The O2 Arena in London hosted the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Nov. 9-16, attracting over a million fans over the eight days.
Based on our Year-End Top Stops and Hot Tickets data and interviews with Top Stops venue managers around the world, 2014 was a pretty good year for the industry, though maybe not the best.
“I think 2014 will go down as a year that started out with some major shows and major sellouts and tours,” said Allen Johnson, executive director at the Amway Center and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. “For us, 2013 was a super gangbuster year, and I always dread having a ’14 after a ’13 because you’re always going to be disappointed. But in reality, ’14 wasn’t that bad, it just wasn’t as good.”
Industry experts’ feelings on 2014 reflect the year’s numbers as a whole. Overall, the 2014 Venues Today Hot Tickets reports show a 7.4-percent decrease in the gross dollar amount from the same period in 2013, clocking in with $3.8 billion total. The reported number of tickets sold was also down 3.6 percent from last year’s 61.5 million to 59.3 million. The number of shows was up four percent with 18,306, with most of the increase among the 10,000- and fewer-capacity venues.
“2014 was a slightly quieter year in terms of numbers than 2013 as the schedule reflected fewer big music tours,” said Emma Bownes, programming director at The O2 Arena in London. “Having said that, The O2 was busy and still outperformed our competitors. It’s always a balance of managing the diary, getting the right acts through the door and making sure every customer has the best experience possible.”
Still, attendance records were made at venues such as Allphones Arena in Sydney Australia whose Katy Perry concert broke the house record. They enjoyed their most successful season in the life cycle of the venue thanks to multiple successful tour stops that included Beyonce, One Direction, Michael Buble, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and the Rolling Stones.
“We’re not a market that they’re here often,” said General Manager Guy Ngata. “It’s not like a football match that is played every weekend. And that’s probably really driven the success.”
Keeping up with Technology
As technology continued to advance, venues were challenged with keeping up with the latest trends inside their buildings, while maintaining a presence with audiences over various online platforms. This meant investing in technology infrastructures for some buildings and improving online presence and interactivity for others.
At The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, they survey the audience at each show. Alex Hodges, CEO of Nederlander Concerts, said the surveys are showing three main influencers on these audiences, and they’re all online.
“Artist websites, online ticketing databases and other online sources such as social media are coming together to create a larger depth and grander field for everybody to share,” said Hodges. “Word of mouth is social media.”
It makes sense then that even performing arts centers are investing more in their online presence and social media. Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center in Midland, Texas, and Portland’5 in Oregon both recently redid their websites to appeal to younger audiences and simplify the process of looking up shows and buying tickets.
“Everybody pretty much did the same things for 50 years,” said Ty Sutton, GM at Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center, “and then in the last 15 to 20, we see things changing constantly. So, it’s just keeping up with the changes.”
“This year there seems to be considerably more focus on servicing the fan, especially in the digital technology space,” said Paul Sergeant, CEO of Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. “Australian venues have only recently picked up on the need to invest in technology but are now going hard to put leading edge infrastructure in place as quickly as possible.”
Allphones Arena has seen an upswing in mobile ticketing and has included online food and beverage ordering, which Ngata said has given them more flexibility and has made the patron experience on the concourse more positive. Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center has also expanded their online ticketing services to make the process easier, so people are able to buy tickets at any time.
The Next Big Thing
Technology is not only bringing change to venues but to the artist revenue model as well. Artists aren’t making the majority of their money from selling albums and digital downloads anymore, but off their tours. Artists generate sales and create an extensive fan base for themselves all online.
“Years ago you could set the date a couple weeks out,” said Hodges. “Now we already have 20 shows confirmed at The Greek for the summer with a couple of on-sales already.”
The making of a tour has also been affected by these changes. An act can be completely unknown one day and become a YouTube sensation the next.
“Twenty years ago, the first album sells x, the second album quadruples that and then the third album quadruples that and all of the sudden you’ve got a 30-year career,” said Hodges. “Today, with this really fast pace everything’s moving quicker and you can come out of nowhere and sell 10,000 seats or sell out The Greek at 6,000 seats.”
With this new model comes the worry that all of the emerging artists are targeted at certain demographics, while ignoring others.
“Drake was the first time I had a bunch of calls from my daughters’ friends who were boys asking if they could get tickets,” said Stuart Clumpas, director at Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. “We have all of these things that are 85 percent girls, One Direction, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran. Where have all the boys gone that used to come to rock and roll?”
Another concern for the industry is being able to produce the big acts that can fill stadiums and sell out arenas.
“If you look at the industry, what artists are targeted to adults?” asked Sutton. “Other than in country, I don’t see that many. That’s always a concern. Who’s going to fill that when the Stones and the U2s and everybody are done?”
Festivals on the Rise
For larger capacity venues especially, the growing industry of music festivals has begun to change the strategies of certain arenas.
The dozens of festivals in Switzerland create a very strong market, attracting more than 40,000 visitors every weekend. Felix Frei, CEO of Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, echoes the feelings of other arenas when he said that the festivals have a direct affect on their business, since it’s the same level of artists they would try to book at their arena.
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., has been successful in the indie music world, but when those artists play at festivals in the area, it doesn’t make sense for them to turn around and do an arena show as well, said Sean Saadeh, senior vice president of Programming.
“We’ve been very aggressive in finding other acts that can play,” said Saadeh. “We’ll be patient, and when it’s strategically right for an artist to do an arena play, we’ll get them.”
Johnson sees the festivals as outdoor, multiple-day concerts that take artists out of the circuit for indoor tours, like his Amway Center. The Citrus Bowl plays host to the Electric Daisy Carnival, an EDM music festival in November that attracted over 30,000 people each of its four days.
The Stadium Show Cycle
The stadium show genre has long been considered cyclical, but with the popularity of artists like Taylor Swift and One Direction, these large-scale shows are in.
“Some stadia have been regular supporters of hosting concerts across the years and have done a great job in doing so,” said Sergeant. “However, the more venues invest in infrastructure the more venues need additional content to pay the bills. Also, stadia and the people that operate them are more adept now to manage nonsporting events than ever before.”
The successful packaging of certain artists has created more content that is actually able to play in stadiums. Rather than doing two individual arena shows, artists are teaming up for stadium concerts, a trend Saadeh thinks will continue in the coming year.
Rather than focusing heavily on the sports side, new stadium construction seems to be open to the economics of hosting concerts as well.
“I think a lot more stadiums are being built now so they can do things more economically than in the past,” said Sutton.
Comedy is King
Comedy seems to be a popular sell across the board from arenas to performing arts centers. Portland’5 Centers for the Arts enjoyed success with Chelsea Handler, Jerry Seinfeld and Aziz Ansari, while the comedy run of Mrs. Brown’s Boys broke the attendance record for a comedy act at Allphones Arena in March.
“Comedy has made a comeback in 2014 after a quiet year in 2013,” said Phil Mead, managing director of Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, England, “with big acts like John Bishop and Lee Evans all doing longer residencies.”
At O2 Arena, their largest, and arguably most popular show of the year was bringing Monty Python back to the stage after 30 years for a 10-night run.
“This was a huge effort and really took over the whole arena,” said Bownes. “We created a pop-up stand area outside and had new bars and food outlets as well as merchandise venues. We even managed to get a 50-ft. parrot in there, which was great for the die-hard fans of the ‘Dead Parrot’ Monty Python sketch. The shows were great and the audience loved every single one of the 10 shows.”
Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center hosted 10 touring comedians and enjoyed repeat acts.
“It’s a release, and it’s an escape from life,” said Sutton. “I think it has to do with the fact that you can go to a place with a bunch of people, which isn’t the same as sitting at home watching Netflix and laugh for an hour or two. Comedy doesn’t take quite the commitment that theater or other genres take. People just want to escape, and comedy does that a lot of times.”
Family Fun with Disney
The return of Walking with Dinosaurs and the introduction of Marvel Universe Live! and Disney on Ice Frozen also boost that segment of the market.
“This year’s autumn showing of Disney on Ice has been one of the highest attendances on record,” said Mead. “Since Feld Entertainment introduced a second annual show to Birmingham in spring not only has this addition proved successful, but the autumn show has continued to grow in parallel. Next year’s show scheduled for spring 2015 in the LG Arena, which includes the Frozen characters, is substantially ahead of this time last year.”
As evidenced at LG Arena, the family show looks to remain a factor in the industry and provide families with an alternative entertainment option.
“I think for families it’s trying to find uplifting family programming,” said Sutton. “In the media, so much of what we focus our attention on now is either headline grabbing or negative in a lot of ways. So for families, especially with younger kids, finding value-priced things to do as a family that they walk away from feeling good is hard to find.”
Focus on the Fans
Reflecting a larger, international trend, more hospitality packages are being offered around major tours at Allphones Arena with promoters focusing a lot on the VIP fan experience.
“You have to keep investing in your business,” said Chris Cotton, chief executive at Royal Albert Hall in London. “You have to keep improving the audience experience. You have to definitely exude passion for what you do. I think it's not just putting something on, opening the door and trying to sell some tickets. You have to give an all around experience. People’s expectations are on the climb all the time. Creating new VIP packages, experiences, meet and greets and making them feel special at any level is very important.”
While keeping up with the technology of live entertainment, the trends of the industry and the struggles of the business, the audiences remain at the heart of it all. Without them, who would buy tickets, see shows, retweet or applaud?
Interviewed for this article: Ty Sutton, (432) 552-4432; Guy Ngata, (2) 8765-4350; Alex Hodges, (323) 817-6108; Felix Frei, (44) 316-7711; Phil Mead, (12) 1644-7029; Paul Sergeant, (3) 8625-7008; Emma Bownes, (20) 8463-2576; Allen Johnson, (407) 440-7070; Sean Saadeh, (917) 618-6113; Robyn Williams, (503) 274-6565; Stuart Clumpas, 64 9 358 1250; Chris Cotton, 020 7589 3203