Simon Hennes

Takeaways

The growing value of “being there”.

In 2024, Gen Z topped every other generation in overall live event spend for the first time. In the U.S., they spent around $75 per month on live, roughly 23 percent more than the average music consumer. At the same time, studies show that 95 percent of Gen Z are interested in turning their online interests into real-life experiences. That combination signals a shift in what this generation actually considers valuable. What actually changed Every generation loves music. That never moved. What changed is the meaning attached to participation. For a long time, status signals were tied to ownership. What you had, kind of reflected who you were. That logic still exists, but it’s no longer dominant. For Gen Z, experiences carry more social weight than possessions, partly because they’re harder to replicate and partly because they exist in front of others. An item can be bought again. A moment cannot. When identity is shaped in public, moments that can be witnessed and referenced start to matter more than objects that simply sit somewhere. The mistake we keep making Many operators still talk about Gen Z as if they’re simply more digital. They are. But that’s not the point. Growing up in a digital environment changed what “valuable” feels like. If you grew up with infinite content, constant access, and endless choice, information stops being scarce. Presence doesn’t. Real access doesn’t. Belonging doesn’t. That’s why live is winning. Not because concerts improved, but because the definition of luxury shifted from ownership to participation. The psychology underneath it Look closer and a few drivers show up consistently. The first is identity signaling. Experiences aren’t just consumed, they’re used. Attending certain events communicates taste and belonging faster than almost anything you can buy. The second is social belonging as reward. The payoff of live moments isn’t limited to the stage. It comes from shared recognition around being there. In one large audience study, 84 percent of people attending interest-based events said they formed close friendships through them. That’s not a side effect. That’s part of the value. The third is how scarcity is perceived. It used to be treated mainly as a constraint. Now, when cultural relevance is involved, scarcity becomes a signal that a moment matters. Some events start behaving less like dates on a calendar and more like social reference points. You see it in how people talk about them afterward. If you haven't been there, you haven't been there. Lines like that don’t describe an event. They describe what it meant to be present. What social media actually changes It’s common to say social platforms drive hype. That’s true, but incomplete. What they really do is extend relevance. For many younger audiences, an event unfolds in three phases: anticipation before, visibility during, narrative after. And the audience keeps the story going long after the lights come on. Clips resurface. Conversations continue. Moments get referenced weeks later. That continuation doesn’t behave like marketing. It behaves like validation. When people share an experience voluntarily, they’re not promoting it. They’re integrating it into how they present themselves. That signal carries more credibility than anything paid. The implication for organizers If experiences function as status signals, ticketing is no longer “just” a system. It becomes brand infrastructure. Not branding in the marketing sense. Brand in the trust sense. Because when status runs through access, every interaction becomes part of the signal. Discovery, purchase, entry, and everything after collapse into one impression. Friction doesn’t register as technical. It registers as brand. A broken queue. Unclear pricing. Confusing policies. Resale chaos. A poor entry access. Those moments don’t just create refunds. They shape how the event is remembered. And if what Gen Z is buying is meaning, protecting the feeling of the moment becomes strategic. So the real question isn’t whether you’re selling tickets. It’s whether you’re designing experiences. One final thought Gen Z doesn’t evaluate events the way older models assumed. Attendance isn’t the metric they instinctively use. Meaning is. Which is why the real decision often isn’t about price or convenience. It’s simpler: Is this a moment I want to be part of, or something I could watch later? In a world defined by abundance, what remains scarce still carries the most value: Being there.

Takeaways

Why High Fixed Costs Give Event Organizers Big Margin Gains from Small Revenue Hikes.

Live events are often framed as a cost problem. Artist fees are rising. Production is expensive. Staffing gets harder every year. Venues, logistics, marketing. Everything feels heavier than it did a few years ago. So naturally, many conversations start with the same question: Where can we cut? But that question usually comes too late. In live events, the majority of costs are already decided long before the first ticket is sold. Once an event goes on sale, most of the economic structure is locked in. Artist contracts are signed. Venues are booked. Production is planned. Marketing baselines are committed. At that point, cost optimization still matters, but it rarely changes the outcome. Revenue decisions, however, can. This is where small changes start to have an outsized effect. A familiar example, just outside our industry Think about an airplane that is ready for takeoff. The aircraft is fueled. The crew is paid. The airport slot is secured. Whether there are 120 or 130 passengers on board barely changes the cost of that flight. But it changes profitability dramatically. Selling the last few seats at a slightly higher (or even lower) price does not just add revenue. Most of it flows directly into profit. Live events work in a very similar way. Why small revenue changes matter so much Once fixed costs are covered, additional revenue carries a high contribution margin. Variable costs do increase, but usually only marginally compared to the upside. That is why even small improvements in revenue strategy can reshape the economics of an event. Here is a simplified but realistic example: A 5 percent increase in revenue can lead to an 80 percent increase in EBITDA. Nothing about the show changed. No corners were cut. No quality was compromised. The difference came from revenue decisions. This is not about squeezing fans Revenue strategy is often misunderstood as simply charging more. In reality, it is about charging smarter. Airlines are not a high-margin business. But they have become highly sophisticated in managing demand through timing, access, pricing logic, and limited upgrades. Not to squeeze passengers, but to align price with willingness to pay. Hotels did the same. So did streaming platforms. So did theme parks. Live events are no different. Better pricing logic. Smarter add-ons. Clear value tiers. Timing that matches demand. Sponsorship models that align with the audience instead of interrupting it. These are not aggressive moves. They are thoughtful ones. Why revenue creates more leverage than cost cutting Once an event is live, the real upside comes from how demand is activated. Revenue growth does not have to come from higher base prices. It often comes from expanding the surface area around the ticket itself. Bundles that combine access with merchandise or perks. Flexible options that reduce purchase hesitation. Insurance and resale participation that keep buyers in the ecosystem. Upgrades that unlock value after the initial purchase. Retargeting fans who already showed intent instead of chasing new ones. Secondary market activity that remains owned rather than outsourced. None of these levers change the show. They change how value is captured around it. That is why revenue strategy creates disproportionate leverage once an event is on sale. One reshapes the outcome of an event. The other mainly protects it. The shift that changes how events make money Ticketing is the point where abstract demand turns into concrete choices. When to buy. What to buy. How much access is worth. Whether someone upgrades, adds on, or opts in. These decisions happen in seconds, and they rarely happen twice. Treating ticketing as a downstream system means accepting whatever outcome those moments produce. Treating it as a strategic layer means shaping them intentionally. That is the difference. Not between revenue and cost, but between leaving value on the table and designing for it upfront. Because in live events, what happens at the point of sale quietly determines whether an event merely breaks even or fundamentally outperforms.

Takeaways

Older Brother E-Commerce. What to Learn, What to do Differently.

1. Buyer Passion & Brand Perception E-commerce has grown into one of the most scaled digital ecosystems in the world. Shopify alone powers millions of stores and processes hundreds of billions in sales each year. That volume is possible because the model is built on open distribution: the same product can appear across multiple marketplaces, in multiple shops, often at different prices. Buyers often follow the easiest and most trusted path, not necessarily the brand behind it. They are motivated by convenience and value. Ticketing is different. Fans rarely browse five different outlets to decide what they want to see. They already know, because they are fans. That emotional connection makes ticketing structurally and psychologically different from retail. In e-commerce, purchase is about choice. In ticketing, it’s about belonging. The goal is not just to make it easy to buy, but meaningful to do so. 2. Distribution Model In retail, open distribution drives scale. The same product can live across dozens of marketplaces and be sold by countless resellers. That flexibility allows massive reach. In ticketing, scarcity and control have always been essential. A ticket is tied to a single event, a single seat, a single brand. A single seat cannot exist in multiple places at once. That’s what keeps the live moment exclusive. But the world is changing. Direct-to-consumer remains the anchor, yet new forms of distribution are emerging. API-first platforms now allow smarter extensions into partner channels or controlled secondary markets. What used to be a closed model is starting to open up, just on different terms. Control and openness don’t cancel each other out. The future of ticketing lies in blending both: keeping ownership while reaching new audiences through flexible integrations. 3. Digital & Data Signals Retail runs on volume. Every click, every cart, every view is tracked and analyzed. But much of that data is noisy. A product view doesn’t prove intent. A cart abandonment doesn’t always mean lost interest. Ticketing, by contrast, produces fewer signals, but they are far clearer. An attendance scan is proof of action. A renewal marks loyalty. An add-on or upgrade signals willingness to spend. Event choices reflect identity. These are not soft hints but verified behaviors tied to real-world moments. That makes ticketing data uniquely valuable: less volume, more clarity. The opportunity isn’t in collecting more data, but in activating what’s already there. Every signal in ticketing carries intent. The challenge is to respond in real time. 4. Technology & Ecosystem E-commerce has had decades to refine its digital backbone. APIs, plug-ins, and marketplaces are interconnected into one massive operating system that links logistics, payments, marketing, and analytics. Ticketing has been slower to connect, but it’s catching up quickly. The rise of API-first platforms now allows ticketing to integrate directly with CRM systems, marketing automation, payments, loyalty programs, and even secondary markets. When these systems start to talk to each other, ticketing becomes more than a sales tool. It turns into a live operating system for engagement. The next leap for ticketing is about connecting smarter. When every part of the ecosystem works in sync, every ticket can trigger value far beyond the transaction itself. Ticketing will never be e-commerce. It shouldn’t be. But by combining the efficiency of retail mechanics with the authenticity of live experiences, ticketing can do something e-commerce cannot: create a digital interaction that leads to a core memory. E-commerce has taught the world how to optimize buying. Ticketing has the chance to show the world why buying matters at all.

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