility allows us to host all manner of shows, from 3,500 up to 13,000. We are also revamping our backstage areas, and investigating ways to expand the business and develop the venue in the next few years.”

Drury says Wembley’s challenge is the same for all venues – having to fill as many days as you can. “We’re lucky to be in the heart of the busiest market in Europe, which gives us a wide range of events. To keep the diary as busy as possible, for us, will always take a lot of flexibility, understanding of promoter/hirer needs, and a willingness to vary deals as needed.”

Noble echoes this, saying her challenge is balancing an event schedule of over 1,000 shows with the effective maintenance of the Grade I listed building. “We give up performances to have two

Northern Ireland’s home of live entertainment - 10,800 capacity - Flexible layouts from 1,500 - City centre location For information and bookings Sharon McCrea sharon.mccrea@ssearenabelfast.com ssearenabelfast.com

Untitled-2 1

27/04/2017 14:30

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90 MINS LEEDS

รท

MANCHESTER LIVERPOOL

NOTTINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM

60 MINS 30 MINS

CARDIFF BRISTOL

LONDON

120 MINS

28 Million People

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730 Dates in the DIARY

BIRMINGHAM - THE POWER OF TWO -

PART OF A BIGGER FAMILY

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essential maintenance weeks each year, and we’re currently undergoing substantial wider building works, from cleaning and restoration to total transformation.

“We’re digging a double-height basement that’ll allow us to free-up space within the building, housing a new multipurpose space and improving the experience here for artists, visitors, and partners.”

The most significant challenge on everyone’s minds is security, as McWilliams says: “The safety of the public and clients at events on our campus is paramount. We continue to liaise with the appropriate authorities and have enhanced security measures accordingly.”

Dunstan says: “The key thing for me is the balance between reassurance, safety and customer service. We have put additional measures in place, and made improvements to building infrastructure over the last 12 months, but equally we always need to ensure that customers feel they are coming to an entertainment event rather than going through airport security.”

“The venue and the industry in general need to find the balance between providing reassurance to customers that we are addressing the security issues around live events whilst also remaining focussed on the customer’s experience and expectations,” says Walker. “This is an area where the strength of the venue network can really be seen, in sharing best practice and providing a forum for informed discussion.”

Langford says struggles faced by smaller venues are a worry for the pipeline of talent coming through to arenas. “We’re always worried about the growth in future headline content (festival, stadium and arenas) and where it’s going to come from. And so, as a wider industry, we need to protect our grassroots venues and ensure that there is a healthy pipeline, and opportunity for artists and fans to enjoy live music.”

Echo Arena Liverpool’s Wilson says: “Rising costs and static income are our challenges. Rentals are not rising in line with costs, therefore arenas have to look at creative ways to maximise spend, such as improving catering offer and maximising merch sales.”

Brexit is a specific concern for Rennick in Dublin, who says: “Anything that makes transport of equipment between Ireland and Britain more time-consuming or costly will put pressure on touring schedules. We are all hopeful here that in the final outcome this will be avoided.”

And over the border in Belfast, Walker says: “Competition from the ever-growing festival/outdoor market is something we keep an eye on. We work hard to develop our flexibility in terms of format/ capacity, and to broaden the range of events that we can bring to the venue.

“The wider challenge of managing everincreasing costs means that we constantly review how we do things and also have to be fully aware of the long-term need to continue to invest in facilities

“... we always need to ensure that customers feel they are coming to an entertainment event rather than going through airport security.”

Guy Dunstan, NEC Group

if we are to meet the expectations of our customers.

“Ticket pricing remains a challenge, and as far as possible, we aim to use our knowledge of the local market to inform pricing strategies.”

VIP market

The O2’s Langford sums up the VIP market today well: “The range of hospitality options available to consumers is so much more than it was ten years ago – and their expectations are so much higher. If you consider what other industries are doing, it’s clear that the live music industry needs to continually adapt and respond to consumer needs.”

Waldron says is he seeing a bigger take-up of annual leases on hospitality suites, as the arena shifts focus from event-by-event suite hospitality to building long-term partnerships.

NEC Group’s Dunstan says: “The hospitality sector has become big business for the NEC Group’s arenas.

As we’ve improved facilities at both venues and grown their capacities, demand for hospitality has gone from strength to strength.

“We now need to keep pushing the boundaries of what we deliver, and add more ‘exclusive’ benefits for our customers.”

McWilliams says: “There is greater interest in our VIP products as people become more inclined to buy experience over tangible things.”

In Dublin, the hospitality business at the 3Arena is stronger than ever, reports Rennick. “There seems to be a cohort of people who are prepared to pay top dollar to see a show and have all the extras around it.”

And in Belfast, Walker says: “We are seeing a growing market for customers prepared to pay that little bit more to share in an enhanced hospitality experience, but we are careful not to oversell. For many of our customers, a night out at one of our events remains a reasonably rare occurrence in which they are prepared to invest in the expectation that they will get value for their extra spend.”

Wilson says that in Liverpool venues are constantly looking at ways to improve their offers, particularly in the light of fierce competition due to the number of venues in the UK and close to the city.

“We recently opened The Liverpool Collection Lounge, a mezzanine floor inside the arena concourse that has been transformed into a stunning hospitality space with spectacular views across the waterfront.

This has enhanced our range of hospitality offers, particularly for visitors who wish to treat themselves.”

67

DIRECTORY

European Arena

DIRECTORY AUSTRIA

GRAZ

Stadthalle Graz (cap. 11,000) BOOKING: Christof Strimitzer christof.strimitzer@mcg.at +43 (0) 316 8088 219 mcg.at

VIENNA

Wiener Stadthalle (cap. 16,000) BOOKING: Markus Pubek m.pubek@stadthalle.com +43 (0) 1 9810 0563 stadthalle.com AZERBAIJAN

BAKU

Baku Crystal Hall (cap. 18,000) BOOKING: Rashad Akhundov rashad@crystalhall.az +99 (0) 455 434 4335 crystalhall.az BELGIUM

ANTWERP

Antwerps Sportpaleis (cap. 22,791 ) BOOKING: Jan Van Esbroeck jan.vanesbroeck@sportpaleisgroup.be +32 (0) 3 400 6000 sportpaleis.be Lotto Arena (cap. 8,050) BOOKING: Jan Van Esbroeck jan.vanesbroeck@sportpaleisgroup.be +32 (0) 3 400 6000 lotto-arena.be

BRUSSELS

Forest National (cap. 8,388) BOOKING: Jan Van Esbroeck jan.vanesbroeck@sportpaleisgroup.be +32 (0) 3 400 6000 forest-national.be

68

Palais 12 (cap. 15,000) BOOKING: Julie Van De Voorde j.vandevoorde@brussels-expo.com +32 (0) 2 658 4729 palais12.com

HASSELT

Ethias Arena (cap. 17,500) BOOKING: Jan Van Esbroeck jan.vanesbroeck@sportpaleisgroup.be +32 (0) 3 400 6000 ethias-arena.be CROATIA

ZAGREB

Arena Zagreb (cap. 18,600) BOOKING: Sretan Šarić zagrebarena@zagrebarena.hr +385 1 6420 900 zagrebarena.hr CZECH REPUBLIC

PRAGUE

O2 Arena (cap. 18,500) BOOKING: Stanislava Doubravová booking@bestsport.cz +42 (0) 266 771 982 o2arena.cz

OSTRAVA

Ostravar Aréna (cap. 12,500) BOOKING: Jan Kostecky kostecky@arena-vitkovice.cz +42 (0) 596 707 303 arena-vitkovice.cz DENMARK

COPENHAGEN

Royal Arena (cap. 16,000) BOOKING: Dan Hammer dh@royalarena.dk +45 5357 8045 royalarena.dk

ESTONIA

TALLINN

Saku Suurhall (cap. 9,150) BOOKING: Siim Ammon siim@sakuarena.com +372 56 888 656 sakusuurhall.ee FINLAND

ESPOO

Espoo Metro Areena (cap. 8,000) BOOKING: Katariina Järveläinen katariina@metroareena.fi +358 (0) 40 596 1455 metroareena.fi

HELSINKI

Hartwall Arena (cap. 15,500) BOOKING: Kimmo Kivisilta kimmo.kivisilta@hartwallarena.fi +358 (0) 40 070 1111 hartwallarena.fi

TURKU

Gatorade Center (cap. 11,820) BOOKING: Toni Autio toni.autio@turku-areenat.fi +358 (0) 40 086 6440 turku-areenat.fi FRANCE

LYON

Halle Tony Garnier (cap. 17,000) BOOKING: Charlène Piot c.piot@htg.fr +33 (0)4 72 76 85 85 halle-tony-garnier.fr

PARIS

AccorHotels Arena (cap.

18,910) BOOKING: Arnaud Millard amillard@accorhotelsarena.com +33 (0)1 58 70 16 59 accorhotelsarena.com

Le Zénith (cap. 6,000) BOOKING: Marine Leparry info@le-zenith.com +33 (0)1 4452 5456 le-zenith.com U Arena (cap. 40,000) BOOKING: Raphaëlle Plasse r.plasse@lililo.fr +33 (0)6 71 82 19 54 uarena.com GERMANY

BERLIN

Mercedez-Benz Arena (cap. 17,000) BOOKING: Aissata Hartmann-Sylla a.hartmann-sylla@mercedes-benzarena-berlin.de +49 (0)30 20 60 70 80 mercedes-benz-arena-berlin.de

COLOGNE

Lanxess Arena (cap. 18,500) BOOKING: Sabine Weinand-Schütt sweinand@lanxess-arena.de +49 (0)221 802 2180 lanxess-arena.de

DORTMUND

Westfalenhallen (cap. 15,000) BOOKING: Gabi Staszak gabi.staszak@westfalenhallen.de +49 (0)231 12 04 329 westfalenhallen.de

DÜSSELDORF

Esprit Arena (cap. 66,500) BOOKING: Annette Röttgen roettgen@espritarena.de +49 (0)211 15 98 12 00 espritarena.de Mitsubishi Electric Halle (cap. 7,500) BOOKING: Tobias Krins krinst@d-cse.de +49 (0)211 89 977 10 mitsubishi-electric-halle.de

DIRECTORY

ISS Dome (cap. 14,000) BOOKING: Manfred Kirschenstein kirschensteinm@d-cse.de +49 (0)211 89 277 00 issdome.de

HAMBURG

Barclaycard Arena (cap. 16,000) BOOKING: Ann-Kristin Schmanns a.schmanns@barclaycard-arena.de +49 (0) 40 88 16 31 38 barclaycard-arena.de

LEIPZIG

Arena Leipzig (cap. 12,300) BOOKING: Iris Rackwitz i.rackwitz@arena-leizig.de +49 (0) 34 1234 1 22 arena-leipzig.de

LUDWIGSBURG

MHP Arena (cap. 12,300) BOOKING: Jochen Habermaier j.habermaier@ludwigsburg.de +49 (0)7141 910 3966 mhparena.ludwigsburg.de

MANNHEIM

SAP Arena (cap. 14,500) BOOKING: Melaie Gremm m.gremm@saparena.de +49 (0) 621 1819 0204 saparena.de

MUNICH

Olympiapark (cap. 15,500) BOOKING: Peter Gremm haeberle@olympiapark.de +49 (0)89 30 67 22 07 olympiapark.de

OBERHAUSEN

König-Pilsener-Arena (cap. 12,700) BOOKING: Stefan Bergermann bergermann@smg-deutschland.de +49 (0) 20 8820 0251 koenig-pilsener-arena.de

STUTTGART

Hanns-Martin-SchleyerHalle (cap. 15,500) BOOKING: Annette Breitmayer annette.breitmayer@in.stuttgart.de +49 (0)71 19 55 44 50 hallenduo.de/de/home/schleyerhalle/

Porsche-Arena (cap. 7,500) BOOKING: Annette Breitmayer annette.breitmayer@in.stuttgart.de +49 (0)71 19 55 44 50 hallenduo.de/de/home/porschearena/ HUNGARY

BUDAPEST

LATVIA

ROTTERDAM

RIGA

Ahoy Arena (cap. 15,062) BOOKING: Jurgen Hoekstra j.hoekstra@ahoy.nl +31 (0)10 2933224 ahoy.nl

LITHUANIA

OSLO

Arēna Rīga (cap. 11,500) BOOKING: Ģirts Krastiņš girts.krastins@arenariga.com +371 67 388 200 arenariga.com

NORWAY

Papp László Sportaréna (cap. 12,500) BOOKING: Tibor Lak lak.tibor@budapestarena.hu +36 (06) 1 422 2605 budapestarena.hu

KAUNAS

Telenor Arena (cap. 25,000) BOOKING: Marcia Titley marcia.titley@telenorarena.no +47 901 78 722 telenorarena.no

IRELAND

ŠIAULIU

GDAŃSK

Šiaulių Arena (cap. 9,000) BOOKING: Gintaras Radavicius ofisas@siauliuarena.lt +370 686 51025 siauliuarena.lt

Ergo Arena (cap. 14,000) BOOKING: Kamil Kukulka kamil.kukulka@ergoarena.pl +48 50 90 78 968 ergoarena.pl

VILNIUS

KATOWICE

Siemens Arena (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Eglė Gudauskienė egle@siemensarena.lt +370 6874 5547 siemens-arena.com

Spodek Arena (cap. 11,000) BOOKING: Karolina Jarosz karolina.jarosz@mckspodek.pl +48 780 105 957 spodekkatowice.pl

LUXEMBOURG

KRAKÓW

DUBLIN

3Arena (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Cormac Rennick cormac.rennick@3arena.ie +353 (0) 1 819 8888 3arena.ie ITALY

FLORENCE

Nelson Mandela Forum (cap. 8,200) BOOKING: Giuseppe Malgeri malgeri@mandelaforum.it +39 055 678841 mandelaforum.it

MILAN

Mediolanum Forum (cap. 12,700) BOOKING: Mauro Gocilli mediolanumforum@forumnet.it +39 02 48857 215 mediolanumforum.it

ROME

PalaLottomatica (cap. 10,500) BOOKING: Sandro Cinquina palalottomatica@forumnet.it +39 06 54090 1 palalottomatica.it

TURIN

Pala Alpitour (cap. 13,347) BOOKING: Federica Valle f.valle@parcolimpico.it +39 334 118 2729 palaalpitour.it

Žalgirio Arena (cap. 14,600) BOOKING: Justinas Budnikas j.budnikas@zalgirioarena.lt +370 61 598 636 zalgirioarena.lt

POLAND

ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE

Tauron Arena (cap. 20,000) BOOKING: Konrad Koziol konrad.koziol@tauronarenakrakow.pl +48 888 808 008 tauronarenakrakow.pl

MALTA

LISBON

Rockhal (cap. 6,500) BOOKING: Thomas Roscheck thomas.roscheck@rockhal.lu +352 24 555 1 rockhal.lu

TA’ QALI

Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Anita Misfud anita.mifsud@mfcc.com.mt +356 9904 1037 mfcc.com.mt THE NETHERLANDS

AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam ArenA (cap. 68,000) BOOKING: Henk Markerink info@amsterdamarena.nl +31 (0) 20 311 1333 amsterdamarena.nl Ziggo Dome (cap. 68,000) BOOKING: Alfred Jitta sales@ziggodome.nl +31 (0) 20 312 5656 ziggodome.nl

PORTUGAL Altice Arena (cap. 20,000) BOOKING: João Amorim jamorim@aarena.pt +351 21 891 84 09 arena.altice.pt SERBIA

BELGRADE

Stark Arena (cap. 20,000) BOOKING: Đorđe Milutinović djordje.milutinovic@ arenabeograd.com +381 (0) 11 220 22 22 starkarena.co.rs SPAIN

BARCELONA

Palau Sant Jordi (cap. 17,960) BOOKING: Teresa Sala tsala@bsmsa.cat +34 93 426 20 89 palausantjordi.cat

69

DIRECTORY

MADRID

ZÜRICH

Palacio Vistalegre (cap. 11,500) BOOKING: Mónica Pérez-Tomé monica@palaciovistalegre.com + 34 91 5639 493 palaciovistalegre.com

TURKEY

New Cover Arena (cap. 10,500) BOOKING: Isidro Savilla isidro@grupofriends.com + 34 675 668 546 la-cubierta.com

WiZink Center (cap. 15,500) BOOKING: Maria Vidal comunicacion@wizinkcenter.es + 34 91 44 49 9 67 wizinkcenter.es SWEDEN

GOTHENBURG

Scandinavium (cap. 12,000) BOOKING: Charlotta Jacobsson charlotta.jacobsson@gotevent.se +46 (0)31 368 44 09 gotevent.se/arenor/scandinavium

LINKÖPING

Saab Arena (cap. 11,500) BOOKING: Emma Tordahl emma.tordahl@visitlinkoping.se +46 (0) 76 52 56 140 saabarena.com

MALMÖ

Malmö Arena (cap. 15,500) BOOKING: Jessica Kronborg jessica.kronborg@malmoarena.com +46 (0)40 642 04 06 malmoarena.com

STOCKHOLM

Ericsson Globe Arena (cap.

16,000) BOOKING: Jenny Blomqvist jenny.blomqvist@stockholmlive.com +46 (0)8 600 93 35 stockholmlive.com SWITZERLAND

BASEL

St. Jakobshalle (cap. 9,000) BOOKING: Thomas Kastl thomas.kastl@bs.ch +41 (0) 61 317 82 22 stjakobshalle.ch

70

Hallenstadion (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Yolanda Humbel booking@hallenstadion.ch +41 (0) 44 316 77 09 hallenstadion.ch

ISTANBUL

Volkswagen Arena (cap. 6,800) BOOKING: Cem Şencan cem.sencan@vwarena.com +90 (0)212 334 0100 vwarena.com UNITED KINGDOM

ABERDEEN

GE Oil & Gas Arena (cap. 8,500) BOOKING: Louise Stewart lstewart@aecc.co.uk +44 (0)1224 330401 aecc.co.uk

BELFAST

The SSE Arena Belfast (cap. 10,800) BOOKING: Sharon McCrea sharon.mccrea@ssearenabelfast.com +44 (0)2890 766012 ssearenabelfast.com

BIRMINGHAM

Arena Birmingham (cap. 15, 892) BOOKING: Ian Congdon ian.congdon@necgroup.co.uk +44 (0)121 767 2560 arenabham.co.uk Genting Arena (cap. 15,600) BOOKING: Ian Congdon ian.congdon@necgroup.co.uk +44 (0) 121 767 2560 gentingarena.co.uk

BOURNEMOUTH

Bournemouth International Centre (cap. 6,200) BOOKING: Clare Tomkins entertainments@bhlive.org.uk +44 (0)1202 055 621 bic.co.uk

BRIGHTON

Brighton Centre (cap. 5,100) BOOKING: Rebecca Esteves rebecca.esteves@brighton-hove.gov.uk +44 (0)1273 292 667 brightoncentre.co.uk

CARDIFF

Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (cap. 7,500) BOOKING: Dan Roberts dan.roberts@livenation.co.uk +44 (0)2920 234 500 motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk

COVENTRY

Ricoh Arena (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Justine Hewitt justine.hewitt@ricoharena.com +44 (0)844 873 6568 ricoharena.com

DERBY

Derby Arena (cap. 5,000) BOOKING: Helen Redford-Sears helen.redford-sears@derby.gov.uk +44 (0)1332 640 015 derbyarena.co.uk

GLASGOW

The SSE Hydro (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Debbie McWilliams debbie.mcwilliams@sec.co.uk +44 (0)141 248 3000 thessehydro.com

LEEDS

First Direct Arena (cap. 13,500) BOOKING: Sarah Hodson sarah.hodson@smg-europe.com +44 (0)161 950 5000 firstdirectarena.com

LIVERPOOL

Echo Arena (cap. 11,200) BOOKING: Kay Wilson kay.wilson@accliverpool.com +44 (0)151 707 4780 echoarena.com

LONDON

Alexandra Palace (cap. 10,400) BOOKING: Lucy Fenner lucy.fenner@alexandrapalace.com +44 (0)20 8365 4199 alexandrapalace.com Olympia London (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Nick Graham nick.graham@olympia.london +44 (0)20 7598 2484 olympia.london Royal Albert Hall (cap. 5,700) BOOKING: David Gamble dgamble@royalalberthall.com +44 (0)20 7589 3203 royalalberthall.com

The O2 (cap. 20,000) BOOKING: Emma Bownes emma.bownes@theo2.co.uk +44 (0)20 8463 2146 theo2.co.uk The SSE Arena Wembley (cap. 12,500) BOOKING: James Harrison james.harrison@ssearena.co.uk +44 (0)20 8782 5631 ssearena.co.uk

MANCHESTER

Manchester Arena (cap. 21,000) BOOKING: Sarah Hodson sarah.hodson@smg-europe.com +44 (0)161 950 5000 manchester-arena.com

NEWCASTLE

Metro Radio Arena (cap. 11,000) BOOKING: Sarah Hodson sarah.hodson@smg-europe.com +44 (0)161 950 5000 metroradioarena.co.uk

NOTTINGHAM

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham (cap. 10,833) BOOKING: Sharon Lordan sharon.lordan@ motorpointarenanottingham.com +44 (0)115 853 3011 motorpointarenanottingham.com

SHEFFIELD

FlyDSA Arena (cap. 13,600) BOOKING: Joe Waldron joe.waldron@flydsaarena.co.uk +44 (0)114 256 5509 flydsaarena.co.uk

RE-OPENING 2018 ...WE CAN HARDLY WAIT! Looking forward to Switzerland’s largest, most versatile and innovative event hall.

Ask us if you are planning an event: Switzerland +41 61 317 82 22 info@stjakobshalle.ch www.stjakobshalle.ch

======= Please don’t stop ==================================== ======= the music ===================================================

www.stadthalle.com Hall E | E-Box

Maximum capacity: 2.000 guests 1.379 Auditorium seating 550 Gala seating Total usable area: 1.250 m² Foyer: 537 m² Use: conferences, club-events and much more

© Bildagentur Zolles

Hall D Maximum capacity: 16.083 guests Total space/floor area: 10.000 m² multifunctional Use: concerts, b2b-events, sports events and much more © Conny de Beauclair

Hall F

Maximum capacity: 2.000 guests 750-seat layout for smaller events Studio 1: 420 Standing Studio 2: 420 Standing Total usable area: 5.081 m² Use: shows, general meetings and much more

© Thorsten Munk

/StadthalleWien /WienerStadthalle /WienerStadthalle /wiener_stadthalle

Event-Management Phone: +43 1 981 00 - 563 E-Mail: event@stadthalle.com