Entertainment, the world’s largest live-entertainment company, posted strong second-quarter earnings as the concert business cautiously moves ahead amid deep concerns over the spread of the Covid-19 variant and lower-than-sensible vaccination rates in the U.S.
“We expect to have over 6 million fans attend our festivals during the second half of the year, with about two-thirds of our festivals increasing their attendance compared to 2019,” CEOsaid in prepared statement. “Most of our festivals sold out in record time while average ticket prices have been 10% higher than 2019.
But it’s a different story now — at least, so far. Rapino continued, “As communities reopen, we’re seeing the pent-up demand for live events play out as artists and fans are eager to re-connect in person. In the U.S. and the U.K., we are seeing strong ticket sales and the restart of our concerts and festivals, highlighted over the past weekends by Lollapalooza and Rolling Loud in the U.S. and Latitude in the U.K. hosting a combined three quarters of a million fans.