Connecting the live music industry
DEAG Posts Strong Growth in H1 2024
September2
DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) reported positive business growth in the first half of 2024,
DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) reported positive business growth in the first half of 2024, despite facing a challenging economic environment in Europe, disruptions in the festival sector, and adverse weather conditions.
Revenue for the period increased by 8.2% to €132.7 million, up from €122.7 million in the previous year. EBITDA reached €3.1 million, down from €5.1 million in 2023, aligning with company expectations, which accounted for significant investments in executive restructuring, digitalization, and IT modernization, particularly in ticketing.
Adjusted EBITDA, excluding one-off costs, exceeded €4 million. Despite these challenges, DEAG expects full-year EBITDA to meet or exceed last year`s levels, with projected revenue growth for 2024.
Germany`s economic slowdown and the European Football Championship, which drew attention away from other entertainment options, coupled with a turbulent festival market, created additional hurdles. However, DEAG’s festivals, particularly in the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) segment, performed well. Despite weather-related event cancellations that impacted revenue, DEAG expanded its event formats and saw strong ticket sales.
In the first half of 2024, DEAG continued its international expansion by acquiring three companies, including black mamba Event & Marketing GmbH, further strengthening its position in the festival market. The company also expanded its presence in the UK’s spoken word and literary events sector and grew its Hip-Hop booking division. DEAG plans to continue its M&A activities, focusing on ticketing and further European expansion.
DEAG aims to generate half of its revenue from its own event formats in 2024, with an increasing share of tickets sold through its platforms. By mid-2024, ticket sales had risen by 18% to 5.8 million, with expectations to reach 11 million by year-end, surpassing 2023’s 10 million tickets.
In the first half of 2024, DEAG hosted major concerts and family events, including performances by AC/DC, Disney on Ice, and the lit.COLOGNE literary festival. Despite weather challenges, DEAG`s summer festivals, such as NATURE ONE and Airbeat One, attracted over 800,000 visitors.
Looking ahead, DEAG`s second half of 2024 is packed with events, including concerts by Craig David, Lenny Kravitz, and Slipknot, as well as new exhibitions and the debut of the ELB.lit literature festival in Hamburg.
Detlef Kornett, Group CEO of DEAG: “We defied the difficult market environment in the first half of the year. Unfortunately, the bad weather affected some of our events, which is also reflected in our key financial figures. However, we remain confident for the second half of the year and for 2024 as a whole. DEAG’s second half of the year will be strong, as expected, our event programme is diversified and our calendar of events is tightly packed. Visitors can look forward to hundreds of great events of all genres and sizes. We are also investing heavily in staff, new technologies and our platforms in order to further improve the customer experience and offer our customers first-class entertainment. Despite the challenges mentioned, we expect revenue to continue to rise and EBITDA to at least the previous year’s level for the year as a whole.”
With VIP-Booking.com, you can search for anyone in the live music industry — try it yourself!
Search Artists:
Trusted by professionals in the live music industry around the world for 25 years!
