European Arena Yearbook 2017

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE EUROPEAN ARENA MARKET Exclusive Data & Analysis of Every European Market SPECIAL FOCUS Arena Security Tech Tools & Innovation New Venue Profiles 2017 Arena Directory

AN ILMC PUBLICATION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

CONTENTS

Dear Reader The inaugural European Arena Yearbook (EAY) has been a labour of love for the past few months. It replaces IQ Magazine’s annual European Arena Report, which would have marked its ninth year in 2017. We hope that you enjoy this more comprehensive study of the European live entertainment industry across its various regions.

In addition to two standalone features highlighting developments in new technology and security, the EAY comprises an overview of the entire European business, to which 69 arenas around the continent contributed. However, to make the stats and results more relevant to venue management, we have split Europe into six regional zones: Central & Eastern; France & Benelux; GSA; the Nordics; Southern; and the UK & Ireland, so that building management and associated partners can best gauge individual performance and, perhaps, identify areas for potential growth.

The headlines across this first EAY are that our reporting arenas brought in more than €1.4billion in revenues in 2016, entertaining more than 32 million people in the process, across more than 5,500 performances – underlining the fact that the European arena sector is a multibillion-Euro concern, employing thousands of people and having favourable economic impact on towns and cities from Aberdeen to Zagreb.

Thanks to the team at Live Data Agency – in particular Chris Carey and Claire Buckle – for the diligent way they processed the masses of data submitted by EAA and NAA association members, as well as from venues that are not affiliated to those organisations. And thanks also to Nancy Skipper and the management of both the EAA and NAA who have collaborated so graciously to produce this debut EAY publication.

Should your venue wish to participate in the 2018 edition of the EAY, then please contact me via gordon@iq-mag.net.

Gordon Masson Editor

CONTENTS Welcome

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Features Spotlight on Security New Technology

6 12

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

18 24 32 38 46 52 58

Venue directory

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European Arena Yearbook 2017 Unit 31 Tileyard Road King’s Cross London N7 9AH Publisher ILMC Editor Gordon Masson (gordon@iq-mag.net) Analysis Live Data Agency (chris@livedata.agency) (claire@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 Jon Chapple, Anne-Marie Harwood, Nancy Skipper, Richard Smirke

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WELCOME Welcome to the European Arena Yearbook from the National Arenas Association.

The National Arenas Association (NAA) is an informal trade organisation, existing primarily to promote best practice in the operation of the 22 indoor arenas with capacities over 5,000 throughout the UK and Ireland. This objective is achieved in a number of ways: n The delivery of world-class training to arena staff by academic and operational experts across a range of relevant subjects from crowd dynamics to security. n Regular meetings of operational staff in forums covering event management, safety, facilities and sales & marketing. n Production of the A Guide – a document setting out consistent guidance and requirements for companies and organisations working in arenas. n Consultation with industry and consumer groups. n Regular communication and networking (including visiting one another’s venues) to share experiences and to better understand the challenges that can arise in our industry, in order to learn from one another.

Working alongside industry sector organisations in the UK Live Music Group and in other forums, the NAA has a seat at the table in discussions with government and policy makers on issues in the live entertainment industry that are fundamental to our, and our customers’ interests; acting as an important voice for 4

the approximately 12 million customers a year that pass through our venues’ doors.

After the horrific events in Manchester and Paris, the NAA’s work with security experts, advisors and police forces is particularly relevant and an exemplar of the essential need for venues to work together for the benefit of everyone in the industry. It also demonstrates that national boundaries should not preclude venues from learning from one another’s experiences, and as such, the NAA and EAA have started to have more crossover discussions and events.

Martin Ingham

Chairman, National Arenas Association

WELCOME

“The 2016 analysis proves that the arenas business is stronger today than ever, with more than 17 million people attending events at EAA’s 31 reporting venues” Brian Kabatznick, President, EAA

On behalf of the European Arenas Association (EAA) and its 36 members in 22 countries, we are proud to contribute our knowledge and expertise to this inaugural edition of the European Arena Yearbook.

As evidenced by the year-on-year information found throughout this publication, the business of European arenas continues to grow both in terms of new and modernised sport and entertainment venues, and in the consistent and expanding events business.

In addition to the main staples of sport, music and family events, we have noticed an increase in new event programming such as YouTube stars and e-sport.

The 2016 analysis proves that the arenas business is stronger today than ever, with more than 17 million people attending events at EAA’s 31 reporting venues. This represents a majority of performances for music (39%), sport (36%), and family (17%). The top music attractions in 2016 were Adele, Muse and Justin Bieber.

After reviewing the Q1 ticket sales results and full-year bookings for 2017, it appears this will be a very strong year for European arenas.

2017 has been another exciting year for the EAA. We have meetings scheduled in Paris, at the newly renovated AccorHotels Arena in May; and in Zürich at the Hallenstadion in October. We continue to discuss and analyse efficiencies in venue security; operations; digital and social marketing; and revenue enhancements. Additionally,

and following 2016’s successful visit to the three major New York City area arenas, in 2018 we plan to visit major arenas in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The EAA, along with other arena associations, event producers and security professionals, continue to work together to identify important security procedures and policies to provide a safe environment for our venue guests and tenants.

We thank the ILMC and IQ Magazine for their support of the arena industry. The EAA is very pleased to have contributed to the Venue Summit sessions at ILMC 29, and to this very first edition of the European Arena Yearbook.

Brian Kabatznick

President, European Arenas Association

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With terrorists now deliberately targetting live entertainment venues and events, Richard Smirke talks to some of Europe’s top security experts to hear how the industry is dealing with the increased threats.

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M

usic arenas have long been prepared for the possibility of a terrorist attack, but it was the tragic events of 22 May, when British-born Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb outside the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena following an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people, many of them children, and injuring over 200 more, that confirmed the worst fears about the stark realities now facing venue owners and operators.

“It happened in Manchester, but we all consider ourselves equally at risk,” says Neil Walker, general manager of The SSE Arena, Belfast. “Security and the health and safety of everyone who comes to our building has always been the number one priority in everything we do, from making sure a production is rolled in safely, to making sure the public are well looked after when they’re here,” he adds, “but it’s been elevated to an even higher focus now.”

“What happened in Manchester brought it brutally home to everyone in the industry that this can happen anywhere,” agrees Reg Walker, director of Iridium Consultancy, which works with a number of UK venues and festivals on security matters.

He says that the attack reinforced the need for a “seamless security operation and security in-depth” both inside and outside concert arenas, extending to transport hubs servicing venues. “We can’t be complacent over this,” he warns. “The problem with a Manchester-style atrocity is that you see adequate

SECURITY | FEATURE

resourcing in the immediate aftermath, but then what happens is the bean counters kick-in and start applying pressure to curtail costs. That is something that must be resisted by venue operators at this time.”

Upping the anti

Thankfully, the general consensus throughout the industry is in favour of enhanced safety provisions, with the majority of European arenas already at a heightened level of security following 2015’s Bataclan and Paris terror attacks. “For 18 months now, everyone who wants to enter the arena is checked twice: first time outside the arena with a preliminary security screening, and a second time at each entrance of the building with a full body search,” explains Julien Collette, general manager of AccorHotels Arena in Paris.

Other protocols introduced at AccorHotels Arena since 2015 include permanent guarding of the venue and its surroundings by specialised firms, and security screening of all external personnel (production teams and service providers) with bag checks and body searches by qualified agents. In addition, on show days, rue de Bercy, opposite the venue’s main entrance, is closed to road traffic, while armed police and dog

handlers regularly patrol the perimeter.

Exact details vary, but the story is the same at many venues throughout Europe, where strict security procedures have fast become the norm.

“What we have sometimes been criticised for in the past has now become our advantage,” says Stanislava Doubravová, head of sales and events at Prague’s O2 Arena, which has had airport-style X-ray baggage scanners and security gates since opening in 2004. Those measures “are now highly appreciated by event promoters,” she says.

“In the last few years, we’ve invested a lot of money and time in our security and safety measures,” agrees Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg’s general manager, Steve Schwenkglenks. He points to the installation of walk-through metal detectors, coupled with physical pat-downs of audience members, as just one aspect of the venue’s upgraded security detail. “At first, we were a little worried about the public reaction to these stringent measures,” he says. “Now it’s not even a discussion.”

At London’s The O2, permanent search arches were installed at the main entrances late last year, while anyone revisiting the venue over the past ten months will have noticed a “very much enhanced

Surveillance, around the clock, is becoming standard practice for venue security staff

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FEATURE | SECURITY

security posture,” says the venue’s head of security Richard Latham, who was brought in to strengthen the venue’s already considerable operations in 2016, having previously been director of security at the House of Commons (which forms part of the UK’s Houses of Parliament).

“Some of our measures are visible and others are not so obvious,” states Latham, citing an increase in both overt and covert security staff inside and outside the venue, coupled with extra police patrols, including “when appropriate” an armed presence.

The use of search dogs “for varying roles” provides another highly visible deterrent. Following the Manchester bomb attack, The O2 was also one of many European arenas to ban people from bringing rucksacks and large bags inside the venue, with all visitors to the site having to go through airport-style security and baggage scanners before gaining entry to the concourse where they can utilise a bag-drop facility.

“The industry has changed from one where no one got searched at all, to one where it was mostly theatrical deterrent searching, to now – at least at The O2 – proper audited counterterrorism searching,” says Latham. He believes that that response helps elevate the live music industry above many other sectors in tackling the increased threat of terrorism.

Nevertheless, “there’s no such thing as zero risk,” cautions Aline Renet, director of communications at French concert association Prodiss, which represents over 350 promoters, festivals and venues. “The goal is simply to lower the risk of an attack or incident as much as possible by better managing events and having bettertrained and resourced security teams.”

In France, that’s been achieved by close collaboration with the government and a €7million emergency fund for live entertainment set-up in the wake of the Bataclan attack, to help venues and festivals cope with additional security costs.

An extensive eight-month audit of all cultural and entertainment venues’ security needs also led to strengthened operations across the board, including tighter access control, more effective crowd management, and improved safeguarding of audiences, performers and staff.

Armed police were visibly present at The O2 arena in London in the aftermath of the May 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack

Securing the perimeters

Lessons can be learned throughout the industry, believes Reg Walker, who says that the Manchester bomb attack exposed the need for strong security beyond entry and exit points. “Clearly that isn’t enough,” he states. “We can’t just say our responsibility ends at the doors. We really need to start looking at mapping out the footfall and the vehicle-fall at arenas and stadia, and we need to adequately resource overt and covert security outside the venues. Frequently, we see badly or unmanaged queues on the exterior of a venue. Fan safety should be at the heart of everything we do, and we have

TALKING HEADS Aline Renet Prodiss

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Chris Kemp Mind Over Matter Consultancy

Neil Walker The SSE Arena Belfast

Okan Tombulca eps

SECURITY | FEATURE

a duty of care to give them adequate protection on the exterior of the venue, as well as inside.”

Following the Manchester attack, particular attention needs to be paid to egress, he believes.

“It’s the optimal time to commit an atrocity like this.

Egress tends to be after dark, which lends itself to people blending in. There’re poor lines of sight and low-level lighting in many instances, and you have a densely packed crowd, moving swiftly. Compared to ingress, where you have people moving fairly sedately over an extended period of time.”

Security professional Chris Kemp of Mind Over Matter Consultancy agrees about the need for

Julien Collette AccorHotels Arena

Stanislava Doubravová O2 Arena, Prague

increased security patrolling venues, including, where possible, armed police to create a “ring of steel” outside an arena, while being careful not to create “other areas of weakness where crowds are congregating, as this too can become a target for the terrorist.”

Although extremely costly, such methods were successfully used at the France Euro 2016 tournament and act as a powerful deterrent.

“The kind of terrorist methodologies that we’re experiencing now are focused on areas of weakness.

They will have done surveillance around the venue in advance to find what they feel are the weaknesses to get into the venue and cause as much damage as possible,” says Kemp.

One effective defence is training not just the security staff but the customer-service operatives in identifying behavioural characteristics. “That’s key because once they are trained in that area, they will be able to spot anyone who is displaying unusual behaviour – different from the baseline event – and be able to escalate it,” says Kemp. “Even something as a simple as saying, ‘Are you okay, sir? Can I help you?’ can destabilise somebody doing hostile reconnaissance.”

The benefits of having staff trained in behavioural characteristics extend beyond merely

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Arena management around the world are starting to mimic police tactics by investing in trained sniffer dogs

counterterrorism, elaborates Iridium’s Walker. “Since the Manchester attack, we’ve been deploying covert behavioural detection officers outside a number of UK venues and what we’ve found is that a healthy amount of criminal activity takes place on the exterior of a venue that nobody was [previously] aware of. When you start looking around your venue, criminality tends to operate around the exterior, not so much inside. By ensuring that you have adequate security provisions outside your doors you can deter more conventional criminals from preying on your audience,” he explains.

Safety at all costs

Such methods and extra layers of security do, however, come at a high cost. “If you don’t pay people very high wages to do security and crowd management, how do you expect to get the type of people that you want on those doors, that will spot the types of things you want them to spot?” asks Kemp. Other defence techniques that any venue operator can introduce relatively easily include regularly varying security staff changeover times, installing more CCTV cameras in strategic, highly visible places, and increased use of sniffer dogs.

“Change is a really effective method to deter attacks,” says Kemp. “One of the biggest problems we have is actually thinking outside of the box because for years our methodologies and the way that we’ve run venues has worked fantastically. Now we’ve come up against an attack and we’re going to have to

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“At first, we were a little worried about the public reaction to these stringent measures. Now it’s not even a discussion.”

Steve Schwenkglenks, Barclaycard Arena

change the way that we operate to meet this type of guerrilla warfare.”

At Belfast’s SSE Arena, like many European concert venues, significant changes have already taken place. “We have always been at a heightened level of security in Northern Ireland, compared to other parts of the UK, but we’ve seen a real step up,” says general manager Neil Walker. “A key message that we drill into everybody – staff and customers – is the importance of vigilance. So we are constantly running training and emergency planning exercises and devoting more time than ever to them. Not just on what happens if there’s a fire, and how do we safely get people out of the building. We also now focus on scenarios like a lone-wolf operator, like we saw in Manchester, and we make those exercises as realistic as we possibly can.”

Heightened security procedures also extend to productions loading in and out. “Anybody coming

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onsite has to go through our security. Even if it’s Robbie Williams, the car is getting searched,” says The O2’s Latham. “I went through the search procedure when I came to work this morning. The same as the general manager will. All production staff will. And all production vehicles will. There are no exceptions.”

Similarly strict access control measures are in place at The SSE Arena, explains Walker, stretching from “when the first truck pulls up on the morning of a show, until it disappears down the road.” On occasion, visiting productions have also requested extra pre-show police and counterterrorism searches of the entire site “to give them that extra degree of comfort,” he says.

Hi-tech sec

Technology also has an important role to play, say experts. “Since Manchester, we’ve introduced new technology to help us do our jobs,” says The O2’s Latham. “We have some novel ways of searching the public without them knowing that they are being searched. It’s nothing intrusive, but it does give me another degree of insurance.”

Okan Tombulca, managing director of Germanybased infrastructure specialist eps, reports heavily increased demand for mobile and fixed X-ray equipment from promoters and venue operators in the wake of recent incidents. “Over the past five to ten years, barricades and crowd control systems were the key for safety and crowd management in venues and festival sites,” he says, noting a much higher spend on equipment across the live sector.

“But now there are new security requirements of authorities and we are going to reach the next level of standards.” His company is also developing new types of stronger vehicle barriers, which can be installed outside arenas and music events and help prevent fatal truck attacks like those recently seen throughout Europe.

Other high-tech tools available include CCTV surveillance systems with facial recognition and thermal-imaging capabilities, alongside number plate recognition systems that can be strategically placed outside transport hubs and access roads.

Experts are, however, unanimous that technology is only effective when paired with human expertise and manual searches. Ceramic knives, like those used in May’s London Bridge terror attacks, would not be detected by X-ray style scanners, for instance.

“The human element is vital,” stresses Neil Walker. “You’ve got to train people to keep their eyes and ears open, not just for anything that looks out of the ordinary, but also to ensure that supervisors are keeping an eye on what the searchers are doing.”

Central intelligence

All parties are in agreement that ticket prices are likely to rise to meet increased security costs, but equally, one of the most effective tools in the field

E3S Conference Organisers of the International Live Music Conference are launching The Event Safety & Security Summit (E3S), a one-day meeting in London that will bring together leading international venues; touring and sports industry professionals; and security experts.

E3S is being produced in collaboration with the European Arenas Association and National Arenas Association in the UK, with input from other leading venue organisations and live event security companies.

The invitation-only event will take place 10 October 2017 at the Intercontinental Hotel, adjacent to The O2, with around 200 delegates expected. The E3S agenda will be published in August, while event and contact information will be hosted on the www.e3s.world platform.

of modern day security is one of the cheapest: the sharing of good practice and intelligence between venues, promoters, production staff, police and local authorities.

In the UK, the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) regularly runs free training sessions and seminars under its Project Griffin and Argus terrorism awareness programmes. Counterterrorism security advisers are also on hand to visit venues and review security procedures and recommend improvements, while extra advice, guidance and support is available from the National Arenas Association and European Arenas Association.

“A bit of time and engagement with the authorities, can give you good results, greater protection and, best of all, most of it is free,” says Iridium’s Reg Walker. “Sharing information, particularly from government intelligence agencies, is one of the key points for making this co-operation efficient,” agrees AccorHotels Arena’s Julien Collette.

“The terrorist threat isn’t going to go away quickly. They will always be looking for their next target,” warns Kemp. “But [recent attacks] haven’t had the effect that terrorists thought they would, which is to drive events underground. It actually made them more prominent and made people more resilient.”

“We’re all in this together, and the show must go on, and will go on,” promises Latham. “Do I think that the industry will go back to where it was before the Manchester attack? No. I don’t. I think the threat will continue and people will continue to take enhanced security measures for the foreseeable future. But what’s really important is that customers continue to go out and enjoy themselves. That sends out a really good prevention message, which is, ‘We will not alter our behaviour. We will continue to live our lives and have fun, which is what we were all put on this earth to do.’”

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FEATURE

From beating the queues to tracking Muse’s drones, Jon Chapple takes a look at some of the tech whizzes who are improving the live experience for both venues and fans…

T

he global live music business is in a state of technological flux, with innovations such as virtual and augmented reality, live streaming, blockchain and bots all being touted as potential new drivers for revenue in an increasingly mature industry.

But while the monetisation of live-streamed concerts is, by most estimates, still some way off, a handful of pioneers in the arena space are already delivering concrete results through clever tech to some of the world’s leading entertainment venues.

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Meet the innovators working behind the scenes to make large entertainment venues smarter, more connected and more profitable than ever before…

Digifood

Ever been frustrated while waiting in a queue at a concessions stand? Digifood’s got you covered.

Digifood, a multi-device platform for ordering food, beverages and merchandise, allows concertgoers to have their purchases delivered directly to their seat.

By knowing where they are in the venue, the Digifood

NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

Yondr has developed a lockable pouch to try to dissuade people from using their mobile phone cameras during live performances

at the event – even those afraid of queuing.”

So far this French start-up, founded in 2015, has already found its way into more than 30 stadiums, exhibition centres, festivals and concert halls, including the AccorHotels Arena (20,300-cap.) in Paris.

Archaio

Founded in 2014 by Roy Judelson, formerly VP of sponsorship and media sales at sports agency IMG, Archaio offers a cloud-based inspection system for arenas and other large venues.

Its clients include the Mercedes-Benz Arena (17,000-cap.) in Berlin, Yankee Stadium (54,251-cap.) in New York, the LA Live Complex in Los Angeles and the world’s most famous tennis courts, Wimbledon in London – all of which are using Archaio’s solution to “dramatically increase the efficiency of their inspection and maintenance efforts, ensure total accountability and protect themselves from costly litigation,” explains the company, which has offices in Dublin, New York and Mexico City.

“With smart inspection checklists, true-to-scale floor plans, real-time reporting and unlimited storage of historical data, our clients know exactly what’s going on in their facility,” explains Judelson. “Our alerts, notifications and configurable management dashboard keep all stakeholders in the loop.

“The Archaio digital-inspection solution is designed to streamline and report in real time the inspection process before, during and after every event, thus improving the overall customer experience.”

The venue owner’s experience, too, if Bruce Ratner (chairman of the Forest City Ratner Companies, which co-owns the 19,000-cap Barclays Center in New York), is anything to go by. Ratner says the Archaio app has vastly reduced the manpower needed to inspect that venue before shows.

“Inspecting the Barclays Center used to take six to eight people walking around with pads of paper,” he says in a testimonial. “Now, one person does all of it.

Archaio is a brilliant system.”

Rukkus

app allows users to see which concession stands are nearby and the food or merch on offer – all customers have to do is decide whether they want to pick up their order or have it delivered.

“Digifood uses a 100% secure online payment platform,” explains company founder and CEO Ronald Gautruche. “After payment, your order is immediately processed.

“For caterers, it is a tool to increase their revenue.

They maintain a constant level of sale while the event is on, plus they can attract every potential consumer

Manick Bhan, the CEO and CTO of secondaryticketing start-up Rukkus, describes the app’s recently introduced Seat360 feature – which gives ticketbuyers a 360° virtual-reality panorama of the venue from their ‘seat’ – as “the single biggest innovation in the ticket-buying space since the first seat map was introduced.” “Standard seat-view photos or renderings are a step in the right direction,” he comments, “but they still leave much to the imagination.”

New York-based Rukkus, founded in 2014, was a relative newcomer to the secondary ticketing market.

Seat360 itself was “a year in the making,” explains Bhan, and stems from customer research showing that first-person seat views are important to 90% of customers when buying a concert ticket. “After coming up with a host of product ideas, including everything from drone photography to 3D-ticketing

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prototypes, the team settled on the integration of interactive 360° panoramas to enhance customers’ interactions,” the company tells EAY. Since the introduction of the Seat360 functionality, Rukkus has sold more than $100million (€90m) worth of tickets in virtual reality. Venues mapped by Seat360 include most major US arenas, as well as outdoor

stadia such as Yankee Stadium, and San Francisco’s AT&T Park (41,915-cap.) and famed outdoor amphitheatre the Hollywood Bowl (17,500).

Verteda

Qjacker, developed by UK hospitality software solutions company Verteda, allows users to beat long queues for F&B by pre-ordering refreshments online and collecting them in a dedicated lane when they arrive.

The benefits to fans of using the service – which is available as a mobile app or at Qjacker.com – are obvious, but Qjacker also has numerous benefits for venues, with studies showing an average 5–10% increase in incremental sales and 25–30% additional spend.

“Queuing in sports and entertainment venues is often frustrating and slow, perhaps caused by insufficient terminals or staff coverage to cope with demand – plus having to deal with last-minute customer decisions to change orders or payment method,” says Verteda’s sales director, Matthew Prosser. “As queues build up, and with only a restricted window to serve as many customers as possible, venue operators risk missing out on valuable revenue

Cast’s BlackTrax motiontracking system helped Muse realise their vision for their spectacular Drones world tour

TALKING HEADS Adam Goodyer LiveStyled

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Andrew Gordon Cast

Betsy McHugh Hurdl

Graham Dugoni Yondr

NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

opportunities – as customers simply give up.

Qjacker is an enhanced way.

“Proven in time and motion studies, Qjacker enables venues to optimise service and target latent revenue, removing pinch points and serving as many fans as possible in limited time windows. In-venue studies have shown a reduction in serving times from ten minute’s queuing to only 40 seconds from a fan scanning their Qiacker barcode to collecting their entire order.”

Current Qjacker partners include NEC Group (Genting Arena, NEC Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena), Ricoh Arena in Coventry and St Mary’s Stadium, home to Southampton FC.

Clair Global

Four years ago, Clair Global – a market-leading US sound company founded in 1966 by brothers Roy and Gene Clair – diversified into supplying portable IT networks to the live entertainment industry.

ShowFi, described by Clair as “the world’s only touring Wi-Fi system,” takes up less than 20 feet (6 metres) of truck space and can be set-up in a 20,000-capacity arena in under four hours.

“The advantage of temporary deployment is that the production or venue doesn’t have to worry about the technical pieces being out of date,” explains Scott Appleton, the company’s head of data services.

“Our experience [in sound reinforcement] provides us with the understanding of how to reliably package, deliver and set-up highly technical systems quickly for live events.

We know that when it’s live, you must do it fast – and you get only one chance to get it right. We are deploying installation-calibre networks in portable, temporary scenarios.”

LiveStyled

LiveStyled – not to be confused with the post-Robert Sillerman SFX Entertainment, LiveStyle – is a ‘live commerce platform’ that develops whitelabel mobile apps for arenas, sports teams and smaller venues.

It powers more than 40 venues’ apps – among them Live Nation’s O2 Academy music venues and AEG’s European arenas, including The O2 (20,000-cap.) in London, Mercedes-

Manick Bhan Rukkus

Matthew Prosser Verteda

Benz Arena in Berlin, Barclaycard Arena (16,000-cap.) in Hamburg and Tele2 Arena (45,000-cap.) in Stockholm – enabling users to vote and interact with shows, skip venue concession queues with click-and-collect and take advantage of targeted offers.

Venues, meanwhile, can use its back-end Backstage portal to deliver customised content to users’ devices, driving revenue from ticket upgrades, F&B, merch and more.

"Mobile offers venues, sports teams and event organisers the unprecedented opportunity to enhance the customer experience and incentivise higher spending,” comments CEO Adam Goodyer, who reveals Northern Irish ice-hockey team, the Belfast Giants, have increased spend more than ten-fold with their LiveStyled-developed app.

“The Giants have seen 75% of their season ticket-holders registering for our in-app loyalty scheme, which then delivered more than a 1,000% increase in spending within the first season.”

Cast

Muse's 2015–2016 Drones tour is one of the most remarkable arena tours in recent memory – chiefly for its huge production, which along with the standard lighting, video and pyrotechnics, also incorporated prop ‘drones’ flying through the arena.

This technical feat was achieved with the help of Cast’s BlackTrax motion-tracking system. For the Drones tour, entertainment studio Moment Factory used 38 BlackTrax cameras to track drones and performers, allowing each autonomous drone to be safely flown above the audience. “The BlackTrax system allowed us to go into areas of such high altitude, and are placed in such a way that makes the whole arena trackable – an important element, considering the drones fly around the stage and above the audience,” explains production designer Oli Metcalfe.

Commenting on the other applications for the technology, BlackTrax business development director Andrew Gordon explains: “With BlackTrax, automated lights can follow a performer automatically, and a media server and a projector can project content onto moving surfaces, creating what we call

Roy Judelson Archaio

Scott Appleton Clair Global

Hurdl’s Pixl wristband is changing the way that promoters and artists collect data from fans

Szymon Niemczura Kontakt.io

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Reason to celebrate: the Belfast Giants increased customer spend ten-fold thanks to their LiveStyled app

moving projection mapping.

“Robotic cameras can automatically follow, zoom and focus on performers, and surround sound becomes ‘spatial sound’ – which is enhanced with BlackTrax by creating the impression that the sound you hear from surround speakers in a theatre is actually coming from the performer’s mouth, with the sound moving as the performer moves.”

Touring arena shows using BlackTrax include Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai, Marvel Universe Live!, Disney on Ice presents Frozen and The Weeknd’s Starboy: Legend of the Fall tour.

Bottoms Up

Josh Springer is the inventor and founder of the Bottoms Up Draft Beer Dispensing System – the firstever draft beer dispenser that fills beverages through the bottom of the cup. He says the idea came to him in a daydream in early 2008; just four days later he had a functioning prototype in his garage.

The system immediately started selling itself, prompting Springer and co-founder Mike Price to establish GrinOn Industries, where the duo set out to revolutionise the beer-dispensing industry.

In 2011, GrinOn relocated to a 26,000 square feet warehouse in Indianapolis, allowing the company to be more centrally located for logistics and distribution and helping the start-up achieve rapid growth.

In addition to the commercial Bottoms Up Dispenser, Springer and team have also developed a line of add-on products to enhance the consumer

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“Mobile offers venues, sports teams and event organisers the unprecepednted opportunity to enhance the customer experience and incentivise higher spending.”

Adam Goodyer, LiveStyled

experience, including personalised magnets, tap-handle displays, mobile carts, empty keg detectors and home units.

The company now supplies its Bottoms Up system to venues across the world, including most recently, Wembley Stadium in the UK. It also has distribution agreements in continental Europe and Latin America; Mauricio Castillo, CEO of Latin American distributor Masoal predicts the success of the bottom-filling Bottoms Up system “will lead to the implementation of the product anywhere beer is served.”

Kontakt.io

Kraków-based Kontakt.io has been “digitalising the physical world since 2013” with its Bluetooth beacon technology, which is in use at arenas across the globe, says CEO and co-founder Szymon Niemczura.

Using Kontakt.io’s beacons, apps can target users

NEW TECHNOLOGY | FEATURE

based on both proximity and past behaviour – for example, sending them information and promotions based on where they are in the venue.

In a typical case study, one of the company’s partners, eFan24, leveraged 16 beacons installed at PGE Arena (43,615-cap.) in Gdansk to guide users to their seats and inform them of nearby concessions and facilities. EFan24 found that 83% of fans that received a push notification clicked it, and eight out of ten engaged with the message or shared it with others.

A recent success story for Kontakt.io is CD Guadalajara FC, one of Mexico’s most popular football teams, which has 400 beacons in its Estadio Chivas (49,850-cap.) venue.

Guadalajara’s beacon-enabled app has so far been downloaded more than 300,000 times and sent 50,000 notifications. Aldo Guerrero, the team’s digital marketing officer, says the beacons will allow him to “better understand the preferences of our fans,” adding that he is “looking forward to seeing how we could translate that into generating more revenue and monetise[ing] our brand.”

Yondr

Artists and performers as diverse as Alicia Keys, Childish Gambino, Guns N' Roses and comedians Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are among those to have used Yondr technology to put a stop to that greatest of concert bugbears: people using their phones instead of watching the show.

At shows where Yondr’s services have been enlisted, audiences were given neoprene pouches in which mobiles must be locked for the duration of the event. If concertgoers need to use their phones, they can step outside and have the pouch unlocked at the Yondr stand in the lobby.

“Phones remain locked and in possession of their owners throughout the duration of a given event," says 30-year-old Graham Dugoni, founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based start-up. Yondr, he says, is "designed to scale seamlessly from intimate to larger settings,” creating “phone-free environments in which security, exclusivity and privacy are of the utmost importance”.

In addition to live events, Yondr pouches have found a home in educational, corporate and judicial settings. American Coradius International, a debt-

Bon Jovi are using Clair Global’s ShowFi system on their current This House is Not For Sale tour

collection agency, purchased a number of pouches to create a “cell phone-free workplace,” with other customers including courthouses in Philadelphia and more than 350 US schools.

Hurdl

Hurdl is the Nashville company behind the Pixl, an LED wearable that, when combined with an SMS-based marketing platform, allows promoters and artists to connect directly with audiences at live events.

After opting in using a code bundled with the Pixl – an illuminated wristband handed out to concertgoers on entry – attendees are asked a series of questions via text message to gather data for the event's organiser. The wristband, meanwhile, can be illuminated in a variety of colours by the show's lighting director – including on the basis of the questions asked, turning attendees into a human light show with unique colours for specific genders, birthdays, musical tastes or favourite sports teams.

It was trialled in April at a series of Deadmau5 shows at the Shrine Auditorium (6,300-cap.) in Los Angeles. Analytics from the events showed nine out of ten concertgoers completed five or more questions, producing a 364% increase in the number of conversions compared to traditional advertising, including 'likes' on social media.

“For example," explains founder and CEO Betsy McHugh, a former CAA agent, "we learned that Deadmau5 has more PlayStation users [as fans] in LA than Xbox users, and that their favourite music streaming platform is Spotify, with less than 1% on Amazon's new streaming platform.

“Insights like these enable us to connect artists and brands with highly qualified marketing leads, knowing how best to reach and engage with each individual fan based on their unique preferences. Perhaps most importantly, the Deadmau5 activation proved that Hurdl can collect unique data in a way that is engaging for fans and improves the overall live event experience.”

Seat360 allows Rukkus customers to see a 360° virtual-reality panorama from any given seat before they commit to purchasing

17

EUROPE THE BIG PICTURE W

ith more that 740million inhabitants, Europe’s multiple countries, currencies, cultures and languages, on paper, make the continent a complex proposition for touring artists and productions. However, the general affluence of its populace and the ease with which people and goods can traverse borderless frontiers make Europe the number one destination for most international artists with live ambitions.

A total of 69 venues around Europe participated in the surveys for this inaugural European Arena Yearbook (EAY), with the UK’s National Arenas Association (NAA), the European Arenas Association (EAA) and the EAY combining data from their various bespoke reports to deliver results and analysis for 2016, as well as looking forward to predict business growth.

Detailed regional breakdowns can be found later in the publication, but to compare and contrast those regional reports to the European averages, this section provides an overview of all surveyed respondents.

Attendance

Across our surveyed venues, more than 32million people attended shows and events in 2016, with the UK & Ireland polishing its king of live entertainment crown with more than 11m attendees, thanks in no small part to its established network of major arenas (there are now 21 member venues in the National Arenas Association).

Live music proved to be the most popular genre throughout Europe, claiming 39.3% of overall shows, with sport accounting for 31.7% of dates and family shows taking a 17.2% share (see chart on page 22).

And music also proved to be the biggest draw among ticket buyers throughout the continent, with average attendances of 7,359, well above the European average of 5,826 for arena events in 2016. Indeed, of the 32m people who visited our surveyed arenas for an event, more than 16m (or 49.6% of the total attendees) were live music fans. With many venues also

18

providing a home for local sports franchises, those attending sporting events accounted for 25.3% of total European arena audiences in 2016, while family events chalked up 15.2%.

However, in terms of spending power, revenues from live music, at £868.5million (€988.2m), accounted for a whopping 60.5% of the pot, with sport comparably at 17.6% of total spend, and family shows with 15.4%.

One notable statistic in the analysis of attendance figures was the average attendance numbers enjoyed in southern Europe: 9,434 – significantly above the European average of 5,826.

Although the format of this EAY's surveys differed from IQ Magazine’s annual European Arena Report, the statistics on venue usage are useful when analysing the year-on-year events hosted by European arenas.

Anecdotally, many promoters around Europe say that 2016 was a tricky year due to the lack of international acts that were out touring. This is highlighted by the fact that music's share of venue nights dropped to below 40% for the first time in five years – 39% compared to a sizeable 48% just a year earlier. By and large, venue usage over the past few years has been fairly constant (see chart on page 26) and with promoters already reporting a significant boost in concert bookings for 2017, it's expected that music will rebound above the 40% mark for overall venue usage in next year's survey.

Ticket prices

Unsurprisingly, given its financial dominance of the arenas business, average ticket prices for live music were the highest among the genres that use these venues. While the average ticket price across all events was €44.34 in 2016, music rode high at €54.01, with sports tickets in arenas averaging €30.74, and family shows costing parents an average of €45.02 per head.

Perhaps underlining the economic status of their local populace, the Nordics, the GAS region, and France & Benelux reported higher than average ticket prices for music events. The strongest arenas

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS MUSIC

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

2,185

7,359

16,079,392

€54.01

€868,511,568

FAMILY

955

5,157

4,924,905

€45.02

€221,711,252

COMEDY

189

4,848

916,255

€43.60

€39,948,025

SPORT

1,763

4,662

8,218,883

€30.74

€252,634,926

DANCE

109

4,758

518,595

€39.38

€20,422,847

MISCELLANEOUS

358

4,834

1,730,725

€18.96

€32,806,568

5,559

5,826

32,388,756

€44.34

€1,436,035,187

TOTAL ATTENDANCE

TOTAL SPEND

TOTAL EVENTS

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

3,219,076

€109,316,667

551

€33.96

5,842

CENTRAL & EASTERN

4,368,253

€130,551,789

882

€29.89

4,953

GAS

7,355,076

€380,564,441

1,369

€51.74

5,373

FRANCE & BENELUX

3,675,307

€170,692,842

425

€46.44

8,648

SOUTHERN

2,698,159

€90,195,705

286

€33.43

9,434

11,072,886

€554,713,743

2,046

€50.10

5,412

32,388,756

€1,436,035,187

5,559

€44.34

5,826

TOTAL

NORDICS REGIONS

35.9%

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

UK & IRELAND TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 63

market – the UK & Ireland – disclosed slightly lower prices than the European average ticket price, but given the fierce competition in the number of event nights in that market (2,046), it could be that promoters are aware that pushing prices higher could ultimately harm ticket sales.

Again, charting average ticket prices over the past few years shows a steady rise in numbers. But, whereas the EAY results detail ticket values across a number of entertainment genres, IQ’s annual report simply differentiates between music events and non-music events. Nevertheless, looking back at the European Arena Reports, we can track prices across the last five years.

In 2016, the average price of a ticket for a music event across our surveyed arenas was €54.01. This represents a modest €1.12 rise on 2015's numbers - or a 2.1% rise in prices. Compared to five years ago, when concert tickets cost an average of €43.65, however, the average price for music tickets has increased by 23.7%, underlining the spiralling cost of touring.

For non-music events, average ticket prices in 2016 fell by 5.5% to €34.80, compared to €36.82 in 2015.

Indeed, looking back over the past five years, tickets for non-music events have varied enormously, from a low of €31.04 in 2012 to a high of €39.05 two years later (see chart on page 22).

Challenges

Undoubtedly the biggest challenge for arena operators throughout Europe and beyond, at the

moment, is in improving security. May’s terror attack outside the Manchester Arena, following an Ariana Grande performance proved that those intent on causing carnage are picking targets indiscriminately given the high number of children and families likely to be at a pop concert. For more about the security challenges facing the business see our special report on page 6.

Another challenge facing arena management around the continent is the number of new venues that are being built across the board. Significant investments are being made throughout Europe to construct ever more state-of-the–art entertainment facilities, thus putting pressure on existing venues to continually upgrade their facilities, as well as increasing the overall competition for tours and events between arenas, cities and countries. A number of our regional features include focus reports on new venues that are opening around Europe.

Elsewhere, the unerring belief in the future health of live entertainment has arena owners and operators facing a challenge that other sectors can only eye with envy – just how to raise the capital to proceed with the refurbishment programmes that will alloww them to fulfil their capacity expansion ambitions.

Concerns

Our surveyed arenas were asked to identify the various elements of business that they believe to be the most significant factors that are affecting the industry at present. Although these varied from

19

GROWTH PREDICTIONS 7% n Grand Total

6%

n Nordics

5%

n Central & Eastern

4%

n GAS n France & Benelux

3%

n Southern

2%

n UK & Ireland

1% 0% Average growth prediction 2017

Average growth prediction 2018

region to region, overwhelmingly the subjects of artist fees and ticket prices are foremost in the minds of arena management throughout Europe, with 28% of respondents highlighting them as areas for concern.

It should be noted that at the time of survey completion, the terror attack on the Manchester Arena had not happened. As a result, the issues of venue security and audience safety did not figure in this year’s results.

As our chart on page 21 shows, economic uncertainty is also at the forefront of venue management anxiety across Europe, closely followed by competition from other venues and escalating production costs.

What also emerges from our business concerns question is the number of arenas who are worried about licensing regulations, while a fifth of those who responded to our surveys also said that industry consolidation is becoming a point of contention.

On a positive note, the fact that only 5% of those surveyed worry about a shortage of skills and/or properly trained personnel bodes well for the future of Europe’s arena sector.

Opportunities

The confidence of local governments and private investors to sink hundreds of millions of Euros into new entertainment complexes and arenas emphasises the belief that opportunities to grow the business still abound.

As you will read in our regional reports, the areas that arena management are looking at in order to exploit growth opportunities vary from country to country. In Central and Eastern Europe, for example, some venues are looking to increase their involvement in sports in order to increase footfall to their buildings.

Reports from venue bosses across Europe highlight the emergence of e-sports as a significant new revenue stream for the business, while e-gaming is fast establishing itself as an arena event, thanks to international tournaments such as League of Legends and Counterstrike.

Another emerging genre is that of films accompanied by full orchestras. And throughout

20

Average growth prediction 2019

The unerring belief in the future health of live entertainment has arena owners and operators facing a challenge that other sectors can only eye with envy.

the continent, arena executives who have children have identified YouTubers as great potential content, with the ability to create a whole new generation of ticket buyers.

Indeed, with venues anxious to maximise the use of their halls, many arenas reveal that they are actively promoting their own events or indoor festivals, or are contemplating such activities, whilst treading carefully so as not to step on the toes of their promoter clients. On the flip side, a number of venue marketing teams noted that they are working more closely than ever with promoters to help them boost audience numbers through social media and in-house initiatives, using the likes of LED screens in arenas to advertise upcoming events.

Meanwhile, the location of new buildings has also been identified as a significant factor when it comes to success. Venues such as the Arena Zagreb in Croatia and the Rockhal in Luxembourg rely on audiences crossing borders to come to their shows, while the new Royal Arena in Denmark will also benefit from customers using the Øresund Bridge that connects Copenhagen with the metropolitan area of Malmö in Sweden.

And with competition between arenas getting tougher, building management teams around Europe are also looking at ways to make their facilities more flexible in terms of capacity, either by investing in draping systems to cut down the size of their arena bowl, or by identifying other areas on the property that can be utilised by clients, such as car parks for outdoor events or smaller halls for convention purposes or touring exhibitions. Survey respondents

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

100%

25% 5%

Industry consolidation

20% 23%

Production costs

26%

State of economy Licensing regulation

21%

Political interference

16% 8%

reported success with taking existing theatre productions and expanding them to arena-level, albeit in a reduced capacity setting, In the UK, for example, some theatrical pantomime productions – which are a festive mainstay in nearly every town and city – are now being formatted for arena audiences.

As our chart on page 20 shows, executives throughout the continent are predicting modest business growth over the coming years. But that optimism is set against a drive to modernise and provide visitors with the very best facilities imaginable. Throughout the pages of this report, you will read about major investment in food and beverage offerings, retail developments, premium seating, state-of-the-art communications upgrades and, of course, VIP lounges and amenities.

VIP market

75%

11%

Competition

Lack of suitable content

50%

28%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Lack of suitable headliners Shortage of skills / Trained personnel

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR VERY WORRYING

Tapping into the VIP market is nothing new in terms of Europe’s arena business, but trends from region to region vary depending on just how the territories are recovering from recession.

In Benelux, the sector is booming, despite a drop-

off in corporate bookings, as fans are demanding the best possible packages to enhance their live entertainment experiences – a phenomenon that appears to be duplicated in the GAS region too. Those changes are prompting some buildings to remodel their VIP areas, with a number of survey respondents revealing plans to remove individual corporate boxes to create larger premium lounges where the purchasers of top-end tickets can rub shoulders.

Almost across the board, Europe’s arena bosses described upward levels of VIP business, while those who deviated from that norm observed that growing prosperity should result in better results for 2017 and beyond.

Expectations about such potentially lucrative parts of the business require a leap of faith, however, with venue general managers stressing that continued investment programmes are vital for attracting VIP clientele. Indeed, at the NEC Group in the UK, a massive redevelopment project has helped boost VIP sales by about 500%.

Another common thread related to VIP is a move to improve catering for high-rolling guests.

Currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, The O2 arena in London has been the world’s busiest arena for that entire decade

21

EUROPEAN OVERVIEW

AVERAGE TICKET PRICES & VENUE USAGE €60

n Music n Non-Music

€54.01

€52.89 €50.86

€50 €47.82 €43.65

€40

€39.05

€38.38

€36.82 €34.80 €31.04

€30

2012

2013

2014 9

13

15

2015

2016

9

6

9 3

6

5 6 17 41

44

14

17

45

14

39

48

14

24

24

23

23

Venue usage key (percentages): n Music

n Sport

With music fans, in particular, now used to five-star cuisine at summer festivals, the fact that indoor venues are now following suit in their suites should come as no surprise.

Technology

As our special feature on page 12 attests, the pace of technological development continues to gain momentum and barely a day goes by without some firm – established or start-up – releasing its latest gadget or software with the bold claim it is an industry changer or a global first.

One of the standout trends from this year’s survey has been the number of arenas that are in the process of implementing new food and beverage apps, allowing fans to pre-order before leaving their seat to pick up their purchases, or, in some cases, paying a little extra to have them delivered to their seat. Venues throughout the continent reported the adoption of such apps, with the epitome of success underlined by the SSE Arena Belfast, whose in-house app has delivered its resident ice hockey club a tenfold increase in match-day revenues.

Wi-Fi augmentation is also trending around Europe, with arena bosses acknowledging that patrons now expect to have Internet connectivity no matter where they are. And in a connected development, numerous venues have been working hard to improve their social media presence, with marketing

22

n Family

32

n Comedy

n Other

teams in particular recognising the benefits of being able to show potential ticket buyers video clips, artist interviews and other immersive multimedia content to boost the number of ‘buy now’ clicks.

Venue specific apps help to strengthen relationships with fans, allowing arenas to exploit collected data and promote customer loyalty via competitions. And the phased ways in which those apps are being upgraded highlights similar strategies through the arenas sector – informing customers about upcoming shows, but then providing valueadded information such as show-day parking and traffic conditions. And those apps moving to the next phase of user friendliness are learning individual preferences so that they can recommend premium food experiences, or push pre-show merchandise offers, to enhance revenue streams for the arena, artist, team or family show client.

Even those venues who report that they are not planning to launch their own apps admit that the customer experience is a crucial priority to sustained success, so big budgets are also being focussed on other 21st century technology such as LED screens and digital signage; cashless payment systems; and the ability to communicate with fans in real time.

Backing up the commentary that is common among all the 2017 survey responses, the feedback on tech emphasises the belief held throughout Europe’s arena executive hierarchy that the consumer is king.

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.

EUROPEAN ARENAS ASSOCIATION

EUROPEANARENAS.COM

REGIONAL PROFILES

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE POPULATION: 4.3m (HR); 1.96m (LV); 2.8m (LT); 1.2 (EE); 10.6m (CZ); 9.9m (HU); 38.5m (PL); 7.1m (RS) INTERNET USERS: 3.1m (HR); 1.6m (LV); 2m (LT); 1.1m (EE); 8.6m (CZ); 7.2m (HU); 26.2m (PL); 4.7m (RS) GDP/CAPITA: €20,047 (HR); €23,000 (LV); €26,759 (LT); €26,401 (EE); €29,711 (CZ); €24,341 (HU); €24,794 (PL); €12,710 (RS) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 4.4m (HR); 2.6m (LV); 4.1m (LT); 1.9m (EE); 13.9m (CZ); 11.8m (HU); 56.8m (PL); 9.1m (RS)

T

he global financial crisis hit central and eastern European countries particularly hard, and many subsequently took longer to recover than western European economies.

The crash meant that disposable income shrank and confidence fell, leading to a tougher market for ticket sales and prices.

It looks like those dark days are now well behind them, with almost all arenas we surveyed reporting strong growth in 2016, and some even recording their most successful year to date.

GDP is still not as high as western European countries, but demand is strong, average audience

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

24

figures are higher than some of the more affluent nations, and confidence has returned to the market.

We surveyed arenas in Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Serbia.

The arenas we surveyed sold 4,368,253 tickets to 882 events in 2016. The total spend was €130.5million.

Attendance

Sport dominates the calendars at arenas across this region, accounting for 56% of programmes. Music makes up 26%, while family shows and miscellaneous events make-up 9% and 6%, respectively. Only 11 comedy shows took place in these arenas last year, an average of one per arena.

The largest attraction for people is clearly music events, which draw the highest average attendance: 7,761 (survey average attendance: 4,953).

‘Miscellaneous events’ are the next biggest draw, pulling an average crowd of 6,946 to corporate events and exhibitions.

Family and sports events attract average audiences of 4,300 (survey average: 5,157) and 3,610 (4,662) each.

Promoter Nick Hobbs, who books acts at all levels across central and eastern Europe, the Balkans and Turkey, says there’s starting to be a trend of people moving away from festivals and towards arena shows.

“The festival market doesn’t seem to be doing as well as it was, but arenas are doing better,” he says.

“That’s because sponsorship – which is essential for festivals, but not usually part of the P&L of an arena show – is struggling, as companies shift their focus away from music.

“In some countries, such as Poland, municipalities are shifting their marketing spend away from cultural events due to the political climate. They used to regard it as very important to be seen as having significant and cool cultural festivals, but that’s changing due to a much more culturally conservative government.”

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS MUSIC

10.8%

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

229

7,761

1,777,265

€40.31

€71,648,542

FAMILY

78

4,300

335,420

€23.17

€7,771,457

COMEDY

11

4,197

46,169

€16.18

€747,121

SPORT

493

3,610

1,779,573

€24.69

€43,939,785

DANCE

15

2,722

40,830

€10.27

€419,462

MISCELLANEOUS

56

6,946

388,996

€15.49

€6,025,422

882

4,953

4,368,253

€29.89

€130,551,789

TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 9

With the economic situation in many countries improving, arenas are seeing steady growth.

At Lithuania’s 12,000-capacity Siemens Arena, Greta Germanaviciute says: “Due to the improvement in the economy, people are ready to spend more money on entertainment. The quality of local events is also growing rapidly.

“The market here will grow because there’s increasing investment in Vilnius. In addition, the venue will be increasing its share of the market as a leading arena in the region. This will result in more large-scale events here.”

In the Hungarian capital, Tibor Lak at the 12,500-capacity Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, says 2016 was a successful year. “Business has been increased significantly. The number of event days increased by almost 10%, while the number of visitors increased by 20%, and we reached 600,000 visitors per year in 2016.

“We are past the financial crisis period, purchasing power is increasing and people are keen to attend events.

“We have a good event mix with very popular shows. 60% of the events are concerts. Half of the shows are big international names, and half of the

Built to host the 2009 Men’s Handball World Championship, Arena Zagreb can cater for up to 18,600 fans in concert format

25

REGIONAL PROFILES

The Tauron Arena in Poland hosted the 2016 European League of Legends Championship FInals

shows are local bands. We also have popular sport events like women’s handball Final4 or ice hockey.”

It’s a similar story in Estonia, where the Saku Arena (cap. 10,000) CEO Tarmo Hõbe says: “There’s a definite growth in purchasing power. Although people still tend to save a lot of their incomes, the trend is that they’re spending more on entertainment.”

The total number of visitors to the 17,360-capacity O2 Arena in Prague in 2016 was over 801,000, says Stanislava Doubravová. “If we exclude the extraordinary effect of the Ice Hockey World Championship held two years ago, last year was our highest attendance ever. The year-on-year increase in the number of visitors was over 25%.”

Attendance figures still depend heavily on the show for many countries, as audiences are less prepared to take a gamble on lesser-known artists. It means that for anyone promoting a show, an understanding of their ability to draw an arena-sized audience is key.

“International artist concerts and major sports events always sell out here,” says Miroslav Stanec of

26

the 19,000-capacity Arena Zagreb in Croatia.

A comparative newcomer is Poland’s 20,400-capacity Tauron Arena in Kraków. Małgorzata Marcińska, president of Agencja Rozwoju Miasta, which operates the venue, says: "We opened in 2014 and our business plan was to break even in 2017. But we had income of €1m in 2016, thanks to our multifunctional capabilities.

“We hosted major events such as the Handball European Championship, Black Sabbath and the visit of Pope Francis for World Youth Day. "In 2015, we had 33 events, in 2016 this grew to 46 events, across 80 event days. The 2017 calendar is looking busier and busier. We already have 50 event days in, with more to be announced.”

Ticket prices

This region has the cheapest ticket prices, at an average of €29.89 (survey average: €44.34). Music events are the most expensive to attend, with an average price of €40.31 (survey average: €54.01).

Sporting events generate an average ticket price of

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

75%

100%

38%

Competition

13%

Industry consolidation

13% 25%

Production costs State of economy

38%

Licensing regulation

38%

Political interference

13%

Lack of suitable content

13%

€24.69 (survey average: €30.74), family events achieve €23.17 (€45.02), and comedy shows reach just €16.18, compared to a survey average of €43.60. The lowest average ticket price is for dance events: €10.27.

“We have to constantly balance the need to get to a ticket price that makes the show feasible, with the expectation of spectators,” says Stanec. “With international concerts, the ticket prices can be around €70, but if you add food and a drink, that brings the night’s costs to over €110, and some people will feel skittish about that.”

In Prague, Doubravová says, “The economy in the Czech Republic is in a period of growth, and as a result, the market for live music and live entertainment in general is growing. The Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. And although we cannot compare to the advanced western countries in terms of wages, people are willing to spend quite a bit of money for quality goods, and that includes good quality entertainment.

“We can see this because the number of live music shows held in the Czech Republic is increasing.”

For promoter Nick Hobbs, this rings true. “We’re doing more arena shows than we used to and they’re performing pretty well, for example we had shows with Green Day, which did very good business, and Die Antwoord in Prague did well.”

Challenges

50%

50%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Lack of suitable headliners

The high proportion of sports events in this region means many venues are reliant on good performances from home sports teams for good attendance figures.

“Our local ice hockey team had a few bad seasons, which impacted ticket sales,” says Arēna Rīga’s CEO Girts Krastiņš. “But they seem confident of doing much better this season, so I’m hopeful sales will pick up.”

Unique in Europe is Hungary’s punitive VAT rates on tickets. From Budapest, Lak says: “Lower VAT rates would definitely be welcomed by promoters, as it would help to increase net ticket sale income without increasing gross ticket prices.

“But on the other hand, Budapest has a vibrant music scene, purchasing power in Budapest is increasing and people are willing to spend money on

“The local economy means it's quite a challenge for people to buy tickets that have the same price as the rest of Europe.” Đorđe Milutinović, Kombank Arena (RS)

live entertainment. Last year, we hosted two sold-out shows by Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the first show selling out within 50 minutes of going on sale, even though ticket prices were above average for Hungarian shows.”

Ticket fraud and the secondary market are key matters to be tackled, adds Lak. “We use social media to remind people to only use official ticket distributors in order to save money and not to have an invalid ticket. Our mobile application will also introduce a safe solution to handle online tickets safely.”

At Tauron Arena, the biggest challenge is attracting the biggest artists to Poland, says Marcińska. “Some miss central Europe out on their tours, so we want to encourage them to come here.

Being an independent promoter means Hobbs frequently competes with Live Nation for acts. “It’s extremely difficult to compete with them because they have so many resources, and for the acts Live Nation Global Touring has signed, you never get a look-in. But for the other acts, there’s enough there and it’s an open field. There’s enough business out there.”

He also points to shorter life cycles of artists as a challenge for many in the business. “They might be very successful when you’re talking to the agent, but you have to try to guess what the act is going to be worth by the time they come to do the show,” he says.

“The short life cycle of acts means you could do a sold-out show one year, and the next time they come around they only do 20% because the audience has grown up or moved on to the next thing.”

Concerns

Top of the list of concerns among arenas in this part of Europe are artist fees and ticket prices, where 50% of arenas surveyed reported being ‘very’

27

REGIONAL PROFILES | CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

Ice hockey is a regular occurrence at the O2 Arena in Prague

or ‘extremely’ concerned about this topic.

38% reported concerns with ‘the state of the economy,’ ‘a lack of suitable headliners,’ and ‘licensing regulation.’

In the Latvian capital, Arēna Rīga’s Krastiņš is one whose country’s economy is a significant issue for ticket sales – especially international artists – and he describes 2016 as “a long year.”

“On the one hand, you have the economic situation: people don’t have so much money in their pockets and are being very cautious and fussy about the events they spend it on; and on the other hand, there’s been quite a lot of events coming through – not just at the arena but in smaller venues and theatres.”

In Serbia, at the 18,386-capacity Kombank Arena in Belgrade, Đorđe Milutinović says: “Artist fees have significantly increased in the last five or six years, which results in increasing ticket prices. The local economy means it’s quite a challenge for people to buy tickets that have the same prices as the rest of Europe.”

Competition is one of the concerns for 13% of arenas surveyed. Not just from nearby arenas, but from smaller venues where cautious promoters might opt for the lower costs if they’re not confident of filling an arena.

One way to ameliorate this is to offer more flexible spaces to hire. One example is Arena Zagreb where the 19,000-capacity venue has invested in draping, which means it can be configured for as low as 5,000-capacity, thereby cutting the other associated costs such as staffing.

Opportunities

In nearby Russia, the rouble is struggling against other currencies, and it means Russian artists are eyeing up eastern Europe as a way of making money.

Not only because it shares a border with the country, but because around 25% of the population is Russian, Latvia is a natural choice for acts looking to cross borders. “We’re finding more Russian acts coming through,” says Krastiņš.

Another growth area is sport. With most audiences

28

coming from this sector it’s a way of mitigating the volatility of the music touring market. Arēna Rīga is investing in new lighting for sports events and attracting new sporting events to its calendar, such as motorsport, Arenacross and boxing.

While physical sports are on the rise in Rīga, in Poland, it’s e-sport that’s attracting the eye of Marcińska at Tauron Arena.

“E-gaming and events associated with YouTube stars are big growth sectors for us. This year, we'll have two events for YouTube stars, and we'll be hosting the World Championship of Counterstrike, tickets for which sold out in minutes. We're expecting there to be more and more of this type of event in the future – there's a huge demand."

Some geographically smaller countries see their size as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

Bordering multiple other nations means diverse audiences on your doorstep. Arena Zagreb is specifically marketing to neighbouring countries and programming shows that appeal to diverse audiences.

It means despite limited purchasing power in its home nation, it can reach out to an audience of 50m people who live within a four-hour drive.

“That meant 2016 was our best year to date,” says Stanec.

Being flexible is important for winning business, says Tauron Arena’s Marcińska. "One of our strengths is our flexibility. We can offer capacity as low as 3,000, or as high as 20,400. That means if a promoter books a 3,000-capacity event, but ticket sales are higher than expected we can easily increase capacity. Event organisers like that capability."

VIP market

“There used to be a massive differential between the top ticket prices and the bottom, but that’s changed now,” reports Hobbs. “Some VIP tickets were as high as ten times the general admission price, but the difference isn’t so stark now.”

Founded in 1991, the National Arenas Association (NAA) provides a forum for managers of leading 5000+ capacity concert and event venues. Membership benefits include links with the European Arenas Association (EAA).

nationalarenasassociation.com

REGIONAL PROFILES | CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

Kombank Arena in Serbia proved its versatility when it hosted the 2016 European Water Polo championships

In buoyant Budapest, the VIP market is healthy, reports Lak. “It is an important part of our business.

We have 20 VIP boxes with 100% occupancy, and there are companies on the waiting list.”

Equally in Prague, VIP sales are growing, thanks to a combination of a strong programme of suitable events – such as top-quality sports, cultural and family events – and a focus on top-quality offerings.

“Our catering on the VIP floors is regarded as amongst the best in the Czech Republic,” says Doubravová.

However, in Latvia it’s a different story. “VIP is a luxury expenditure so this isn’t very strong for us right now,” says Arēna Rīga’s Krastiņš. “But if you look on the streets, you’ll see lots of fancy cars so hopefully that’s a sign people have more money and that part of our business will pick up soon.”

In Serbia, the VIP experience is increasingly popular, despite the tough economic conditions. “There is a bigger increase in demand for Sky Boxes,” says Milutinović. “We are also seeing an increase in demand for conference spaces for several thousand people.”

As well as renovations to the backstage area, the Saku Arena is building a new VIP lounge to cater for growing demand. “VIP packages are more popular than last year,” notes Hõbe. The venue has 24 VIP boxes and three premium lounges.

In Kraków, VIP business is also on the rise.

30

“We have 27 Sky Boxes,” explains Marcińska. “VIP and hospitality is a new programme for us, but it's proving very popular. During the handball championships we had 2,500 people in VIP, and our catering company handled it really well. We had a lot of compliments about the high standards of catering."

Technology

At the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, a new app will be launched in the second half of 2017.

“The app will be able to store booked tickets and help visitors enter the arena using QR code or NFC technology,” explains Lak. “It will also be able to help visitors find their seats in the venue. For certain seating sectors, visitors will be able to order food from their seats, or choose a gourmet meal in advance and pick it up at a dedicated food outlet, without queuing.”

There’s a more significant technology project developing in Latvia, although it’s still very much in the early stages: “We’re joining forces with a major IT company to launch a new ticketing system. It’s still in development, but it’s a good move: we have the industry knowledge and they have the IT knowledge,” says Krastiņš.

In Lithuania, the Siemens Arena has invested in a new web tool to book VIP suites, as well as food and drinks pre-order management, says Germanaviciute.

REGIONAL PROFILES

FRANCE & BENELUX POPULATION: 62.8m (FR); 17m (NL); 11m (BE); 582,291 (LU) INTERNET USERS: 56.3m (FR); 15.7m (NL); 9.6m (BE); 555k (LU) GDP/CAPITA: €37,938 (FR); €45,454 (NL); €40,175 (BE); €91,266 (LU) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 66.6m (FR); 20.8m (NL); 12.9m (BE); 807k (LU)

T

errorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, and Belgium in 2016, had a significant impact on this usually booming arenas business. Ticket sales were down, hospitality sales suffered and there was considerable consumer nervousness.

The industry is now bouncing back and results for the latter half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 are exceeding previous years.

The arenas surveyed hosted 425 events in 2016, selling a total of 3,675,307 tickets.

Attendance

The arenas surveyed achieved the second highest average attendance figures: 8,648 compared to an overall average of 5,826. This is mainly due to very high average concert turnouts – an average of

REGIONAL MAP n = France, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg

10,260 people (survey average: 7,359).

Dance events drew an average attendance of 9,835, and sports events attracted an average of 8,098, but family shows saw lower than average attendance at 4,743 (survey average: 5,157).

Music dominates the programmes here, responsible for 2,062,359 tickets in 2016 – 56% of total sales and making up 47% of the total number of events hosted.

Sport makes up 28% of events hosted, and 27% of the total audience; family shows account for 15% of all programming, but just 8% of ticket sales.

Comedy and dance events make-up 5% and 3% each of the total number of events.

There was an average of 71 performances per venue.

Formerly the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, the AccorHotels Arena reopened in October 2015. In the 2015-2016 year, it sold 1.1million tickets to 111 events, among them 61 live music shows, 28 sporting events, 11 family shows, three corporate events and eight others.

Come the end of the current season (to August 2017), arena director general Julien Collette says it will have increased this to 1.5m tickets to 178 events, among them 101 sporting events, 53 live music shows, 22 family shows and two corporate events.

The outlook is similarly positive in Belgium, where the 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.

“Last season we suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks,” says Sportpaleis’ Jan Van Esbroeck. “However, the current season is seeing a real revival in ticket

“People even come here from abroad to experience seeing really big artists in a smaller capacity venue.”

Olivier Toth, Rockhal (LU)

32

FRANCE & BENELUX | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS

71%

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

201

10,260

2,062,359

€58.58

€120,804,287

FAMILY

63

4,743

298,789

€39.80

€11,890,467

COMEDY

22

7,703

169,458

€50.10

€8,489,016

SPORT

121

8,098

979,891

€23.03

€22,568,375

DANCE

14

9,835

137,685

€43.79

€6,029,840

4

6,781

27,125

€33.58

€910,858

425

8,648

3,675,307

€46.44

€170,692,842

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 6

The renovated AccorHotels Arena has provided Paris with a state-of-the-art venue

33

REGIONAL PROFILES

Fans from multiple countries crossed the border into Luxembourg to see Zucchero perform at Rockhal in October 2016

sales. We believe it could be some kind of reaction to the effects of the attacks. We are set to have a better than average season by the end of this year.”

It’s a similarly positive picture in Luxembourg, where Rockhal (6,500) saw a “significant increase in business” in 2016, reports CEO Olivier Toth. “It was our best year to date,” he says. “Our previous record was in 2013, when we had 220,000 visitors, but in 2016 we reached 230,000.

“That came together because we had a very varied

programme from Cirque du Soleil to Hans Zimmer, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”

Ticket prices

Not only are shows well attended but ticket prices are high. Our survey shows an average ticket price of €46.44 (survey average: €44.34).

Music events command the highest average ticket price at €58.58 (survey average: €54.01), followed by comedy at €50.10 (€43.60). Dance shows achieve an

FILLING IN THE GAP The Rotterdam Ahoy has six event halls, covering major concerts, exhibitions and conferences. The city also has a healthy and busy club circuit. But what’s been missing is a mid-sized venue.

So when the city authority announced plans to build a new convention centre with 2,750 seats to attract international conventions, the Ahoy was quick to suggest it could be adapted for music productions too.

“We’ve agreed with the city that it will be designed to have removable seating and staging, so it can also be a music venue with a capacity of 7,000,” says Ahoy’s Jurgen Hoekstra. “This is very much needed here because although we have a good club scene, those venues have a maximum capacity of about 2,000, and then there’s nothing until the Ahoy, which is 10,500-capacity. This will be a good mid-level space.”

The forthcoming venue will open at the end of 2020.

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FRANCE & BENELUX | REGIONAL PROFILES

average €43.79 (€39.38), while sports tickets are well below the €30.74 average at €23.03.

While it’s a strong market, these high ticket prices could be pushing the limits of what’s achievable, cautions Van Esbroeck of Sportpaleis. “We’ve noticed that for some shows that don’t sell out, it’s often the most expensive seats that are left empty.”

Luxembourg’s high-income economy means people have a lot of disposable income. “We try to keep ticket prices between ‘reasonable’ and ‘acceptable’,” laughs Toth. “We aim to orient our prices to other markets.

“While our aim is not to charge too much in an already busy season, on the other hand we’ve noticed there are some shows where people are really prepared to spend more money, which enables us to get the shows that would normally be too big to come to Luxembourg. They still come here because we’re able to charge more money – people even come here from abroad to experience seeing really big artists in a smaller capacity venue.”

Technology

As more of people’s day-to-day lives are centred on their smartphones, it’s beholden on arenas to keep up with people’s tech expectations.

Many are investing in apps that allow consumers to buy food and beverage options, parking, and in some cases, tickets.

These apps allow customers to either have their food and drink delivered to their seats, or to collect it at an allotted time. Not only do the people who pre-order get their drinks more quickly, but those who haven’t don’t have to queue for as long. This not only improves customer experience, but increases revenue.

Social media is another key investment programme, say many of those surveyed. Increasing capacity and spend in this area of businesses’ marketing departments enables them to communicate better with fans, get real-time feedback on how to improve, and market to them in a more

personalised and direct manner.

Jurgen Hoekstra from Rotterdam’s Ahoy says: “It’s crucial we’re on social media so we can have conversations with our audiences, that they can give us feedback and we can use that to improve. Being able to talk to them on social networks is important because that’s where so many people are active now.”

Luxembourg’s Rockhal has decided not to go down the app route, preferring instead to invest in “enhancing the overall customer experience,” says Toth. “We’re investing in a new entrance area, digital signage, plus we’re going cashless, and investing in a membership programme.

“We’re investing heavily in a new website, which will mean we’ll be able to target our marketing much more efficiently to better-defined segments and offer a much more tailored experience to customers.”

Challenges

Increasing competition from other venues is a key focus. It’s important to ensure that arenas create better experiences or unique benefits for all clients – whether that’s international artists, local promoters, sports federations, sponsors or VIP customers, says Collette from AccorHotels Arena.

In Rotterdam, the Ahoy’s Hoekstra says that since the Live Nation-owned Ziggo Dome opened in Amsterdam in 2012, the amount of content coming through the Netherlands has increased significantly, but the competition has had no perceivable negative impact on attendance. “The competition keeps us on our toes, but we’ve had a strong year.”

To remain competitive against Live Nation, the Ahoy has an in-house promotions team that either wholly promotes or co-promotes events with others.

“Sometimes we invest more in year one to ensure the event stays in Rotterdam as it grows,” says Hoekstra. “There’s a variety of models for making this work, but it’s important for us to own the content as well as hosting it.”

Superstar DJ Armin van Buuren is one of thousands of artists who has thrilled fans at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp since it opened in 1933

35

REGIONAL PROFILES | FRANCE & BENELUX

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

68

PART TIME STAFF

37

VIP OVERVIEW

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

0

VOLUNTEERS

2016 VS 2017 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

33%

n No Change n More Popular 17

67%

0

None

17 33 1–9

17

10–19

Security

The November 2015 attacks in Paris, and March 2016 attacks in Belgium had a significant impact on the live entertainment industry. Security measures were significantly increased, adding significant costs for arena operators and promoters.

In addition, it had a negative impact on hospitality revenues, because companies and business people were uncomfortable with entertaining their customers and partners in the immediate aftermath of the outrages.

Growth areas

One under-exploited genre of events across the region is e-sports. From no events in the Netherlands in 2015, there’s now a couple taking place, such as the League of Legends spring final, which took place at the Ahoy.

“We’re expecting to see 100% growth in this sector over the coming years. It’s starting from a small level, but this is likely to show significant growth in coming years,” says Hoekstra, who points to family shows as another area of growth.

The French market is renowned for having long-been dominated by national cultural events, but this is increasingly being challenged by Americanisation.

For example, Disneyland Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the country – with over 14.5m visitors, it eclipses even the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Hollywood movies are the top selling tickets at cinemas, and French teenagers love NBA teams and basketball culture.

In addition, while the government and local authorities still play a significant role in financing and managing many venues, a squeeze on public money means the events sector needs to be more business-oriented.

“Considering the French love of culture, sports and entertainment, and the lack of business culture in the events sector, we see many opportunities for developing,” says Collette.

“International pop and rock stars always attract amazing audiences, but we’re also seeing a new momentum in electronic and urban music, with

36

0

0

0

20–29

0

0

30–39

0

0

40–49

17

0

50+

33 67 No Answer

acts such as DJ Snake or The Avener, and rap artists like Maître Gims and Jul.” Developing the arena acts of the future is a focus for Rockhal, says Toth. Through its Sonic Visions Music Festival and Conference, it aims to help new acts and their teams share information and showcase, in order to progress to larger venues.

“Family entertainment and films accompanied by an orchestra are also key areas of growth for us,” he adds. “We’re promoting La La Land, and had the first Harry Potter here. What we’ve noticed is that it’s important to have the high quality family productions. People here might be used to travelling to London or New York or Paris for a break, and they’ll do some shopping, have a nice meal and see a show. That’s the level of experience they’ve come to expect, so we offer them that West End- or Broadway-quality show but without having to travel to another country.”

VIP market

With the financial collapse of the last decade well behind it, the region is seeing significant growth in demand for VIP packages from individuals. People are more confident about their finances, have more disposable income and are prepared to spend it on top-end tickets and experiences.

“We find the largest demand is for the most expensive tickets. People want those more than any other type of ticket, and if they can’t get that, they just won’t go to the event,” reports Hoekstra.

The trend in Belgium is moving away from companies buying large blocks of tickets and is being replaced by more individuals buying VIP packages.

Competition is particularly strong in the French hospitality sector. Well-established and new events as well as venues across the board are putting great efforts into marketing their VIP packages.

There’s also additional pressure coming from increasing numbers of outdoor festivals and big events in Paris. “People and companies are more frequently wooed, and, consequently, are increasingly demanding,” remarks Collette.

“We focus on customer satisfaction and continually innovate to stay ahead of the competition.”

FRANCE & BENELUX | REGIONAL PROFILES

international Veldzigt 3 3454 PW, de Meern +31 (30) 242 82 00 info.int@mojobarriers.com

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On the road again?

BERLIN

PARIS

Booking contact:

BRUSSELS

AMSTERDAM

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COLOGNE

DUBLIN

37 ROCKHAL_184x132_Ann_2016.indd 1

05/02/2016 11:47

REGIONAL PROFILES

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA POPULATION: 80.7m (DE); 8.7m (AT); 8.2m (CH) INTERNET USERS: 70.8m (DE); 7.3m (AT); 7.1m (CH) GDP/CAPITA: €43,030 (DE); €42,763 (AT); €53,029 (CH) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 96.3m (DE); 13.4m (AT); 11.7m (CH)

C

ommanding the highest ticket prices in Europe, thanks to their strong and stable economies, it’s boom-time for arenas in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Well-connected and in a central European location, this region is attracting more international shows than ever before, and has strong and healthy domestic product too, meaning audiences are spoiled for choice.

But with more product in the market and high ticket prices, what’s the impact on average attendance and how are arenas adapting to this change?

REGIONAL MAP n = Germany, Switzerland & Austria

38

The arenas surveyed in these three countries sold a total of 7,355,076 tickets, worth over €380million in 2016.

Attendance

Family events make up 15% of schedules, but when they are booked, they appear to be the most popular among ticket buyers. They draw 23% of total attendance and average audiences of 8,059 people.

This is well over the survey average for this genre of 5,157, and above the overall average turnout for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (5,373).

Music events draw the second largest average audiences in this part of Europe. Average attendance is 7,421 compared with a survey average of 7,359, and this genre makes up 32% of the total programme. It attracts 44% of attendance compared with other genres.

Many arenas are home to sports teams, and ticket buying for home games is dependent on how well the team is doing. So while sport makes up 33% of the programmes of all arenas surveyed, average attendance was 3,890 (survey average: 4,662) – considerably below the region’s overall average attendance of 5,373. Sports events account for an average 24% of all attendance at arenas surveyed.

Comedy (6% of programming) attracts below-survey average figures: 3,443 (survey average: 4,848), while miscellaneous events such as exhibitions and corporate events draw an average audience of just 1,444.

“This is a healthy, strong market, offering a lot of product. People are much more prepared to spend money on leisure than they were ten years ago, and if you have the right product, you can command very good ticket prices,” says Michael Brill of Germany’s König-Pilsener Arena (cap. 12,700) in Oberhausen.

This rude health is being borne out in record results at Hamburg’s 16,000-capacity Barclaycard Arena, where general manager Steve Schwenkglenks says that financially, 2016 was the best year the arena

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS

19.2%

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

441

7,421

3,272,832

€61.62

€201,679,252

FAMILY

210

8,059

1,692,473

€55.75

€94,347,148

81

3,433

278,059

€36.10

€10,037,645

SPORT

451

3,890

1,754,515

€37.63

€66,026,544

DANCE

26

4,849

126,080

€43.18

€5,444,332

160

1,444

231,118

€13.11

€3,029,520

1,369

5,373

7,355,076

€51.74

€380,564,441

COMEDY

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 15

has ever had.

“2017 looks impressive too, despite the fact we have now lost both home sports teams. We’ve filled those gaps with new content, such as e-sports and a major increase in concerts. This year we’ll have 22 artists who’ve never played the arena before.”

Switzerland’s central location in Europe and good transport connections across the continent make it an easy place for touring shows to stop. It is also renowned for having few security risks and an affluent population, making it very attractive to local and international promoters.

Felix Frei, CEO at Zürich’s Hallenstadion (15,000cap) is another one reporting a record year for attendance last year, with 140 shows attracting over 1m visitors to the likes of Muse, Adele, Red Hot Chili

Peppers, Ed Sheeran and Match for Africa with Roger Federer and Andy Murray. The arena is investing in new Wi-Fi systems, a redesign of the restaurant, and a new VIP lounge capable of hosting 60 people.

In Cologne, Lanxess Arena (18,500) CEO Stefan Löcher is very confident. “We had a record-breaking year in 2015 when we were the fourth most successful arena worldwide for attendance (even more successful than New York’s Madison Square Garden).

2017 will top that result, as we have more shows and events booked than ever before (200 so far and counting).” The arena sees 1.5m-1.8m visitors per year.

Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle (16,000) in Austria has hosted a wide range of sold-out events, including Enrique Iglesias, Muse, Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Black Sabbath.

Stadthalle Graz has helped cement the city’s place on the tour circuit since opening its doors 15 years ago

39

REGIONAL PROFILES

St. Jakobshalle in Basel has remained open for business despite an intense two-year renovation project which is scheduled for completion in 2018

“Holiday on Ice attracted over 50,000 visitors to 16 shows,” says CEO Wolfgang Fischer.

The operating company behind Stadthalle Graz (11,000) in Austria’s second city hosted more than 400 events for 1.1m people in 2016.

“Compared with previous years, the number of event days has increased strikingly,” says head of marketing and communications, Christof Strimitzer.

“At our multifunctional venues, it is possible to host more than one event per day. We had more long-term events, increasing the number of event days from 668 in 2015, to 798 in 2016.”

Key to this is a strong appetite for live entertainment in Austria, he says. “Austrians like music a lot, in general. Every genre gets an audience here, while we also like to make music ourselves. There’s a vast range of Austrian artists for all types of music.”

Meanwhile, at Berlin’s 17,000-capacity MercedesBenz Arena, it’s another positive story. “2016 was a good year, and in terms of concerts, 2017 so far is shaping up to be our strongest first half since the arena opened,” says general manager, Michael Hapka.

The 12,500-capacity Olympiahalle in Munich saw an increase in events from 150 in 2015, to 157 in 2016, reports head of events and sales Nils Hoch.

40

Basel’s St. Jakobshalle is undergoing an almost €100m refurbishment, which will see the 9,000-capacity venue grow to accommodate 13,000 people.

“The rebuilding’s duration will be from April 2016 until October 2017,” explains general manager Thomas Kastl. “The challenge we face is keeping the venue open during the event season (October until May).

Perfect planning is essential.”

Ticket prices

Between them, these three countries command the highest average ticket price of all those surveyed.

At €51.74 (reaching as high as €61.62 for music events), it’s well above the survey average of €44.34.

Family events attract an average ticket price of €55.75 (survey average: €45.02); comedy generates on average €36.10 (€43.60); sports tickets average €37.63 (€30.74), and dance events reach €43.18 (€39.38).

Mercedes-Benz Arena’s Hapka is upbeat. “CTS Eventim’s ticket sales data shows growth in the number of ticket sales. There’s an increasing amount of content coming through that might not necessarily sell out the full arena, but we have smaller configurations so the show still looks good and suits the size of the production.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR VERY WORRYING

25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Lack of suitable headliners

13% 25%

Production costs

13% 6%

“I would say that despite increasing ticket prices, we’re still seeing more and more ticket sales.”

Löcher cautions: “Tickets cannot keep going up and up. However, at the moment they’re very high and still 90-95% of shows are selling well – and the highest ticket prices sell first. But there are a few examples – such as for ‘farewell tours,’ where audiences are used to paying one price, and if the act tries to double the price for the farewell tour, the sales struggle.”

He adds: “Audiences are more cautious. In the past, they might have gone to 10-15 shows a year but now it’s more like two or three.”

Challenges

100%

6%

Industry consolidation Political interference

75%

6%

Competition Shortage of skills / trained personnel

50%

13%

Switzerland’s ever-growing festival and outdoor market is making an impact on arenas, putting pressure on consumers’ wallets and heating up competition.

“Because there’s so much on offer, we’re seeing fewer sell-out shows than usual,” says Frei of the Hallenstadion. “So we offer a variety of smaller set-ups, such as club or theatre layouts.”

It’s not just smaller capacities available – the arena now offers a standard 13,700-capacity standing layout which can be expanded to 15,000 for special productions, depending on size of stages, production and audience.”

Outdoor events aren’t the only factor that’s increasing competition in the Swiss market. St. Jakobshalle’s Kastl says the number of venues is on the rise too.

“A few new venues opened in Switzerland in the last two years with really high technical standards; the advantage of St. Jakobshalle Basel is that we offer up to ten halls with different capacities and our venue can be used in a multifunctional way.

“After the redevelopment, we will be one of the most modern arenas in Europe.”

With a building that’s 17 years old, Cologne’s Lanxess Arena’s biggest challenge is maintenance and updating of facilities. “Our aim is to upgrade the arena without losing many production days,” says Löcher.

It’s a view shared by König-Pilsner Arena’s Brill, who says many German arenas are now approaching 20 years old and face the challenge of needing to modernise.

Terrorist attacks on entertainment venues create a complex balancing act of needing the audience to be and feel safe, with wanting to maintain a good vibe in

“We are seeing a large number of one-hit wonders. This strong fluctuation makes it very difficult to estimate the success or growth of an artist.”

Felix Frei, CEO at Zürich’s Hallenstadion

the arena, many CEOs remark. Hapka’s thoughts echo those of all his peers when he says: “We want to ensure the audience feels they are in a safe environment in which to enjoy themselves. We’re doing everything we can to protect them, but we also need to give them a good feeling when they come here.”

Concerns

The survey shows arenas in this region feel least concerned about their business, compared to other regions, where anxiety runs much higher. The most significant area of worry was market consolidation, with 25% of respondents remarking on that. Other matters including artist fees, competition, and political interference were of much less importance.

But one thing is on the mind of Hallenstadion’s Frei: “We are seeing a large number of one-hit wonders. This strong fluctuation makes it very difficult to estimate the success or growth of an artist.”

There is a note of caution: while the number of visitors and the number of shows have increased, the average per-event attendance has fallen.

“This is something we’ve noticed over the last few years,” reports Frei. “There’s more live entertainment on the road, but lower average attendance figures.”

Opportunities

To slightly misquote Oscar Wilde: to lose one sports team may be regarded as misfortunate, to lose two looks like a scary financial forecast. But at Hamburg’s Barclaycard Arena, they’ve seen it as an opportunity to increase breadth of content and foster closer relationships with promoters. And it’s really working.

“We’ve been promoting our own events to show proof of concept to promoters, and doing co-promotes to help mitigate the risk on other shows,” says the arena’s programme co-ordinator, Kai Müller.

41

REGIONAL PROFILES

Having celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016, the König Pilsener Arena has helped transform the former Neue Mitte industrial area of Oberhausen

“For example, in 2011 we organised a hip-hop festival that no one wanted to promote because the margins were so tight owing to high artist fees – it sold out.

“Our aim was to show that festivals can work in arenas. There used to be a good indoor festival market in Germany, but it fell away due to the strength of the outdoor season. We’re bringing it back because we can see there’s demand there.”

He adds that hosting niche family and children’s

shows, such as productions from TV adapted for theatre and at a small capacity, is also a successful formula.

“We ran an event at 3,000 configuration but did three performances. It sold around 8,000 tickets,” says Müller. “That equates to a solid concert date.”

The venue has also been experimenting with novel formats. “We promoted the first Matrix Live concert. Off the back of that several promoters thought if the arena can do it, so can we and booked

ARENA KNOWLEDGE IN A BALLROOM SPACE When the Berlin Music Hall opens in 2018 next door to the Mercedes-Benz Arena, it’ll fill a gap in the city’s music scene, says AEG’s Michael Hapka.

“There are many clubs in Berlin, and other venues of around 10,000 capacity but nothing in between.”

With a maximum capacity of 4,000 standing (2,500 seated), it’s hoped the venue will host around 100 events per year.

“It’ll be a multifunctional, flexible space able to offer completely seated or all-standing audience configurations, or a mixture, with high-quality acoustics,” says Hapka.

“We’re bringing all our expertise from the arena and applying it to the Berlin Music Hall. Much like the arena, you’ll be able to configure it for different sizes depending on what you want. It’ll feel intimate.”

42

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

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

55

PART TIME STAFF

62

VIP OVERVIEW

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

1

VOLUNTEERS

2016 VS 2017 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

n No Change n More Popular 50%

50%

similar events, such as BBC Planet Earth, which sold over 30,000 tickets to see a symphony orchestra play over clips from the show.”

He adds these home-promoted shows are not meant to compete with their promoter clients, but instead aim to help build the market and to fill days left open by the sports teams moving out of the arena.

Film score composer Hans Zimmer’s first tour in 2015 prompted an explosion of popularity in movie score performances. König-Pilsner Arena’s Brill and Strimitzer of Stadthalle Graz, in Austria’s second city, both count this genre as a key area of growth.

Brill adds: “We’ve seen about 7-10% growth in total shows and visitors in the last 12 months. A key reason for this is a significant increase in German talent. Artists are progressing from club- to arena-phase much more quickly than in the past, and demand for them is high.”

Other areas of growth, says Brill, are teenage soap stars touring and – conversely – a revival of the popularity of heavy metal.

However, there’s one part of the business in which he sees space: “I’m very interested to see what the next opportunities are in digital formats – what will be the next innovations. I don’t think that as an industry we’re focussed enough on what the next level of technological development will be. For example, for the first time this year we have a Ronnie James Dio tribute act where there’s a holographic ‘artist’ on tour. We need to watch for what’s the next step with digitalisation.”

For Mercedez-Benz’s Hapke, one source of next generation talent is YouTube. “We’re working on one show coming at the end of this year and a YouTube festival for 2018.”

To help bring this new entertainment format to realisation, the Mercedes-Benz Arena is co-promoting some YouTube artists with their agencies, or with promoters specialising in this sector.

Another burgeoning content format is e-sports.

Hamburg’s Barclaycard Arena hosted the League of Legends spring European finals, which attracted 14,000 people to a two-day event, and will host a Dota 2 tournament in October.

“It helps that AEG and ESL [Electronic Sports League] have a global joint venture to produce these

19 19

19 33

13 0

13 0

None

1–9

10–19

20–29

6

0

30–39

6

0

16

40–49

6

50+

6

25

No Answer

shows,” admits Schwenkglenks.

Löcher notes an increasing trend for comedy events.

“The best of these comedians establish themselves and the others disappear after a while but are quickly replaced by new ones coming through,” he says.

For Wiener Stadthalle’s Fischer, there’s been a reduction in the number of exhibitions but a corresponding increase in the number of music events.

Entertainment tax in Austria has been dropped and this is having a positive effect on the business.

“Firstly, this attracts more people to concerts and more event organisers,” he reports. “Secondly, it is a positive thing for the Viennese culture scene as well as an increase within the economy.

“Vienna is also a major hit among performers who love the atmosphere, audiences and the way that the city blends traditional and modern elements so effortlessly.”

Olympiahalle’s Hoch says an increase in domestic talent capable of arenas is a growing market for his venue.

Having the flexibility at an 18,000-capacity arena to offer configurations as small as 2,000 is an advantage for Lanxess Arena. But this doesn’t come without risk. “If we have a smaller theatre show booked that’s selling well, we might have to turn down a much larger full arena concert, which comes in last minute. It’s a real challenge for us to make the right call every time,” says Löcher.

Hapka agrees: “Flexibility is very important. With a maximum capacity of over 15,000 we can’t rely on only full-size arena bookings because there’s just not that many artists in the market that can pull that many people.”

Confident in its market, the aesthetically striking Stadthalle Graz is undergoing major facility upgrades, including expanding capacity to 14,500.

The company also spent €29m renovating its sports venues Merkur Arena and Merkur Ice Stadium, and Congress Graz, the historical city centre congress and concert venue.

VIP market

A decline in demand for VIP and hospitality facilities from corporations is being mainly offset by growth from individuals, who buy offers such as

43

REGIONAL PROFILES | GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA

COMPETITION HOTS UP AT ICE ARENA Global arena management firm AEG Facilities is expanding its reach in Europe with the signing of a long-term management deal for a new ice hockey and events arena in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Set to open in summer 2019, the city-owned venue will be home to the Lausanne Hockey Club Lions and will host other sporting contests, concerts, family shows and special events. It will have four possible configurations ranging from 4,000- to 11,500-capacity.

Following consultation on the operations and design of the construction, AEG Facilities will oversee the hiring and training of the venue’s staff, manage event operations, security, ticketing, guest services, marketing, public relations, finance, human resources, and overall event management.

“This state-of-the-art new arena will be located in one of the most important regions for national and Olympic federations, and we believe will deliver world-class sports competitions and entertainment events that will establish Lausanne as one of Europe’s busiest gateway markets,” says Bob Newman, president, AEG Facilities.

AEG owns or operates arenas including The O2 (London), MercedesBenz Arena (Berlin), AccorHotels Arena (Paris), The SSE Hydro (Glasgow), Barclaycard Arena (Hamburg), and Friends Arena, Tele2 Arena and the Ericsson Globe, in Stockholm.

VIP parking or speedy entry, up to the full hospitality package.

However, it involves significantly more work to service all these individual requests rather than a one-off corporate box sale.

“Some company directors don’t feel it’s appropriate to be seen being treated to great seats at a concert or sports events these days, because it might look bad to their customers,” says Brill. “But they should remember that culture relies on this sort of funding and that it could be regarded as helping the creative sector, rather than a jolly.”

Frei agrees, referencing new anti-corruption laws in Switzerland having a negative impact on corporate hospitality packages.

To cater for the increasing number of individuals buying hospitality packages, the arena added a new VIP lounge called StarLounge, which can hold up to 60 people. People can either buy a year-long pass for CHF12,000 (€11,000), rent the whole space for special occasions, or buy access on a show-by-show basis.

Austrians are equally showing strong demand for pre-show dinner ticket packages, reports Strimitzer from Graz. “Our latest market research indicates that visitors are enjoying concerts, shows or fairs like they would a short vacation, and are also likely to treat themselves with food, drinks and merchandising products as if they were on holiday.”

Lanxess Arena’s Löcher reports: “A few years ago, I would have thought the VIP business would be shrinking but we’ve seen huge demand.” There’s been

44

such strong demand that the arena is combining 12–15 of its individual boxes to create one large-scale facility for 200-300 people.

“This means we can offer companies single boxes for staff or client entertaining, but if they want to network with a larger group of people, we can offer the larger room. It’s also available for individual ticket-holders who want that VIP experience.”

Technology

Having anywhere up to 15,000 people in a large room puts a strain on any Wi-Fi system, so the Mercedes-Benz Arena’s Internet speed upgrade work is typical of most.

“People want high-speed connections everywhere and that’s what we need to deliver,” says Hapka.

Like many venues across Europe, the Berlin arena is launching its own app, due for release after the summer.

“It’ll have useful information for customers such as parking, traffic conditions, way-finding, as well as food, beverage and merchandise sales opportunities,” says Hapka. “We want to provide our guests with convenience when it comes to getting to the venue, however they’re getting here, and give them great service when they’re here.

“We’ll also be able to target our marketing more efficiently as we segment our audiences more. For example, if we know they’re likely to be looking for a premium food experience, we can show them the best steak restaurant in the arena; if they’re into ice hockey, we can offer them the jersey of the day.”

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA | REGIONAL PROFILES

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REGIONAL PROFILES

NORDICS POPULATION: 5.6m (DK); 5.5m (FI); 5.3m (NO); 9.9m (SE) INTERNET USERS: 5.4m (DK); 5m (FI); 5m (NO); 8.9m (SE) GDP/CAPITA: €41,610 (DK); €37,323 (FI); €61,877 (NO); €44,376 (SE) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 7.3m (DK); 7.4m (FI); 5.8m (NO); 12.6m (SE)

D

espite their comparatively small population density, the Nordic countries have long been a must-stop on international tours.

2016 was a strong year financially and attendance-wise for the four countries that make up this bloc. This growth in entertainment is being catered for by an increasing number of arenas, which in turn, creates more competition.

The arenas surveyed hosted a total of 551 events in 2016, worth €109.3million.

Attendance

Nordic venues surveyed had slightly above average total attendance levels with 5,842, compared with a survey average of 5,826.

Music events drew an average attendance of 8,613 people (survey average: 7,359), whilst the average attendance for sporting events was 5,344 (4,662).

Comedy is very popular, drawing average audiences of 7,203 (survey average: 4,848). Whilst family shows draw an average audience of 4,669 (survey average: 5,157).

REGIONAL MAP n = Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway & Sweden

46

The largest number of events taking place at arenas in the Nordics are related to sport, which makes up 62% of content and accounts for 57% of ticket sales. Second is music, making up 19% of all events held, but 28% of tickets sold. Family shows occupy 12% of programming and sell 10% of tickets.

There was an average of 92 performances per venue surveyed, with an average of 57 sporting events, 17 music events, and 11 family events per venue.

In Stockholm, AEG operates the largest entertainment district in the region, comprising the Ericsson Globe (cap. 16,000), Tele2 Arena (40,000), Hovet (9,000) and Annexet (3,500). 2016 was a record-breaking year for the company, with 2.1 million visitors attending 300 events across their four arenas.

“Demand for events is very high,” reports Marie Lindqvist, CEO of AEG Sweden. “Ticket sales are very good, prices are strong, and there are a lot of shows coming here.”

One of Norway’s top promoters, Peer Osmundsvaag of Atomic Soul, frequently books shows into arenas and says the arenas business is healthy: “Everything we do

New arenas are set to challenge the Gatorade Center in Finland

NORDICS | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

104

8,613

895,802

€62.15

€55,674,065

FAMILY

68

4,669

317,494

€28.87

€9,166,058

4

7,203

28,810

€57.07

€1,644,187

SPORT

341

5,344

1,822,205

€21.03

€38,320,981

DANCE

7

3,347

23,426

€52.81

€1,237,101

27

4,864

131,339

€24.93

€3,274,276

551

5,842

3,219,076

€33.96

€109,316,667

COMEDY

MISCELLANEOUS TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 7

seems to be on or above target,” he reports. “We’ve had some of our strongest results last year and this year.”

CEO of Hartwall Arena – one of Finland’s two arenas – Kimmo Kivisilta says: “Over the 20 years the arena has been open, we’ve welcomed 16.5 million visitors. With a population of 5 million, that means Finns have been here many times each.

“2016 was a good year for us. We had a lot of very successful events such as the Figure Skating World Championships and Disney on Ice. But what made a significant difference was the success of local artists.

We hosted a lot of domestic acts that sold out, some of which even managed two nights.

“The development of Finnish artists to arena-level is a trend we’ve noticed for the last two-and-a-half years, and this is a growth area for us.”

In February 2017, a brand new arena opened in Copenhagen – the 16,000-capacity Royal Arena – operated by Live Nation subsidiary Danish Venue Enterprise. CEO Dan Hammer says: “The first four

months after opening have been brilliant in both the quality and the quantity of the events, and we believe we can stay at this high level. Reservations for 2018 are in line with this high expectation.

“People are enjoying live entertainment as much in Denmark as in the rest of the world, and we can see that reflected in the arena business.”

Ticket prices

Scandinavian countries have some of the highest living costs in the world, and this is reflected in the highest average music concert ticket price in Europe: €62.15, compared to a survey average of €54.01, and a Nordic average of €33.96.

The most popular category of events, sport, also has the cheapest average ticket price, at €21.03.

Comedy shows attract an average ticket price of €57.07 (total average: €43.60), and dance shows also have a surprisingly high average price of €52.81, considering they make-up just 1% of events and an

With a capacity of 16,000, the Ericsson Globe arena in Sweden’s capital city is the largest hemispherical building on Earth

47

REGIONAL PROFILES

average attendance of 3,347.

“This is a good market, with a strong appetite for events,” says Lindqvist. “If demand is high, the market will bear high prices.”

Osmundsvaag acknowledges the higher than average ticket prices but points to the fact that living costs in the country are also very high. He refers to The Economist’s Big Mac index, which uses the price of a Big Mac to analyse purchasing power parity, and which shows the Norwegian Kroner is almost 40% above Eurozone levels.

“This is one of the most expensive countries in Europe. If not the world,” he says.

Conversely, in Finland, ticket prices are lower than its fellow Nordic countries, says Kivisilta. “Because we host many local concerts and events, our ticket prices are very reasonable. But even the more expensive international shows sell out well, so I don’t think the ticket prices are too high. Our service fees are lower in Finland than the rest of the Nordic countries, so tickets are cheaper anyway.”

Challenges

This is a competitive market. With 26m people, all arenas surveyed reported feeling either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about competition from other arenas.

As an example, for over two decades there were only two major multipurpose arenas in Finland – the Gatorade Center in Turku, and the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Now there are two new arenas due to open, which will increase competitiveness in the country (see breakout). And in Denmark, the new 16,000-capacity Royal Arena opened in Copenhagen in February 2017.

“With the sector growing, the challenge is always keeping control of costs associated with growth for us and for promoters,” says Lindqvist.

Regarded as an expensive country by much of Europe, Norway’s currency is heavily linked to oil, and recent fluctuations have seen it suffer losses on the exchange markets lately. This has a significant impact on promoters booking international artists into arenas.

“The fall in exchange rate means there’s been a 50% increase in costs from that alone,” says Osmundsvaag.

The short summer period is the only quiet period for the Hartwall Arena, reports Kivisilta. “I would like to fill the gaps in the programme between mid-June and early-August. We have the Volleyball World Championships this summer, which is great because that’s usually a quiet time for us. But I realise that with a short summer here people will want to be outside, so we may struggle to fill that six-week period.”

VIP market

Strong economies in the region mean arenas are experiencing good growth in VIP sales. All arenas reported increasing business in this sector.

“We’ve had quite a tough economic situation in Finland for the last three years, so the VIP market has been affected by that. But now it’s starting to pick up again,” says Hartwall’s Kivisilta.

Opportunities

Comedy is very strong in the region now and there’s also a growing demand for films accompanied by live orchestral performance, such as La La Land,

A ROYAL WELCOME Copenhagen’s 16,000-capacity Royal Arena is a welcome addition to the country’s concert infrastructure. Until it opened, the 55,000-cap. Parken Stadium, operated by football team FC Copenhagen, was the Danish capital’s largest entertainment venue, with no 10–20,000-capacity arena in the region.

“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,” says CEO Dan Hammer.

“Now Copenhagen is up to speed in the global competition between attractive cities to live in and visit.”

The 16 VIP suite, four-restaurant venue, expects to host 60-80 events per year. With a potential audience of 4m people

48

“We’ve had our share of challenges but we have been able

within 90 minutes of travel, Hammer is confident of hitting this

to either contain them to a degree that the audience has not

target. He describes the opening months of the arena business

noticed anything, or we’ve quickly adjusted to constructively

as “brilliant” and says 2018 is shaping up to be the same.

deal with the consequences.

As one might expect, it’s not all been plain sailing: “In a

“I think that it is fair to say that all in all it has been a very

brand new and complex building – and especially a new venue

satisfactory opening of the Royal Arena – from the guests’, the

– you always face some teething problems.

artists’, the promoters’ and the venue’s points of view.”

NORDICS | REGIONAL PROFILES

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices

17%

Lack of suitable headliners

17%

50%

Competition

and the works of film score composers such as Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer, reports Lindqvist.

“We’re also seeing growth in classical music concerts,” she reports. Adding that e-sports have been popular in Nordic arenas for over six years, and are continuing to go from strength to strength.

“We’re creating strategic partnerships with big names in e-sports to grow this sector further,” she says.

In Finland, Kivisilta says helping local promoters is paying dividends. “We've been investing effort in helping promoters grow their events – getting the 5,000 events to 7,000, and the 7,000 events to 9,000. To do this we’ve been using our own channels to help promoters market their shows, such as through digital signage and our media partners.

“Social media is an important part of that mix. Our social media audience has been growing nicely, we’re at about 20,000 Facebook followers and use Twitter and Instagram to communicate with our fans.”

YouTube stars are taking off in the region, with Norwegian promoter, Peer Osmundsvaag, launching the largest gathering of YouTube’s elite in Europe. The 2 July outdoor festival – Oslo Sommertid – takes place in Voldsløkka Idrettspark, and has already sold 35,000 tickets.

“I have three kids: nine, ten and 14, and every day they spend every spare moment watching YouTube,”

75%

100%

50% 33%

Production costs Lack of suitable content

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR VERY WORRYING

17%

says Osmundsvaag. “Kids want a good show with some of their idols, but they really want to see YouTube stars doing entertaining things on stage, so Oslo Sommertid will be a mix of music acts such as Lisa & Lena, plus the biggest names from YouTube in Norway.

“Our booking agency is also signing domestic YouTube acts and touring them,” he adds.

Creating good relationships with local authorities is crucial for successful business, says AEG’s Lindqvist.

“If you want to build something strategically, you have to ensure the city is interested, because that way local authorities understand the value of live entertainment, and the benefits it brings.

“When you have big events, whether music or sports or whatever, it’s key to have the support of the hosting city, because it means you can co-ordinate the decoration of the city, and a host of other activities.

“It’s working very well for us in Stockholm because we have politicians that understand the value of events. They have a clear strategy for how to attract events and how to work together with organisers so the venues have great events.

“We’ve been working hard on this because it’s up to us as an industry to show how much value it adds to a region or city, when you get a big event, in terms of job creation and making the city a better place to live and work in.

Norway’s Telenor Arena was one of a select number of European venues to host Roger Waters’ The Wall tour

49

REGIONAL PROFILES | NORDICS

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

20

PART TIME STAFF

118

VIP OVERVIEW

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

VOLUNTEERS 1 0

2016 VS 2017 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

n No Change n No Answer n More Popular

17%

17%

0 66%

0

17 83

None

1–9

0

17

10–19

“A great example is Eurovision [Stockholmhosted the finals in 2016] – it was a huge commitment, but the city did it, it was very successful, and we were able to measure all the benefits.”

Technology

At the largest venue in the region, the 25,000-capacity Telenor Arena in Oslo, technology is playing an increasingly important role.

“More and more arenas are investing in apps to engage with their customers and improve their experience, but also to monetise through the use of customer data.

“We have used mobile technology for four years already for the sale of food and drinks. We will be launching our own Telenor Arena app in the fall,”

0

0

20–29

17

0

33 0

33 0

30–39

40–49

50+

0

0

No Answer

says CEO Gullik Jensen.

Hartwall Arena has also launched an app, says Kivisilta: “We wanted to gather our own data on visitors so we can further help promoters with targeted marketing, and understanding the profiles of different shows.

“Through the app, we’ve been running competitions for ticket holders to win an upgrade to VIP by entering their email – it’s proved popular and we’ll be continuing with that.

“The app is integrated with Ticketmaster, so people can buy tickets direct through it. It also has maps of the arena and seating areas, parking information and details about restaurants.

“In phase two, later this year, it will have new features such as being able to order food and drinks.”

ARENA BOOM IN FINLAND Within the next three to four years, Finland will have two more arenas: the 10,500-capacity Garden Helsinki, and the 11,000-capacity Tampere Arena, which is being built as part of an urban development on top of railway tracks in the centre of the city.

Tampere Central Deck and Arena will comprise a multi-purpose ice hockey arena, four office blocks topped by residential towers, and a hotel with residential condominiums on top.

Garden Helsinki will be a major ice rink and concerts venue, being built as part of a redevelopment of the area and will include apartments, sports facilities, restaurants, services and shops.

With the number of major arenas set to double, one could

Equally, Gatorade Center’s Toni Autio says: “It'll be interesting to see how this affects our place in the Finnish market. We have made several huge updates to our arena to

forgive existing operators for being nervous, but the response

keep up with the demands of the customers. At the moment,

has been quite the contrary. "I'm not worried about the new

Turku region and south-west Finland are experiencing

arenas opening,” says Hartwall Arena’s Kivisilta. “We've been

significant economic growth and we’re feeling the positive

here for 20 years, we have our business plans made, and I'm

effects of that.

confident in our offer in the market. I think it will be interesting to see how they fare here.

“I welcome them – they will keep us awake, and we will

50

have to get better and better in all areas in the future.”

“Hopefully, with an updated arena, a growing Turku region, professional crew, and extremely good service, we'll prove our worth in the market.”

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Flexible layout from 3–15.500 capacity

The preferable music scene in South Sweden

Prefered partner

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South Sweden’s leading venue

Venue and hotel in direct access

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

REGIONAL PROFILES

SOUTHERN EUROPE POPULATION: 62m (IT); 10.8m (PT); 48.6m (ES) INTERNET USERS: 40.5m (IT); 7.4m (PT); 37.9m (ES) GDP/CAPITA: €32,458 (IT); €25,483 (PT); €32,637 (ES) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 92.5m (IT); 11.7m (PT); 50.9m (ES)

T

he Italians, Spanish and Portuguese love going to events. Arenas we surveyed reported the highest average attendance and there’s a tangible feeling of optimism in the industry.

As the economies of these countries recover, people are going out more and more – even those who are struggling are foregoing other expenditure to enjoy themselves.

But the economic growth levels of some other European countries isn’t shared here, and the long, hot summers mean there are long periods when people don’t want to be indoors and arena concerts are not viable.

The arenas surveyed hosted a total of 286 events, worth €90million.

REGIONAL MAP n = Italy Portugal & Spain

Attendance

With the largest average attendance (9,434, compared to a survey average of 5,826) these are countries with passionate fans.

The majority of events and programmes were music (43%), followed by miscellaneous events such as exhibitions and corporate functions (23%), and family shows (19%).

The highest average attendances were for sports events, which drew 12,060 (survey average: 4,662) and family events 10,291 (survey average: 5,157).

Music event attendances averaged 8,334 tickets (survey average: 7,359).

Comedy shows made up just 2% of programming and were attended by an average 5,620 people per show (survey average: 4,848). Dance productions attracted an average of 7,500 people (4,758).

The venues surveyed hosted an average of 32 events in 2016. The average number of music events per venue was 14, followed by seven miscellaneous events, six sporting events, three family shows, and one comedy show.

And while they may have the least average number of events, they certainly pull in the crowds, indicating that less is more for this European region.

“Ticket sales are booming,” 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 (capacity 12,000) and Pala Alpitour (cap. 13,347).

“In the period January-July 2016, we sold over 2

“Attendance levels are high here because Spanish people love to party... [and] people from across Europe love to come here and party with us.”

Isidro Sevilla, La Nueva Cubierta (ES)

52

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

15.8%

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

MUSIC

123

8,334

1,025,113

€43.74

€44,843,549

FAMILY

26

10,291

267,558

€30.82

€8,245,357

6

5,620

33,717

€22.48

€757,924

SPORT

53

12,060

639,154

€33.84

€21,628,970

DANCE

12

7,500

90,000

€22.50

€2,025,000

MISCELLANEOUS

66

9,737

642,617

€19.76

€12,694,905

286

9,434

2,698,159

€33.43

€90,195,705

COMEDY

TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 6

Palau Sant Jordi is part of Barcelona’s Olympic Ring complex

53

REGIONAL PROFILES

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS

FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY RESPONDENTS AS WORRYING OR VERY WORRYING

25%

Industry consolidation

50%

100%

33% 11%

Production costs

33%

State of economy

56%

Licensing regulation

56%

Political interference Lack of suitable content

75%

22%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Competition

44% 22%

million tickets. Audiences here are very passionate, and our ticket sales are increasing year-on-year.”

However, the arena season in Italy – as in much of southern Europe – is shorter than more northerly contemporaries. “From June-September it’s very hot, so people don’t like to go to arenas,” says De Luca, whose recent sold-out arena shows include Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Green Day. Portugal’s MEO Arena (cap. 20,000) in Lisbon has recently hosted Muse, Adele, Il Divo, Justin Bieber, Elton John, Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai, and Bruno Mars. CEO, Jorge Vinha da Silva says: “Business has been growing in the last few years, with more shows and ‘meeting industry’ events, which is also a significant income for us.

“It’s been growing because there’s a better economic environment, tourism is growing, there are better flight connections, and more quality accommodation offered. This all adds up to more confident behaviour from local operators and customers.”

The 17,000-capacity Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona reports strong business. The venue’s Teresa Sala Miró says: “2016 was a great year for the Spanish concerts

market. We hosted more concerts compared to previous years. Big arena tours and festivals in 2016 helped the Spanish market to achieve very strong attendance numbers.

“As a result, income and attendance were both higher than in 2015.”

The strength of the business in 2016 could be difficult to repeat in 2017, she says: “2016 was a glorious year for concerts and it seems 2017 will struggle to reach that level of concerts, but our venue has many requests for corporate events, and that will balance the results.”

Forumnet owns Milan’s Mediolanum Forum (12,700) and the 10,500-capacity PalaLottomatica in Rome. Despite national slow economic growth and unemployment at around 11%, the company is showing growth.

“Consumers’ purchasing habits have been changing and people want to spend money having a bit of fun, such as with a ticket for a big event – and are prepared to give up other daily benefits to pay for this,” reports Francesca Battistoni.

“At Mediolanum Forum, we had 10% income growth and a 15% increase in EBITDA. At

HIRE COMPANY TAKES ON VENUE Grupofriends’ decision to acquire La Nueva Cubierta Espacio in Madrid means the company can now offer clients the full package of services from artist booking and venue hire to production services, and from equipment and dressing room rental to a ticketing platform.

The former bullfighting ring has a retractable roof, which means it can host events whatever the weather, says commercial manager Isidro Sevilla.

Situated just outside the city, it has a licence until 6am.

“Although we can book shows ourselves, we’re not looking to compete with our promoter clients,” he adds. “We are organising shows other people might not do. In the past, we relied on customers organising events at other venues to engage us for production or hire services. Now we have our own venue, we can offer every element of their requirements.

“We are investing in improving the acoustics and will be increasing capacity to 12,500,” he says.

54

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

PalaLottomatica results were the same as 2015.”

Ticket sales in Italy are on the rise because people are more prepared to spend money on experiences they don’t have every day, suggests Live Nation’s De Luca.

Spanish production and hire company of 22 years Grupofriends bought the 10,200-capacity La Nueva Cubierta arena in Madrid in March, adding venue owner to its portfolio.

“It’s our ambition to host 52 events a year,” says commercial manager Isidro Sevilla. “Summer is quiet, but we are almost fully booked every weekend from October-December.

“Attendance levels are high here because Spanish people love to party. But also because people from across Europe love to come here and party with us.”

Ticket prices

Arenas surveyed from these countries sold a total of 2,698,159 tickets to 286 events in 2016.

Well-publicised economic problems in all three countries following the global financial crisis means it’ll be a surprise to no one that this area has the second lowest average ticket price, at €33.43 (survey

ANUNCIO_ENTRETENIMENTO_B2B_132X184_AF.pdf

1

average: €44.34).

Across Europe, the highest ticket prices are for music events and it’s the same story here. Reaching an average €43.74, it’s below the survey average for music events of €54.01.

Sporting events achieve the second highest average ticket price of €33.84 (survey average: €30.74), followed by family events at €30.82 (€45.02). Comedy reaches an average €22.48 here (€43.60) and dance events average €22.50 (€39.38).

“The economy is hard,” says Sevilla. “But when you’re at the bottom, the only way is up.”

From Italy, De Luca says: “Two or three years ago ticket prices here were well below European averages.

But now it’s drawing close to being on the same level.”

Technology

Technology is helping communication with fans, with social media a significant area of rapid growth. From Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi’s Miró says: “Social media activity has increased 20% this year compared to 2016, and it’s clear we still have plenty more growth ahead.”

24/05/2017

17:55

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

55

REGIONAL PROFILES

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

19

PART TIME STAFF

28

VIP OVERVIEW

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

VOLUNTEERS 8

2016 VS 2017 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers

n No Change n No Answer n More Popular

11%

33% 56%

11 11

22 78

22 0

33 0

0

None

1–9

10–19

20–29

30–39

Digital media formats have been a real boost for the arenas business, says Live Nation’s De Luca. “Through video clips, interviews and other multimedia formats we’re able to give potential ticket buyers a much better idea of what to expect at a show. This helps them to make-up their minds to buy a ticket.”

Challenges

The national economic situation is something that 56% of arenas report as something they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about.

MEO Arena’s Da Silva says: “We have different

0

0

0

40–49

0

0

50+

11 11 No Answer

scopes of analysis: one is more related to business – the way is to keep investing in the buildings to improve the customer experience and additional income sources; the other is related to security and how all the recent events and global environment in Europe could affect us all and the industry, not only immediately, but mainly in a medium- to long-term vision.

“The challenge is to reconcile these two perspectives without compromising the growth of the business overall.”

Security is in the minds of all those we spoke to.

Battistoni says: “Guaranteeing the security and safety

Built to host the ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Pala Alpitour, with its 12,300 seats, is Italy’s largest indoor arena

56

SOUTHERN EUROPE | REGIONAL PROFILES

for patrons and workers is so crucial (and sadly even more so after the most recent attacks).

“We continue talking to public authorities on this matter and are constantly working to implement tools for workers, and emergency procedures.”

Italy’s aging arena network is a challenge for the market, says De Luca. “Because they’re old, many of them are too small to get the major productions in, or they’re too small to get to the capacity to make the show work financially.” As a result, some shows just can’t tour as many venues as might be possible if the facilities were more modern."

With its spectacular wooden roof construction, the MEO Arena in Lisbon is among the most stunning live entertainment venues in Europe

Growth areas

“Pop and rock are still the most popular here, and family entertainment is doing very well,” reports Live Nation Italy’s De Luca. “We’re also seeing an increase in touring exhibitions, but I’m in two minds about how well they’ll do.”

YouTube stars look set to break through to arena level very soon, he reports.

“I did two shows in clubs with YouTube stars such as Cameron Dallas and the Dolan Twins, called Magcon. Ticket prices were as high as €152 for a meet-and-greet, and we sold out 2,900 each night.

“I think this type of event could grow to arenalevel soon – demand was very high, and it’s the same audience as One Direction.”

In a country with older arenas, creating a high quality consumer experience is key to being competitive, says De Luca. “Good customer service and facilities are very important. There’s been a significant change here in recent years towards much better food, drink, and a more welcoming atmosphere.”

Da Silva from the MEO Arena in Portugal says: “There is a general trend of major investment in building refurbishment across Europe, mostly related to premium lounges; food and beverage areas; premium seating; and communications, to add value to the arena’s core business and boost income.

“Our task now is to improve the attendees’ experience and maximise turnover through audience engagement.”

There’s a growing trend not only for more concerts and shows but also a significant increase in the number of private and corporate big events, says Battistoni from PalaLottomatica and Mediolanum Forum.

Performances by local artists is a key area of growth at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi. “Our venues are hosting more and more Spanish music concerts,” says Miró .

VIP market

Economic problems have held back growth of the VIP and hospitality market in these three countries for many years, as audiences and companies were fiscally conservative, preferring instead to save money, or not to be seen to be splashing out on corporate entertainment while making cutbacks or raising prices.

However, as growth has returned to the national

economies, this sector is steadily rising.

From Portugal, Da Silva says: “We’ve added four premium VIP boxes called The Sound Boxes, which enhance the customer experience. It’s like being in a studio, as they are fully coated with acoustic material.

They also have larger areas than the standard boxes.”

These stage-front view boxes have 12 seats each, or have the flexibility of converting into two larger spaces of 24 seats each.

Battistoni says: “Interest in corporate hospitality and VIP packages is going up and up.”

Live Nation Italy’s De Luca agrees: “It’s something we want to increase. We have very different types of audiences here: some just want to see the show; others want the food and drinks, parking, meet-and-greet and so on.”

Madrid’s La Nueva Cubierta Espacio currently has a limited VIP offer. “We have an area for them, which has great views of the stage, but we want to invest more in this part of our business in the future,” says Sevilla.

As a local authority-owned building, Palau Sant Jordi has a small VIP offer, explains Miró. “We don’t have Sky Boxes, only one VIP box, which is only for sponsorship and other sales commitments.

“We receive requests from companies interested in VIP tickets, but our venue is managed by a municipal company and we’re not planning any investment related to luxury.”

57

REGIONAL PROFILES

UK & IRELAND POPULATION: 60.4m (UK); 4.9m (IE) INTERNET USERS: 59m (UK); 3.9m (IE) GDP/CAPITA: €37,900 (UK); €61,900 (IE) ACTIVE SMARTPHONES: 80.3m (UK); 4.9m (IE)

The impact of the terrorist attack on Manchester Arena was felt around the world, but nowhere as keenly as in the UK and Ireland.

For the close-knit arenas business, the feeling of empathy and sadness was palpable. Many of our interviews for this report took place before the attack, but all those that happened subsequently were extremely shocked and upset at what had happened. As an industry we feel a powerful sense of solidarity and deep sympathy for all those affected.

You can read more about how the industry is responding to security matters in the dedicated feature on page 6.

A

s one of the most popular touring markets in the world, the UK and Ireland enjoys an enviable position in Europe.

This is the home of some of the most famous arenas in the world (“hello Wembley!”) and the top ticket-selling arena in the world (The O2); a testament to the enthusiasm with which people here approach live entertainment.

But a competitive market, high ticket prices, and

REGIONAL MAP n = UK & Ireland

58

the uncertainties of Brexit looming, mean it’s not always plain sailing.

Ticket prices here are the second highest of all those we surveyed. The arenas sold 11,072,886 tickets worth almost €555million.

Attendance

Music rules the roost as far as events go in the UK and Ireland, making up 53% of performances. The family category is the second largest at 25% of shows, while sport makes up 15%. Only a handful of comedy, dance and miscellaneous shows take place.

After a 4% fall in the total number of events in 2015, 2016 continued in that vein with a 6% drop in the number of events across all NAA members.

Average attendance also fell to 5,412 – a drop of 7% compared to 2015.

The NEC Group operates Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena (cap. 15,800) and Genting Arena (13,928), as well as the National Exhibition Centre and the International Convention Centre. Arenas general manager Guy Dunstan says the venues’ performance in 2016 mirrored the national picture. “The number of shows and attendance was slightly down, although we did see an increase in the number of concerts.

“However, 2017 looks fantastic in terms of the number of shows: concerts are looking really buoyant, and comedy is back in a big way.”

Despite the fall in attendance, this is still a busy market, as John Drury, general manager of the globally renowned SSE Arena Wembley (12,000) remarks: “The market here has been strong for years and is well established. American artists also no doubt consider a European tour to be incomplete without UK and Irish dates, whereas they can sometimes bypass other countries.”

And at the world’s top-ticket-selling arena, London’s The O2 (20,000-capacity), general manager John Langford says: “Content is the foundation of our business and 2017 certainly appears to be a healthy arena touring year. The early indication is that 2018 will be just as strong in terms of the content mix and number of tours.”

Recent shows at The SSE Arena Belfast (15,000) include Jason Derulo, Slipknot, Dynamo, Muse, Little Mix, Status Quo and Biffy Clyro.

CEO Neil Walker says 2016 was a successful year,

UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

PERFORMANCE GENRE

2016 KEY STATISTICS

PERCENTAGE OF TICKETS SOLD THROUGH IN-HOUSE BOX OFFICES

57.8%

PERFORMANCES

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

EVENT ATTENDANCE

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE

TOTAL SPEND

BY GENRE

1,087

6,482

7,046,021

€53.06

€373,861,874

510

3,947

2,013,172

€44.85

€90,290,764

65

5,539

360,042

€50.75

€18,272,132

SPORT

304

4,091

1,243,545

€48.37

€60,150,272

DANCE

35

2,874

100,575

€52.37

€5,267,113

MISCELLANEOUS

45

6,878

309,531

€22.20

€6,871,588

2,046

5,412

11,072,886

€50.10

€554,713,743

MUSIC FAMILY COMEDY

TOTAL

NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ARENAS: 20

The Royal Albert Hall, at 146 years old, is one of the most iconic and historic arenas in the world

59

REGIONAL PROFILES | UK & IRELAND

2016 INDUSTRY CONCERNS 25%

75%

100%

13% 38%

Competition 13%

Shortage of skills / Trained personnel Industry consolidation Production costs

50%

25%

Artist fees / Ticket prices Lack of suitable headliners

13% 6% 25%

State of economy Licensing regulation

6%

Lack of suitable content

6%

The SSE Hydro has had a massive positive impact on the city’s finances, as well as the Glasgow skyline

adding: “2017 is shaping up to be even bigger – we’re likely to have a record number of shows, helped by increasing numbers of shows in our intimate theatre format.”

Over the border, at the 3Arena (14,500) in Dublin, general manager Cormac Rennick says 2016 was “a tough year” but “2017 is shaping up to be much better – we’re expecting to be 15-20 performances up on 2016. The growth is largely driven by multiple nights of comedy shows, a genre which has come back in a big way this year, and there are more bands coming through.”

In Glasgow, The Scottish Event Campus (SEC) includes the SSE Hydro (13,000) and 3,000-seat SEC Armadillo.

Head of sales and ticketing Debbie McWilliams says: “2016 was strong, with Adele and Justin Bieber leading the way on the international stage. 2017 is maintaining this strength with Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Drake and Take That delivering huge success so far.

“The second half of the year is shaping up to continue the pattern. As a result, we returned to our position of No 2 with Pollstar, based on ticket sales.”

60

“The potential impact of Brexit isn't yet known… but we are sure the that live entertainment is and will always be part of people’s lives.”

Neil Walker, SSE Arena Belfast

London’s iconic venue, the 6,030-capacity Royal Albert Hall, had a very successful 2016, reports artistic and commercial director, Lucy Noble.

“Last year was one of our most successful ever: we reached 195,000 people through our education and outreach programme; invested £8.4m [€9.6m] in the building; and held 1,000 events across all our spaces, welcoming an incredibly diverse selection of performers and stars, ranging from Iggy Pop, Chvrches and Björk, to Bryn Terfel, Daniel Barenboim and Tim Peake.

“We promoted 650 shows ourselves, including 55 in the auditorium, such as José Carreras, Guy Barker’s

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REGIONAL PROFILES

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

62

PART TIME STAFF

236

VIP OVERVIEW

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

VOLUNTEERS 1

2016 VS 2017 Popularity of VIP Activities / Offers 12%

50%

n No Change n Less Popular n More Popular

38%

31 13

19 88

13 0

19 0

None

1–9

10–19

20–29

Big Band Christmas and our pioneering Films in Concert series to the main stage.

“Over the past five years, we’ve changed the hall from predominantly an evening venue to a 24-hour one, with tours, exhibitions, and meals accompanied by live music throughout the day.”

Alexandra Palace’s standing-only 10,000 capacity means the London landmark depends heavily on the right kinds of acts touring for the concerts side of its programme; but when they come in, sales are strong, says head of event operations, Simon Fell.

“Most of our shows sell out, and we’ve not noticed any drop in attendance or spend per person.”

On the north-east coast of Scotland, Aberdeen’s GE Oil and Gas Arena (8,500) missed some major tours in 2016 because the productions were larger than the venue could accommodate, says Anna Mackenzie. But this will soon change, when the company’s new arena opens in 2019.

“With a capacity of 12,500 and 20m ceilings – double what we have at the moment – we’ll be able to bring in the big productions,” she says.

Demand is there for the capacity increase, Mackenzie adds: “For the second year, we have an outdoor show in the grounds – this time it’s for Olly Murs, and we’ll have 16,000 people in for that. We build a special standalone arena outside.” The first such show last year with Elton John had similar sales.

The Brighton Centre (4,500) had a "very strong year" in 2016, with performances from acts such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Placebo, 5SOS and Little Mix, says revenue and commerce manager Rebecca Esteves.

"2017 is shaping up to be the strongest business year we have ever had with big comedy acts filling multiple dates in the diary and a move into strongly branded theatre productions, such as Mamma Mia! and War Horse."

Ticket prices

Average ticket prices in the UK and Ireland are €50.10, compared with a survey average of €44.34.

As across Europe, music commands the highest average price, at €53.06 (survey average: €54.01).

Dance events achieve the next highest average price, costing €52.37 (€39.38), followed by comedy at

62

6

0

30–39

6

0

40–49

6

0

50+

0

0

No Answer

€50.75 (€43.60).

Sports events are the most expensive among all arenas surveyed, commanding an average €48.37 (€30.74). Family events achieve an average ticket price of €44.85 (€45.02).

Perhaps it’s time to shake-up ticket price structure, suggests Rennick from Dublin. “There’s been a long debate about dynamic ticket pricing, and maybe we’re not ready for that, but perhaps there’s scope to have six to seven price tiers, rather than two or three.

“Ticket prices are high, and probably higher in Ireland than mainland UK because of the transport costs getting them over the Irish Sea. I would certainly like to see them level off.

“Some sectors have definitely got it right, especially comedy – but that’s probably due to needing less production than a music event.”

Challenges

The impact of the UK leaving the European Union – aka Brexit – is the big unknown.

That no one knows what’s going to happen after Brexit is one of the biggest challenges of the matter, according to Rennick. Sharing a border with Northern Ireland could present problems if a ‘hard border’ is established when the UK leaves the EU, he explains.

“If you have a load of touring trucks having to stop to go through customs it will add time to an already tight touring schedule.

“Everything we do is on a tight schedule – shows need to get between here and Belfast as quickly as possible, usually so they can play the following night.

Anything that slows the physical process of getting from one date to another is a concern.”

In Northern Ireland, the only place in the UK to share a physical border with a European country, Walker is sanguine. “We believe that the potential impact of Brexit isn’t yet known within the entertainment industry, but we are sure that live entertainment is and will always be part of people’s lives,” he says.

Many arena staff acknowledge that the UK has traditionally been very strong, attracting the biggest touring artists because it’s a lucrative place to tour. But these days, as artists are able to get the same sorts of

UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

guarantee in many different territories, maybe there’ll come a time when artists bypass the UK in favour of other countries where they might be able to generate more income.

The increasing length of the European festival season is another challenge. To mitigate this, arenas and promoters are launching their own arena festivals, such as Bluesfest, which is at The O2 in London and 3Arena in Dublin this year, with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers headlining.

At The O2, Langford says an increase in business tax will increase costs for all venues in the UK. The tax is being re-valued for the first time in seven years.

As a result of rising property prices, businesses in London are expected to be hit hardest, with reports that The O2 will face a rise of 142%.

The challenge of attracting the biggest shows is ubiquitous. SSE Arena Belfast’s Walker says the company recognises it’s not always possible to get all the major shows, so is diversifying the business.

“We’ve been bringing in new shows, like our pantomime this Christmas. Theatre-style shows have been hugely important to our recent businesses and

we pride ourselves in being a venue that caters for all tastes and genres.”

With a venue as famous as the Royal Albert Hall, securing artists is less of a problem than finding enough free days to cope with demand.

Noble says: “We’re at about capacity in terms of the number of shows on the main stage. Over the next couple of years, we will develop part of the basement, opening up some new spaces and allowing us to improve backstage areas for artists. That will allow us a greater flexibility while giving performers here the best possible experience – though, of course, ensuring that the venue runs smoothly while conducting major building work is always a challenge.”

For Wembley’s Drury, the arena’s unique position in the UK market is a challenge and an opportunity.

“We are one of the most famous venues in the world, but at the same time we’re not the biggest in the UK, or even in London,” he says. “As a result, we find ourselves on tours that include other arenas in the UK, and sometimes on tours where we’re the only arena as part of a tour of smaller venues outside of London.

“That gives us an opportunity as well as a

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

REGIONAL PROFILES

challenge in positioning. Fortunately for us though, we now feel like an intimate arena in the UK.”

VIP market

The strength of VIP business is highly dependent from show to show, remark many CEOs. NEC Group’s Dunstan reports “significant growth” in the hospitality market, thanks to a combination of refurbishment works across both arenas and the right shows coming through.

“Before our redevelopments, we were selling 500-600 hospitality packages; now we’re selling 2,500," he says. “With the right facilities and strong product you can generate the level of growth we have.”

Arenas need to adapt to the ever-increasing expectations of guests, which has been fuelled by the

staggering range of competitive VIP experiences available to customers right across the leisure sector, says The O2’s Langford. “We need to have a much better understanding of customers, and we must respond with a range of bespoke hospitality products in a world where ‘everyone is now a VIP.’ “We’ve invested significantly in enhanced customer experiences across our food and beverage offering and hospitality opportunities. Audiences expect a range of quality offerings and they’re willing to pay for it.”

SSE Arena Wembley’s Drury reports similar buoyancy. “There’s a healthy interest in an upgraded VIP experience that gives a special entrance and access to a dedicated lounge. We now put upgrades into our Heineken Lounge, while [commercial partners] SSE and Amazon populate lounges of their

First Direct Arena in Leeds claims to be the first arena in the UK with a fan-shaped orientation

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UK & IRELAND | REGIONAL PROFILES

own as well. There are always customers looking for an enhanced venue experience – ours are either paid-for upgrades or partner-driven free upgrades.”

With Ireland now emerged from recession, VIP business has rarely been stronger. “The market is great,” says Rennick. “We had a tough few years but it’s come back with the Irish economy.

“We have two offers, one aimed at companies and one at individuals, and have healthy waiting lists for both.”

Northern Ireland has a relatively small business community, but the appetite for entertaining clients is strong, reports Walker.

“Companies here really do like to entertain. We have many offerings available for corporate clients, from hiring a VIP suite on an annual basis, to taking a suite for a one-off event or entertaining guests in one of our lounges.

“We’ve recently introduced a ‘share a suite’ option whereby small businesses can avail of a smaller number of tickets for a show but still have the luxury of entertaining their suppliers or clients in a VIP suite.

This has proved to be hugely popular.”

When the new Aberdeen Arena opens in 2019, it will have a wide variety of VIP and hospitality options, says Mackenzie. “Our offer at the moment is limited so we’re very excited about the new opportunities we will have.

“We currently don’t have VIP boxes, so we can only offer catering packages, but the new venue will have custom-built boxes with brilliant views of the stage.

“We get a lot of enquiries, so we know there’ll be strong demand.”

Opportunities

Comedy is a reason to be cheerful for NEC Group’s Dunstan.

“After three or four years of very little activity, comedy has really come back in 2017 with a vengeance,” he says.

The traditional British Christmas family entertainment theatre show, pantomime, is gathering popularity in arenas. After its debut at the Barclaycard Arena in 2015, the 100-strong cast production returns to the venue in 2017, and has added shows at The SSE Arena Wembley.

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too,” says Dunstan. “It’s phenomenally successful.”

One venue that’s also clued up to the festive pantomime opportunity is Belfast’s SSE Arena, which has its own production booked for the winter. But CEO Walker says theatre shows aren’t just for Christmas: “We really want to develop our theatre business and explore new events with promoters. Dance music in particular has been a huge growth area for us recently and we want to continue to explore opportunities in these niche areas.”

There’s one sector that Dunstan has a close eye on: YouTube stars. “There’s nothing at arena-level yet, but as the father of a 14 year old, I know that’s very much what they’re into. We’ll start seeing product coming into arenas soon.”

Glasgow’s SEC is seeing “significant growth in country music popularity and ticket sales,” reports McWilliams. “An example of this is the C2C Festival.

Historically, we hosted it in our SEC Armadillo venue (cap. 3,000), over a weekend. This event has now moved into the SSE Hydro, with the potential to play to a much larger audience.”

In addition to conventional arena content, growth

is expected in new sectors including e.gaming and branded arena festivals, such as the in-house promoted C2C Festival, Hola! London Festival and Stone Free Festival, says The O2’s Langford. “We also believe that consumers will demand even more varied and quality experiences within the arena environment – from food to hospitality.”

Another arena investing in festivals is Alexandra Palace. The venue is undergoing a €30m renovation project that will see a 19th century theatre on the site restored, opening in 2018.

It also has a new licence allowing it to host outdoor events for up to 50,000 people in the grounds around the building. With striking views across London’s skyline, there’ll be at least three spaces in which to host a festival: outdoors, the main hall, and the forthcoming restored theatre.

“We’re planning our own festivals from 2018,” says Fell. “It’s not our intention to compete with our concert hire clients; we’ve identified a few gaps in the market such as beer festivals, firework displays with additional entertainment such as laser shows, and street food festivals.”

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Comedy and e-sports are growth areas in Aberdeen, says Mackenzie. “This year is busier than previously for comedy – we have three nights with John Bishop – and this will be our second 4TG Game Con [gaming expo], which is proving very popular.”

Flexibility is key in a competitive market. Many arenas are investing in draping in order to offer many different capacity options to event organisers.

As Wembley’s Drury says: “We’ve increased our flexibility by adding a new draping system that will allow us create a ballroom format for all-standing, a fully seated theatre format, and a conference and banqueting space.

“The big bonus of it is that these smaller-capacity shows can be achieved without the added cost of hiring in drapes. It also means we can go onsale with smaller capacities within the drapes, and grow to full hall should sales allow.”

In order to get its brand out more, and reach wider audiences, the Royal Albert Hall is creating its own shows and touring them. “We’re already looking to curate more themed seasons and festivals around our productions, and the response has been fantastic so

far,” says Noble.

Other than shows, some arenas are creating other reasons for people to visit. The O2 is investing in a new designer outlet retail offering. “It’s a 205,000 square-feet development of 90 units, opening towards the end of 2018,” explains Langford. “It’s estimated it will bring an additional 5m people to the venue annually.”

Technology

Apps are one of the most popular pieces of technological investment for many arenas in the UK and Ireland.

SSE Belfast’s Walker explains: “We launched the first UK arena app back in September 2015 and to date we have had over 60,000 downloads.

“The app provides rich and personalised content, and gives users access to exclusive offers on food, drinks and merchandise. Arena-goers have the luxury of fast-tracking their food and drink orders by collecting from one of the express ‘app only’ lanes at every concession stand in the venue. And it also features an in-built loyalty system.

“The data that we’re getting from the app is rich and is already starting to assist us with key business decisions. Our digital technology is so important as it means we are now engaging with our customers on a deeper level and we are able to reward loyalty and monitor buying trends.

“Installation of Wi-Fi has helped customers to capture their memories and engage with us during events.

“The next steps in our digital journey will include the installation of beacons around the venue. We want to be able to target and communicate with our customers based on their location. For example, the customer at the merchandise stand will get a relevant merchandise message while the customer at the drink concession gets a message on our special drink offer for that evening.

“We believe we are currently leading the way with arena digital technology and we don’t want to stop there.”

High speed Wi-Fi is the top of every arena’s wishlist, as customers expect the same speed Internet connection as they get at home – quite a tall order when you have thousands of people all trying to use the connection at the same time.

The Brighton Centre's recent overhaul and upgrade of public Wi-Fi is typical of most venues that have invested in this facility.

Social media is also a key area of growth for all arenas. At the Royal Albert Hall, Noble says: “By the end of 2016, we had 361,000 followers across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, an increase of 13% year-onyear. The amount of interaction has shot up during that time: in the first quarter of this year, we had 195,000 interactions on Twitter – that’s likes, comments, click-throughs – which is a 93% increase.

In the same period, our Facebook engagement rose 144%. This is now the principal way a lot of people get in touch with the hall, so it’s crucial we get it right.”

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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

HASSELT

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

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

TALLINN

Saku Suurhall (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Martti Leetsar martti@sakuarena.com +372 50 99 603 sakusuurhall.ee

CROATIA

ZAGREB

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

BELGIUM

ANTWERP

ESTONIA

FINLAND

TURKU

Gatorade Center (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Toni Autio toni.autio@turku-areenat +358 (0)2 21900 turku-areenat.fi

CZECH REPUBLIC

PRAGUE

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

FRANCE

PARIS

Mercedez-Benz Arena (cap. 17,000) BOOKING: Aissata Hartmann-Sylla a.hartmann-sylla@mercedes-benzarena-berlin.de +49 (0)30 2060 7080 mercedes-benz-arena-berlin.de Velodrom (cap. 8,825) BOOKING: Patrick Wiechert patrick.wiechert@velomax.de +49 (0)30 4430 4769 velodrom.de

COLOGNE

Lanxess Arena (cap. 18,500) BOOKING: Stefan Löcher sloecher@lanxess-arena.de +49 221 802 2000 lanxess-arena.de

DÜSSELDORF

DENMARK

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

COPENHAGEN

GERMANY

HAMBURG

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

HERNING

Jyske Bank Boxen (cap. 15,000) BOOKING: Nicki Quist niq@mch.dk +45 9926 9922 mch.dk

BERLIN

Max-Schmeling-Halle (cap. 8,951) BOOKING: Patrick Wiechert patrick.wiechert@velomax.de +49 (0)30 4430 4769 max-schmeling-halle.de

ISS Dome (cap. 14,282) BOOKING: Manfred Kirschenstein kirschensteinm@d-cse.de +49(0)21 1892 7700 issdome.de

Barclaycard Arena (cap. 16,000) BOOKING: Ann-Kristin Schmanns a.schmanns@barclaycard-arena.de +49 (0)40 8816 3138 barclaycard-arena.de

LEIPZIG

Arena Leipzig (cap. 12,300) BOOKING: Iris Rackwitz i.rackwitz@arena-leipzig.de +49 (0)34 1234 1 122 arena-leipzig.de

DIRECTORY

MANNHEIM

SAP Arena (cap. 14,500) BOOKING: Melanie Gremm m.gremm@saparena.de +49 (0)621 1819 0204 saparena.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 1955 4450 hallenduo.de/de/home/schleyerhalle/ Porsche-Arena (cap. 7,500) BOOKING: Annette Breitmayer annette.breitmayer@in.stuttgart.de +49 (0)71 1955 4450 hallenduo.de/de/home/porschearena/

ITALY

THE NETHERLANDS

SPAIN

LIVORNO

ROTTERDAM

BARCELONA

NORWAY

MADRID

Amedeo Modigliani Forum (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Cecilia Fontanelli segreteria@palalivorno.com +39 393 9074 062 modiglianiforum.com

MILAN

Ahoy Arena (cap. 15,114) BOOKING: Jurgen Hoekstra j.hoekstra@ahoy.nl +31 (0)10 29 33 224 ahoy.nl

Mediolanum Forum (cap. 12,700) BOOKING: Mauro Gocilli mediolanumforum@forumnet.it +39 024 885 7215 mediolanumforum.it

OSLO

ROME

POLAND

PalaLottomatica (cap. 10,500) BOOKING: Sandro Cinquina palalottomatica@forumnet.it +39 065 40 901 palalottomatica.it

TURIN

Pala Alpitour (cap. 13,000) BOOKING: Federica Valle f.valle@parcolimpico.it +39 334 118 2729 palaalpitour.it

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

KATOWICE

Spodek Arena (cap. 8,000) BOOKING: Karolina Jarosz karolina.jarosz@mckspodek.pl +48 780 105 957 spodekkatowice.pl

KRAKÓW

LATVIA

Tauron Arena (cap. 20,400) BOOKING: Konrad Koziol konrad.koziol@tauronarenakrakow.pl +48 888 808 008 tauronarenakrakow.pl

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

RIGA

PORTUGAL

ICELAND

LITHUANIA

MEO Arena (cap. 20,000) BOOKING: Joao Amorim jamorim@meoarena.pt +351 21 891 8409 arena.meo.pt

REYKJAVIK

KAUNAS

SERBIA

HUNGARY

BUDAPEST

Laugardalsholl (cap. 10,000) BOOKING: Arna Hilmarsdóttir ish@ish.is +354 585 3300 ish.is IRELAND

DUBLIN

3Arena (cap. 14,000) BOOKING: Cormac Rennick cormac.rennick@3arena.ie +353 (0)1 819 8888 3arena.ie

Arena Riga (cap.13,147) BOOKING: Ģirts Krastiņš girts.krastins@arenariga.com +371 67 388 200 arenariga.com

Žalgirio Arena (cap. 17,500) BOOKING: Justinas Budnikas j.budnikas@zalgirioarena.lt +370 615 98636 zalgirioarena.lt

VILNIUS

Siemens Arena (cap. 12,500) BOOKING: Eglė Gudauskienė egle@siemensarena.lt +370 68745547 siemens-arena.com

LISBON

BELGRADE

Kombank Arena (cap. 18,000) BOOKING: Đorđe Milutinović djordje.milutinovic@ arenabeograd.com +381 (0)11 220 2222 kombankarena.rs

Palau Sant Jordi (cap. 17,960) BOOKING: Teresa Sala tsala@bsmsa.cat +34 93 4262089 palausantjordi.cat

La Nueva Cubierta (cap. 10,500) BOOKING: Isidro Sevilla isidro@grupofriends.com +34 675 668 546 la-cubierta.com Palacio Vistalegre (cap. 11,275) BOOKING: Mónica Pérez-Tomé monica@palaciovistalegre.com + 34 91 563 94 93 palaciovistalegre.com

PALMA

Palma Arena (cap. 8,500) BOOKING: Joan Llaneras jllaneras@palmaarena.es +34 971 763 299 palmaarena.es SWEDEN

GOTHENBURG

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

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

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DIRECTORY

SWITZERLAND

BASEL

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

GENEVA

BOURNEMOUTH

Bournemouth International Centre (cap. 6,200) BOOKING: Clare Tomkins entertainments@bhlive.org.uk +44 (0)1202 055621 bic.co.uk

BRIGHTON

Geneva Arena (cap. 8,500) BOOKING: Jean-Pierre Simonin j-p.simonin@geneva-arena.com +41 22 710 9090 geneva-arena.ch

Brighton Centre (cap. 5,515) BOOKING: Rebecca Esteves rebecca.esteves@brighton-hove. gov.uk +44 (0)1273 292667 brightoncentre.co.uk

ZÜRICH

CARDIFF

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

ABERDEEN

GE Oil & Gas Arena (cap. 8,500) BOOKING: Anna Mackenzie amackenzie@aecc.co.uk +44 (0)1224 330488 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

Barclaycard Arena (cap. 15, 892) BOOKING: Ian Congdon ian.congdon@necgroup.co.uk +44 (0)121 767 2560 barclaycardarena.co.uk

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

70

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

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. 11,100) BOOKING: Kay Wilson kay.wilson@accliverpool.com +44 (0)151 707 4780 echoarena.com

LONDON

Alexandra Palace (cap. 10,250) BOOKING: Lucy Fenner lucy.fenner@alexandrapalace.com +44 (0)20 8365 4199 alexandrapalace.com Royal Albert Hall (cap. 6,030) BOOKING: David Green progenquiries@royalalberthall.com +44 (0)20 7589 3203 royalalberthall.com The O2 arena (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@motorpoint arenanottingham.com +44 (0)115 853 3011 motorpointarenanottingham.com

SHEFFIELD

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