French tech proves hot ticket for festival operators

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Music festivals have bounced back strongly after the pandemic, defying the cost-of-living pressures that have weighed on leisure spending across Europe.

And one company that has benefited is Weezevent, a French technology provider for festivals and other events, which was ranked 140th in this year’s FT/Statista ranking of Europe’s Long-term Growth Champions.

The company offers ticketing and cashless payment services, including contactless wristbands that allow revellers to buy food and drink with a wave of their wrist.

Festivals are booming again: their total market value in the UK grew 12 per cent last year, to reach £1.6bn, exceeding the 2019 level by 1.2 per cent, according to a joint report in September by trade body Live Music Industry Venues and Entertainment and the consultancy CGA.

Festival operators are bullish, predicting they will sell 82 per cent of their tickets this year, up from 72 per cent in 2023, according to separate research by CGA.

Festival operators’ growth means “they are providing food and beverage [so as] to create a nice, great overall experience that you can remember”, rather than focusing solely on the music, explains Pierre-Henri Deballon, Weezevent co-founder and chief executive.

“Technology can help to decrease the line while people wait for the food and beverage, when they buy the tickets, or when they communicate with the organisers. Technology helps all these.” It has also helped his company grow its revenues from €23mn in 2013 to €350mn in 2023.

Despite the pandemic shutting down the events industry, it turned out to be “more of an opportunity” for the company, which acquired struggling Belgian rival PlayPass in 2021 to expand its footprint from France across Europe.

Festivals now using the company’s technology include Boomtown in Hampshire, England, with 65,000 attendees, and Hellfest in Clisson, France. Some 15,000 event organisers use the technology, which can involve hundreds of mobile terminals to control access and enable purchases.

The rapid growth of Weezevent, which is backed by French private equity group Naxicap, is fuelled by consumers’ pent-up desire for live entertainment, especially after a period of standstill during Covid. While the subsequent inflation has tightened people’s purse strings — cutting spending on bars and restaurants — music festivals have remained one of their priorities, at least in the UK.

“People want the perception of value for money, but they are prepared to pay for the experience,” says Chris Sterling, client director at CGA. Some 42 per cent of festival-goers questioned for his report said they planned to prioritise festivals even as the cost of living increased further in 2024, while 44 per cent said they would be willing to pay more for festival tickets because the experience was worth it.

While there is no doubt that discovering new music is a big inducement for festival-goers, “socialising with friends and family also comes into it, as a way to escape from reality and meet people and friends under different experiences . . . as opposed to just going out for a drink”, Sterling notes.

But Deballon warns of the contrasting trends within festivals. “There is big inflation — [particularly] on the cost of artists, and we see the biggest stars taking all,” he says, citing ticket prices becoming ever higher. Amid cost inflation, “small festival organisers are struggling so much”.

That is borne out by figures from the UK’s Association of Independent Festivals, which says 72 festivals announced a postponement, cancellation or complete closure this year — double last year’s figure.

“Festivals remain popular . . . but the situation is really, really tough for independent festivals because the rising costs have been so extraordinary post-Covid, post-Brexit,” says John Rostron, chief executive of the trade body.

Deballon says Weezevent provides its services to both large and small festivals, as 90 per cent of its clients organise events with fewer than 5,000 attendees.

Small organisers benefit from the company’s low commission of about 4 per cent, half the industry average, as it has avoided entering the more expensive consumer-facing market, he says.