The concert industry has been halted since March and as the year winds down the amount of money that’s been lost has been revealed, and it’s staggering.
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Leading industry publication Pollstar put out their year-end report and estimated over $30 billion in losses in the North American live events industry this year. This figure includes unreported events, other revenues such as sponsorships, ticketing, concessions, merchandise, transportation, restaurants, hotels, and other economic activity tied to the live events.
At the beginning of the year, the industry was projected to set a record with $12.2 billion at the box office. Instead, it incurred a $9.7 billion loss. The year started out promising as events in the first quarter averaged $510,895 per show representing a 12% increase from 2019. Additionally, the average ticket count per show jumped 10% from 5,244 in 2019 to 5,818 in 2020.
“How does one begin to sum up 2020? Lots of folks, particularly media pundits, are going to try, coming at it from whatever lens through which they view the world," Ray Waddell, president of Oak View Group’s Media & Conferences Division, which oversees Pollstar, said in a statement.
"My view, as ever, is through the lens of live entertainment, colored by personal experience, flavored by peers I love and admire, colleagues, acquaintances, heroes, legends, and barroom banter, and propped up by hard data, projections, statistics, conjecture, guesses, and no small amount of BS. In the end, I can come up with one word that sums up this year like no other: loss.”
In a letter included in the year end report, Waddell added: “In 2020, we, as an industry, lost money, we lost business, we lost opportunity. Ten solid years of a Golden Era, of consistent growth in the double-digit percentages, and unprecedented global expansion, came to a screeching halt. One can almost hear the silence.”
While the report paints a grim picture for the live entertainment industry, steps are already being taken to ensure it gets back up and running as quickly as possible once it’s safe to do so.
A few weeks ago, it was revealed that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are entertaining the idea of requiring concertgoers to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test. Through the use of their mobile app, the ticket vendor would identify attendees who have been vaccinated or tested negative for the coronavirus within 24 to 72 hours of event entry.
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