Promotions giant Live Nation posted another banner year in 2016, and much of its success can be attributed to increased mobile investment into its Ticketmaster property’s offerings, including in the grey market.

Live Nation delivered its sixth consecutive year of record results across revenue, adjusted operating income, and also delivered operating income growth in 2016. The company’s core divisions, concerts, ticketing and advertising, each delivered their strongest operating income in the history of the company, coinciding with significant progress in mobile ticketing as a result of Ticketmaster’s rivalry with StubHub.

“Live is truly a unique entertainment form that cannot be duplicated and creates lifetime memories that fans today are craving more than ever in this experienced economy,” said Michael Rapino, president of Live Nation. “We believe the live business will continue to have strong growth for years to come as fans drive demand, artists are motivated to tour, and technology drives conversion.”

Q4 success
Live Nation continued to grow its global market share, adding over 7 million users globally in 2016, for a total of over 71 million fans, who drove revenue up 18 percent and operating income up 88 percent.

The Q4 report also indicated an ongoing shift of consumer spending toward experiences, which is helping drive an increase in demand for concerts globally. Live Nation also saw an increasing willingness by fans to spend more for tickets to the show, a trend that was no doubt also reflected in the company’s ecommerce numbers.

For Live Nation, average ticket prices for our shows increased by 5 percent in 2016 as consumers at large are becoming increasingly more comfortable with spending high amounts on the mobile platform, with high single- to double-digit growth at amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums.

Ticketmaster’s overall GTV grew 11 percent to $28 billion during a year where it made significant strides in its mcommerce infrastructure. In its second season aggressively driving for mobile ticket adoption among Dallas Cowboys fans, Ticketmaster grew mobile entry adoption to make up nearly 21 percent of all attendance for the Dallas Cowboys during the 2015-16 season, compared to an average of 3 to 5 percent among the league at large.

The measure has directly addressed instances of fraud sourced from printed PDFs and provides a foundation for both Ticketmaster and the Cowboys’ initiatives in maintaining consumer trust in their transactions (see story).

Grey market
Secondary ticketing GTV grew at 26 percent in 2016, at constant currency, presaged by measures to increase transparency in the secondary market for both ticket sellers and buyers on Ticketmaster’s platform.

Recent investments in Ticketmaster’s enterprise platform and open API now allow clients to sell tickets on partner sites, driving the sale of over 10 million tickets in 2016.  This has further deepened Ticketmaster’s relationship with teams and artists who are looking for enhanced reach with sites including Spotify, Bandsintown, Facebook, Groupon and Costco.

Competitors have clearly kept their eyes on Live Nation’s moves in ecommerce, and have responded in kind. Recently, rival StubHub, which has been pursuing many a partnership in the past year, collaborated with online payments Visa Checkout to provide cleaner, seamless checkout experiences for its customers (see story).