Live Nation is on course to deliver another year of record results due mainly to its concerts "flywheel", which brought in 28 million fans globally in Q3 2016.
Revenue was up 21% to $3.2 billion (£2.58bn), operating income up 25% to $191m (£154m), AOI 14% to $303m (£245m), and free cash flow 21% to $251m (£203m) for the three months ending September 30, with the company's core divisions - concerts, ticketing and advertising - achieving their strongest quarterly operating income and AOI results ever.
"Our performance demonstrates how Live Nation has created an unparalleled live platform, bringing fans in 40 countries to those unrivaled two-hour events each year," said the global giant's president and CEO Michael Rapino (pictured).
"Our concert and ticketing sales continue to pace well ahead of last year, and this, combined with initiatives to drive increased profits from our flywheel business model, gives us confidence that 2016 will be another year of record results for Live Nation overall and for each of our core divisions."
Ticket sales were up 14% in October and Rapino said the company expects 70 million fans to attend its concerts in 2016. He added that the firm's bottom line has been boosted by its premium ticketing options. "We are also benefiting from our ticket pricing initiatives, notably increasing the pricing on the most attractive tickets," he said. "As a result, our average ticket price grew by 7% through September, which enabled us to increase what we pay artists by $450 million on shows this year. By paying artists more, while continuing to build our profitability as well, we further differentiate our concert business and are able to build global market share to drive our flywheel.
"Increasing on-site monetisation has been a major focus, and for the first nine months we have increased average fan spending at our festivals and amphitheaters by 10% at constant currency, while growing attendance 13% at these events, thereby increasing total on-site spending by $70 million at constant currency. This high-margin spend has been a key driver of our growing concerts profitability thus far in 2016."
