Buy the full study
Summary of our market study
Since 2020, the global festival market, including renowned German events such as Oktoberfest and various musical festivities, has been faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in years with minimal sales and a long-awaited return in 2022. The impact of the pandemic has led to a move towards online festivals, although this approach only marginally addresses the market's problems, with only 4% of people willing to pay for such virtual experiences. Meanwhile, the European music festival market had anticipated a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 12% in 2020, which was disrupted by the crisis. In Germany, live music sales amounted to over €2 billion in 2019, with festivals contributing around 20%, or around €400 million.
The demographics of festival-goers in Germany typically depict a majority of young, relatively affluent, single men. Trends indicate that almost 39% of festival-goers are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly festivals. following the COVID-19 conference, German festivals anticipated an upturn, supported by the recognition of techno/house music as an official musical genre, which could lead to increased growth and interest in the cultural landscape.
Resilient demand for festival experiences in Germany:
At the heart of Europe, Germany is home to an eclectic range of festivals, from the traditional revelry of Oktoberfest to the pulsating rhythms of techno music, catering for a diversity of cultural tastes. The festival scene is part of the essence of German cultural expression, blending art, entertainment and leisure into a rich tapestry that attracts crowds from all walks of life. The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to this dynamic sector, but with the easing of restrictions, there has been a noticeable resurgence in demand, a sign of a revival in the festival market, which has already seen sales of live music soar to over 2 billion euros. Before being disrupted by the pandemic, the European festival market had enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of around 12%. In Germany, where traditional and modern music festivals such as Oktoberfest, Reeperbahn and the Berlinale film festival are monumental, the appetite for such gatherings is very strong. Festivals, a crucial element in live music sales, accounted for around 20% of the market, or 400 million euros, before the arrival of COVID-19. German festival-goers present a varied demographic landscape. Men slightly outnumber women, and a large proportion of festival-goers are in the 20-29 age bracket. Interestingly, almost 19% of festival-goers are over 60, reflecting a cultural scene open to all.
Singles account for almost half of all attendees, demonstrating the appeal of festivals to single people. In terms of financial means, festival-goers tend to belong to higher income brackets, or to be students or teenagers supported by their parents. If we examine the behavior and preferences of German festival-goers, we find that quality takes precedence over price for almost half of them. Growing awareness of ecological sustainability has also made its way onto the scene, with almost 40% of attendees prepared to pay more for environmentally-friendly festivals. This paradigm shift can be seen in the younger generations, who give priority to these values. As a place for social interaction, festivals mainly attract people looking to listen to music, dance and socialize. Access to facilities such as toilets, showers and internet are, however, areas where participants feel there is room for improvement. When assessing the festival market, financial dynamics should not be overlooked. Organizing a festival can entail significant costs, from artist fees to energy and waste management. On the other hand, revenue streams to offset these expenses include ticket sales, accommodation such as "glamping", and sponsorship.
Key players shaping the festival landscape
In the vibrant tapestry of the festival market, several entities stand out for their impact and contribution to the sector. As we delve into the dynamic world of festivals, we need to recognize the key market players who are integral to the success and proliferation of these cultural events.
- Vivendi
A global titan in the media and content publishing landscape, Vivendi is well known for its significant influence in the entertainment sector. Although its specific contributions to the festival market are not detailed, its vast reach and financial power make Vivendi a key player whose decisions and strategies could influence the dynamics of the festival scene. - Live Nation
Live Nation is a name synonymous with live entertainment. Renowned for organizing and managing some of the world's most renowned and well-attended festivals, Live Nation's expertise in event production, promotion and ticketing makes it a central figure in the festival world. It plays an indispensable role in shaping the experience of millions of festival-goers worldwide. - Eventbrite
In the field of event management and ticketing, Eventbrite has carved out an enviable place for itself. By streamlining the process of event organization and ticket sales, Eventbrite enables festival organizers, large and small, to efficiently reach their audiences and manage event logistics. - Sony Music
Although primarily known as a music production and distribution giant, Sony Music is also heavily involved in the festival circuit. Its influence extends to the selection of artists performing at the various festivals and their promotional efforts, which can have a considerable impact on festival programming and popularity. - Viagogo
As an international secondary marketplace, Viagogo offers festival-goers another way to buy and sell tickets. Its global presence and service offering have made it a notable entity in the festival market, particularly in the dynamic field of ticket sales. - Next EventsGmbH (Parookaville)
Next Events GmbH is the organization behind Parookaville, a festival that has rapidly established itself in the German festival calendar. Offering an immersive electronic music experience, Next Events GmbH has mastered the art of creating a unique festival atmosphere that attracts large crowds every year. - BigCityBeats (World Club Dome)
BigCityBeats is the mastermind behind the World Club Dome, billed as the "world's biggest club". transforming a stadium into a huge dance music venue has created a new paradigm in the festival industry, showcasing their creative prowess and impact on the festival-goer experience. Together, these
to understand this market
Detailed content of our market study
Inforamtion
- Number of pages : ~ 40 pages
- Format : Digital and PDF versions
- Last update :
Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of study
A festival is defined as a cultural event organized with the aim of bringing together, for one or more days, different types of people interested in this type of activity related to art, entertainment or leisure in general.people interested in this type of activity related to art, entertainment or, more generally, leisure.
In Germany, festivals and related festivities are an integral part of popular culture, combining traditions such as the 200-year-old Oktoberfest with modernity in a country whose capital gave its name to a unique style of techno music. Volksfests, literally "people's festivals", are thus generally included in the category of festivals in Germany.
on a global scale, festivals have been hard hit by the health crisis, and are now looking to bounce back economically with the help of soaring demand following two years of restrictions.
German festivals take many forms:
- Traditional festivals (Oktoberfest in Munich, Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim, Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart)
- Music festivals (Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Beethovenfest in Bonn, Time Warp in Mannheim)
- Film festivals (Filmfestspiele in Berlin, Filmfest in Munich)
The main market trend is the ability of the market to revive festival organization processes after a two-year slump that had a major impact on the sector's economy, as well as on cultural and artistic life. as 2022 is the year of recovery, it will be crucial in determining whether or not a large number of festivals can survive financially, or risk being shut down for good.
1.2 European market
In ****, a study by Festicket highlights the growth of the music festival market across Europe [***]. As Europe's leading music festival and travel booking platform, Festicket has produced an estimate of the market between **** and **** (***). The estimate is based on aCAGR of around **%.
Estimated music festival market in Europe Europe, ****-****, in billions of US$ Source: ****
The years **** and **** do not reflect the festival market in normal times, so **** is the last full year to date. The table below shows the festivals with the highest sales figures. Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival dominates the ranking, with **** sales of $**.* million. In *th and *th place are two German festivals, the Southside Festival and the Hurricane Festival, two rock and alternative music festivals.
Source: ****
1.3 Domestic market
In ****, the last full year before the two years skewed by the health crisis, live music sales were worth just over * billion euros in Germany. Covid has put a real damper on sales in this sector, and we'll have to wait until **** to reach the * billion euro mark again. The * billion is broken down as follows: approximately *.* billion for tickets and *** million for sponsorship.
Festivals account for around **% of live music sales in a typical year[***]. We can therefore estimate festival sales of *** million in ****. This percentage does not appear to be applicable for the years **** and ****, and we will wait until **** to obtain more recent sales figures.
Live music sales Germany, **** to ****, in millions Source: ****
World Club Dome
Parakooville
Bochum Total
Number of visitors to major music festivals Germany, ****, in thousands Source: ****
1.4 Impact of Covid and confinements
Covid will have had its way with many of Germany's festivals. Oktoberfest and all German beer festivals will be held for the first time in more than three years in **** . the Oktoberfest and all German beer festivals will be held for the first time in over three years, a real relief for these events, which generate considerable sales for towns and locals due to the high consumption and increasing number of tourists during this period, between September and October.
As we saw in *.*, with the help of the graph showing the annual sales figures for live music, **** and **** were two catastrophic years for the sector, with minimal sales, and it will take many years to re-establish the level reached before this crisis.
During this period, however, festivals had been offering "online festivals", enabling everyone to enjoy the artists' music at home. A FestivalFire report available to download from the site provides information on these online festivals.
Percentage of people who searched for these Online-Festivals during confinements Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
Only *% of those surveyed said they would pay to attend an online festival. However, one in * people would attend an online festival if they were with their friends, demonstrating that the ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Profile of festival-goers in Germany
By gender
Men make up a slight majority of festival-goers in Germany. They account for **.*% of the total.
Gender of festival-goers Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
By age
Unsurprisingly, the majority of German festival-goers are in the **-** age bracket, accounting for over a quarter of all festival-goers. Of note is the significant proportion of Germans aged ** and over, who still account for **% of festival-goers, although one might imagine that they don't generally attend the same festivals.
average age of festival-goers Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
Marital status
Single people account for almost half of festival-goers in Germany (***), even though they represent only **.*% of the population. Conversely, couples and married people, who represent **.*% of the population, attend only **.*% of festivals. Festivals are therefore more likely to be attended by single people.
Marital status of festival-goers Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
By income
The following graph shows two particularities. There are more high-income earners at festivals than in the overall German population. The same can be said for those with no income, suggesting that these are teenagers and students who are financed by their parents. When we look at the category with incomes between €* and €*,***, we see that there are fewer people in this category ...
2.2 Festival trends
Nearly half of all festival-goers consider the quality of the festival to be more important than its price. however, **% of those questioned totally disagreed or slightly agreed with this statement.
Festival-goers who agree with this statement "The quality of a good/service is more important than its price" Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
**% of festival-goers say they are willing to pay more if the festival claims to be environmentally conscious. This interest in ecology is growing rapidly among the younger generations, and it now seems essential when developing a good or service to consider this question. The French WeLoveGreen festival has based its entire communication on environmental issues, making it a real success in the eyes of young people in the Paris region.
Festival-goers who agree with the statement "I'm willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly goods/services" Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
The VuMA study also provides further insights into festivalgoers' lifestyles. We learn that festival-goers tend to use music-streaming applications (***) than the general population, and that they are more outgoing people who like to enjoy the nightlife. This provides food for thought as to which milieu to target, for example, to promote a festival in advance.
To the question "Why ...
2.3 Beer preference
Whether it's a beer festival (***) or beer consumption at a music festival in Germany, it's important to note that beer is the country's beverage par excellence. As this graph confirms, beer is the most popular festival drink. They are consumed by **% of festival-goers, far ahead of any alcoholic competition...
Most popular festival drinks Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
It's also worth looking at the preferences of festival-goers in comparison with those of the general population
We can see that Beck's, Bremen's traditional beer, is the favorite among festival-goers, and that it is twice as popular with festival-goers as it is with the general population. There's also an unsurprising general trend: festival-goers drink more beer than the general population.
Beer brands preferred by festival-goers and the general population (***) Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
2.4 Trends for jazz and classical music festivals
Jazz
The number of people interested in jazz festivals is stagnating , at just over *.* million in Germany. The two years of decline in **** and **** appear to be due to the health crisis.
Number of people interested in jazz festivals Germany, **** to ****, in millions Source: ****
Classical music
This graph shows the evolution of the percentage of people interested in classical music festivals. We can see that interest grew from year to year between **** and **** , reaching **.*% in **** , and fell slightly in ****. However, these figures, which could augur well for the future, need to be put into perspective, as the source also provides us with figures according to the age range of the population, and the evolution is explained above all by the growing interest of those in their sixties and beyond. As Germany is an ageing country, this makes sense. Among young people, the percentage unfortunately seems to be declining year on year.
Trend in the percentage of people interested in classical music festivals Germany, **** to ****, in percent Source: ****
3 Market structure
3.1 Festival organization costs
The following table lists the main costs involved in organizing a festival, based on the costs of a fictitious festival for **,*** people.
Source: ****
3.2 Sources of revenue
To offset all the costs mentioned in the previous sub-section, let's now look at the main sources of revenue available to festivals.
Source: ****
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Music Festival Award
According to the Allensbacher Institut, the average cost of a festival is ** euros per day. It should also be noted that almost **% of festival-goers buy their tickets on the day they leave the box office. As we saw in section *.*, however, tickets are not the only source of revenue (***)
Here are the prices for the biggest festivals in Germany:
We've only given the basic prices, but it's always possible to obtain VIP or Deluxe passes (***).
4.2 The different beer festivals
The following table lists the main beer festivals in Germany, true treasures of popular culture . Beer festivals open to the public are free of charge, although tables can be reserved for several hundred euros.
Source: ****
4.3 Geographical distribution of music festivals
The following map, divided into "Länder", provides an overview of the regions with the largest number of music festivals among the top ***. It is captioned in categories:
Category *: fewer than * Category *: between * and * Category *: between * and * Category *: between * and ** Category *: over **
Source: ****
4.4 Supply typology
The following graphs show only the *** biggest festivals in Germany.
Number of visitors
The following graph shows that * out of * festivals have fewer than **,*** festival-goers, so the vast majority of festivals are modest in size. There are only three festivals with over half a million visitors.
Number of festival-goers among the *** biggest festivals Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
Cyclicality
As festivals are generally outdoor events, the summer season is the most optimal time to organize one. The data in the following graph confirms this, with June, July and August accounting for **% of festivals, especially July and August, which each have **% of the total. May comes in *th with *%, and the other adjacent months share the few remaining festivals.
Number of festivals per month among the *** biggest festivals Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
According to the following graph, the optimal number of days for a festival in Germany would be between * and * days, since almost * out of * festivals have made this choice. The main reason for this is festival fatigue. Even so, *% of festivals last longer than a week.
Duration of the *** biggest music festivals Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
4.5 Musical genres offered by festivals
The graph shows that the majority of the *** biggest festivals - more than one in two- offer three main types of music: Pop/RnB, Rock, and House/Techno/Electro. Then there's Hip Hop, available at more than one festival in four. There's something for everyone, however, as genres such as Schlager and Latino each have their own festival featuring these types of music.
Types of music played at the *** biggest festivals Germany, ****, in percent Source: ****
5 Regulations
5.1 The European Festivals Association
The EFA (***) is a Europe-wide coordination group bringing together the various players involved in the development and management of European festivals. It supports artistic and logistical cooperation between festivals, and fights for common European regulations.
In ****, it published a report listing the main pieces of legislation to be aware of concerning the festival sector.
5.2 Techno recognition
At the end of November ****, Germany finally recognized techno/house music and DJs as musicians in their own right. In this country, where Berlin is the world capital of this style, it now seemed derisory not to provide tax benefits for establishments offering techno parties, particularly following the Covid period which will have had an enormous impact on this sector. [***]
In the end, it was the Cour des Finances (***) that took this decision, allowing players in this milieu to benefit from lower tax rates, dropping from **% to *%, the same rate as for concerts. The musical equipment used by DJs was also deemed to be an instrument, making DJs musicians. [***].
This is excellent news for the industry, and promises bright prospects for the future, as well as an increase in public interest in this style, since the offer will be much less financially constrained and will thus be able to diversify.
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Player segmentation
- Vivendi
- Live Nation France
- Eventbrite
- Viagogo
- Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH
All our studies are available online in PDF format
Take a look at an example of our research on another market!
Choosing this study means :
Access to more than 35 hours of work
Our studies are the result of over 35 hours of research and analysis. Using our studies allows you to devote more time and added value to your projects.
Benefit from 6 years' experience and over 1,500 industry reports already produced
Our expertise enables us to produce comprehensive studies in all sectors, including niche and emerging markets.
Our know-how and methodology enable us to produce reports that offer unique value for money.
Access to several thousand articles and paid-for data
Businesscoot has access to all the paid economic press as well as exclusive databases to carry out its market research (over 30,000 articles and private sources).
To enhance our research, our analysts also use web indicators (semrush, trends, etc.) to identify market trends and company strategies. (Consult our paying sources)
Guaranteed support after your purchase
A team dedicated to after-sales service, to guarantee you a high level of satisfaction. +44 238 097 0676
A digital format designed for our users
Not only do you have access to a PDF, but also to a digital version designed for our customers. This version gives you access to sources, data in Excel format and graphics. The content of the study can therefore be easily retrieved and adapted for your specific needs.
Our offers :
the festival market | Germany
- What are the figures on the size and growth of the market?
- What is driving the growth of the market and its evolution?
- What is the positioning of companies in the value chain?
- Data from several dozen databases
5 reports pack (-15%) DE Germany
- 5 reports at €75.6 excluding VAT per study to choose from our German catalogue for 12 months
- Save 15% on additional studies purchased
- Choose to be refunded any unused credit at the end of the 12-month period (duration of the pack)
See the terms and conditions of the pack and the refund of unused credit.
Our customer references
They have consulted our studies
Discover the opinions (+500)
Malcolm Vincent
Astoria Finance
Gregoire de Castelnau
Stags Participations
Timothé Huignard
PWC
Paul-Alexis Kebabtchieff
BCG
Aymeric Granet
Publicis Consultant
interviews & case studies
All interviews and case studies (45)
