Sector 03
Events and live entertainment
Event production companies, live entertainment businesses and festival and format owners are a market of their own: asset-rich, cash-intensive and driven by audiences as much as clients. Buyers include experience led groups, investors building platforms and media and entertainment companies looking for live revenue.
- Business types
- Event production and technical production companies, conference and exhibition organisers, festival and live format owners, venue operators and ticketed experience businesses, live entertainment producers.
Business models
Clients, audiences and assets
Events businesses can earn from clients, from audiences or from both, and the mix determines who buys them and on what basis.
- Client-funded versus owned. Production for corporate and agency clients is a services model. Owned festivals, conferences and formats are assets with their own audiences, ticketing and sponsorship, and are valued differently.
- Cash and deposits. Ticketing and client deposits arrive before costs are incurred, which flatters cash and needs careful treatment in working capital and in the price mechanism.
- Infrastructure and people. Technical production carries kit, crews and supplier relationships. Buyers look at utilisation, ownership versus hire and the depth of the production team.
- Portfolio value. A portfolio of formats across cities or seasons is worth more than a single flagship, because it spreads risk and gives a buyer growth to invest in.
Issues founders and buyers consider
Presenting the right numbers
Separating production margin, format profitability and sponsorship income so buyers can see each business inside the business.
Resilience
Cancellation risk, weather and licensing are known to buyers. Showing how the business has managed them, with insurance and contracts, matters.
Platform building
Combining an activation agency, a production company and a portfolio of live assets into a single platform is a strategy we are actively advising on.
Integration and brand
Owned formats carry their own brands and communities. Buyers need a plan for keeping what makes them work while adding scale.
How we help
Platform thinking for a live market
We advise founders selling event businesses and groups building live platforms, including a current mandate to create an experiential platform through the roll-up of agency, production and festival assets.
We help founders show the value in their formats and production capability, and help buyers assess how live assets, agencies and production fit together commercially and culturally.
- Sell your agency: objectives, preparation, buyers, process, negotiation and completion.
- Buy an agency: criteria, market mapping, approach, assessment and transaction support.
- Strategic growth advisory: partner level support in four week sprints, long before a deal is in sight.
Related resources
Building or selling a live business?
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