Live Nation has posted its financials for Q3 2023, which execs say was their company’s best quarter to date. Photo Credit: Liam Shaw
Q3 2023 was the “biggest quarter ever” for Live Nation, which raked in north of $8.15 billion throughout the three-month stretch, according to a newly released earnings report.
The Veeps owner only recently posted its financials for July, August, and September of this year, which, per the mentioned report, delivered a 32% year-over-year (YoY) improvement and a 51% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) boost for concerts revenue ($6.97 billion).
On the ticketing front, the Ticketmaster parent reported $832.6 million in revenue (up 57% YoY and 17% QoQ), with the remaining $366.8 million having been chalked up to sponsorships and adverts (up 7% YoY and 21% QoQ). “Other and eliminations,” for its part, brought with it a $21.7 million loss during Q3, up from 2022 and the prior quarter in 2023, Live Nation indicated.
Double-digit operating income growth in each of the noted categories except other and eliminations drove an overall OI of $618.5 million for Q3, up 22% YoY and over 60% QoQ, according to the document. Predictably, given Live Nation’s reported across-the-board increases for core Q3 financials, key attendance metrics also rose.
To be sure, Live Nation pinpointed 12,090 estimated events for Q3 (up about 8% YoY), including a YoY spike of 813 happenings in North America, as well as 52.28 million estimated attendees (up 18% YoY) and 89.30 million fee-bearing tickets (up 22% YoY). The vast majority of the latter were concert tickets, execs signaled.
At the time of this writing, Live Nation stock (NYSE: LYV) was up almost 4% on the day at $85.51 per share. The value represents a roughly 25% hike since 2023’s beginning and 12% growth from early November of 2022. Bigger picture, the stock-price uptick has arrived despite reports of an intensifying Justice Department investigation into Live Nation.
During Live Nation’s Q3 earnings call, CFO Joe Berchtold addressed the reports and the broader topic, disclosing, among other things, his belief that the probe “is kind of in its mid-stages at this point.”
Elsewhere in the brief call – which was far shorter than usual because Live Nation’s set to deliver a presentation at a Liberty Media investor event next Thursday – higher-ups made clear their ambitious vision for the business’s 2024 performance.
“We have not seen anything taper off in any sense,” spelled out CEO Michael Rapino. “Our on-sales for next year, whether it’s an early festival across the pond or whether it’s a festival – a club tour playing in Pittsburgh on a Tuesday, as you say.
“Or maybe the Blink-182, who toured last year and now is back on tour again this year, playing Pittsburgh’s just to Cleveland’s on Wednesdays and Tuesdays. Big on-sales for that tour. So we are not seeing any pullback in any way from a club to a stadium tour, from Milan to Argentina, right now.”
