Live Nation Sees Sponsorship Growth
Live Nation, as it continues to integrate its recent Ticketmaster merger, saw first quarter revenue grow by 49% to $723 million on a wider net loss of 3%. Sponsorship and E-commerce were the two bright spots over the quarter, growing 10% and 24% respectively as compared to 2009. Live Nation saw a 23% growth in the number of sponsors to 375 in total with average revenue per sponsor off by 9.5% to $57,000.
CEO Michael Rapino said on the company's quarterly conference call that sponsorship will continue to be one of the company's key sources for growth.
"We're very, very optimistic about sponsorship from our first quarter numbers. We had a very strong 2009 even though the rest of the market cratered. We were up 30% last year. The new combined [Live Nation/Ticketmaster] product platform is getting incredible traction. We should expect sponsorship to be one of our strongest continued growth drivers in the future."
Rapino said that the combined ad sales operations of Ticketmaster and Live Nation were starting to pay off for the company.
"We're in the heart of Madison Avenue getting 10-15 RFP's of substance every month now," Rapino said. "We're a great 18-34 year old audience for some major brands and we will see that continue to grow."
photo: Live Nation
