Live Nation Q2 Loss Widens; Rev/Sponsor Grows 14%

Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) released second quarter earnings today posting a wider loss of $27.2 million on lower revenue of $1.06 Billion, a year over year drop of 5.9%. However, while overall revenue has dipped, Live Nation has seen a 4.9% growth in sponsorship revenue during the first six months of the year. Live Nation today reported a 7.5% year over year drop in the number of sponsors, but at the same time is squeezing more revenue per partner. The company recorded a 14% increase in revenue per sponsor. Overall sponsorship revenue for the first half of the year $66.1 million as compared to $63 million in the first half of '08.

"Live Nation reported that it has 576 local, national and international corporate sponsors as of June 30, 2009. We continue to expand our sponsorship relationships with key companies across the world such as Barclaycard, Microsoft IE8 and Comcast. By expanding into more strategic partnerships, we have reduced our overall number of sponsors but increased our average revenue per sponsor. For the first six months of 2009, our average revenue per sponsor increased by 14% as compared to the same period of the prior year."