Photo credit: Klaus Zakowski
Wizard Promotions staged four record-breaking shows with Böhse Onkelz at the Hockenheimring in 2015
GERMANY Language: German Population (millions): 81 Currency: Euro (EUR) GDP/Capita (US$): 39,500 Music Revenue/Capita (US$): 17.3 Internet Users (millions): 69 Active Smartphones (millions): 58.6 Active Tablets (millions): 20.9
A
s the biggest live entertainment market in Europe, both in terms of volume and revenues, the importance of Germany for ticketing companies is massive. But the relationships between companies can be complex, with CTS Eventim having stakes in a number of promoters, while DEAG was a Ticketmaster Germany shareholder up until 2014. Live music ticketing is dominated by Eventim, which sources say has close to a 90% market share. However, at press time (August 2015), the formation of Live Nation Concerts Germany, led by German concert promoter Marek Lieberberg was announced. That deal could mean that starting in January, 2016, Lieberberg's 700 annual shows will funnel through Live Nation’s German platform, adding more than 2 million ticket sales to its local Ticketmaster operation. “Accessing Ticketmaster’s leading technology will enable us to reach more fans and provide them with a unique service,” says Lieberberg. You’ll hardly find an industry like the live entertainment industry, "where numbers tell you so little about the general state of the business,” observed Prof. Jens Michow, president of the German promoters’ trade association BDV, last summer. Michow probably wanted to curb any euphoria in the wake of the trade body’s biennial study on the German live entertainment market, which stated that all signs point towards growth.
Primary Ticketing
Promoter DEAG, which has only recently entered the ticketing game via Myticket.de, focussed exclusively on online and mobile ticketing from the get-go. According to the company's Kai Ricke,
44
INTERNATIONAL TICKETING YEARBOOK 2015
online sales are set to outstrip traditional pre-sales at the booking office. He is confident Myticket.de will be one of the leading ticketers in German speaking markets within three years. The main competitors in Germany are Eventim, ADticket/Reservix and Ticketmaster. Eventim is the clear market leader although it is hard to determine exact market shares. Eventim boosted its ticketing turnover in 2014 to “more than 100 million” worldwide, generating revenues of €319.2m, an increase of 18.4% compared to 2013. According to the company’s financial report, 30.7m tickets were sold online, marking a 28.9% increase. Germany was one of the key markets in driving growth, alongside the UK, Italy and Austria. With Ticketmaster now set to take a significant chunk out of Eventim's German sales, it will be interesting to monitor whether there will be a price war between the rivals. According to Contour Music’s Sandra Borchardt, the local dealers – in this case Cologne-based Köln Ticket – are very important too. Melt! Booking’s Stefan Lehmkuhl agrees that local dealers like München Ticket carry a significant importance in Germany.
Secondary Ticketing
While Ticketmaster (Ticketsnow) and Eventim (Fansale) have embraced the secondary ticketing market, promoters generally are against it, at least if it happens on a commercial basis. No one wants to prevent concertgoers who fall sick at the last minute from reselling their ticket. But third-party companies like Viagogo who make a business out of reselling tickets, sometimes at an extortionate price, are looked upon as defeating the purpose. And even if the secondary ticketing market in Germany isn’t as big as those in the US or UK, it has reached a significant scale according to Karsten Jahnke. The veteran