Across the industry, a group of venues consistently outperformed their peers in 2025. Not because they were bigger. Not because their markets were easier. And not because conditions were perfect. They outperformed because they booked more efficiently, generated more revenue per fan, and treated booking, ticketing, and marketing as one connected system.

Today, we are excited to release the Live Entertainment Benchmark Report, built from anonymized, aggregated data from North American live music venues using Opendate across 2025.

This report is designed to give owners and operators clarity, confidence, and practical insight as they plan for 2026.

Why We Built This Report

Most venues know their own numbers. Far fewer know how those numbers compare to peers operating in similar markets and capacity ranges.

Without benchmarks, it is difficult to tell whether slower growth is driven by demand, pricing, operations, or process. It is also hard to know where small changes could unlock meaningful gains.

This report was built to answer a simple question:

What are the highest-performing venues doing differently right now?

Throughout the report, venues are grouped by capacity and evaluated on a composite of booking activity, revenue generation, sell-through, and marketing effectiveness. High-performing venues represent the top 20 percent within their capacity band, ensuring comparisons reflect execution rather than size alone.

The result is a practical benchmarking guide grounded in real operating data, not theory.

What the Data Shows

A quick note before diving in: This post intentionally shares only high-level examples from the data. The full report includes exact benchmarks by capacity, deeper breakouts, and tactical context that are not published here. Think of this section as a signal, not the full scoreboard.

The Live Entertainment Benchmark Report focuses on the core levers that most directly impact venue performance. Below is a preview of what you will find inside.

Booking Efficiency: Volume and Speed Win

In a volatile market, consistency matters. The venues that performed best in 2025 treated booking as a system rather than a series of one-off negotiations.

What the data signals:

• High-performing venues booked meaningfully more shows than peers within the same capacity range.
• They sent far more offers and moved faster, without seeing lower acceptance rates.
• The advantage came from volume and speed, not market size or leverage.

The full report shows how wide this gap actually is, how it varies by venue size, and what high performers do differently inside their booking workflows.

Ticketing and Revenue: Similar Prices, Very Different Outcomes

Ticket revenue remains foundational, but the strongest venues focused on maximizing revenue per attendee rather than raising prices.

What the data signals:

• Ticket prices were largely similar across average and high-performing venues.
• Despite this, top performers generated substantially more revenue per event.
• Add-ons and premium experiences were one of the largest separators.

The report breaks down exactly how much more revenue high performers generated, which add-ons mattered most, and how these results change by capacity band.

Organizer Fees: A Meaningful and Underused Lever

Organizer fees are often uncomfortable to discuss, but the data shows wide variation across venues.

What the data signals:

• Many venues cluster around a conservative fee structure.
• Others experiment more aggressively without obvious negative demand impact.
• There is meaningful room for thoughtful testing, especially for venues below peer benchmarks.

The full report includes real fee distributions, industry context, and guidance for evaluating where your venue sits relative to similar operators.

Marketing: Scale and Automation Drive Results

Marketing is often treated as reactive. High-performing venues approach it as a revenue engine.

What the data signals:

• Top performers communicate with fans far more frequently per show.
• Higher volume does not necessarily mean worse performance.
• Automated campaigns quietly contribute incremental ticket sales with minimal added effort.

Inside the report, you will see how large this gap is, how automation contributes over a full year, and why connected booking and ticketing data makes scale possible.

Fan Spend and Industry Trends

Beyond ticketing, fan behavior continues to evolve. Venues that adapted to these shifts protected and grew per-head spend.

What the data signals:

• Overall spend per fan remained resilient, even as alcohol consumption patterns shifted.
• Non-alcoholic and alternative categories are growing quickly.
• Venues that planned bar strategy show-by-show performed best.

The full report details where fan spend is moving, which categories are growing fastest, and how operators are adjusting pricing and menus in real time.

What High-Performing Venues Have in Common

Across every section of the report, the same pattern appears.

High-performing venues:

• Book more shows and move faster
• Generate more revenue per ticket
• Market more consistently and intentionally

Most importantly, they operate from connected data. Booking informs marketing. Marketing informs pricing. Ticketing and POS data shape future offers. When these systems work together, efficiency improves and results compound.

Download the Full Report

If you want the full benchmarks, capacity-specific breakouts, and detailed examples behind the patterns described above, you will need the complete report.

The Live Entertainment Benchmark Report was built for owners and operators who want fewer guesses and better answers.

👉 Download the Live Entertainment Benchmark Report to see the complete benchmarks, capacity-level comparisons, and operator insights:

If you want help understanding how your venue compares or would like a walkthrough of the data, our team is happy to help.

The venues that performed best in 2025 did not rely on guesswork. They relied on systems. And they are entering 2026 from a position of strength.

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