DEAG CEO hails “tough but transformational” year
As Deutsche Entertainment (DEAG) posts its 2024 year-end financial results, CEO Detlef Kornett speaks to IQ about the firm’s “tough but transformational” year.
On Friday, the Berlin-based promoter, events operator and ticketing company reported the highest revenue result in the company’s history: €369.8 million – up 17.9% year on year.
With over 11 million tickets sold in the DEAG Group in 2024 (previous year: 10 million), the rapidly expanding ticketing business was particularly successful, as was the Spoken Word & Literary Events division.
The Group’s increased revenue can also be partly attributed to its bullish M&A strategy, which this year included the acquisitions of UK-based promoter and live entertainment organiser ShowPlanr, German festival organiser black mamba Event & Marketing and Italian rock promoter MC2 Live.
“MC2 Live co-founder Andrea Pieroni is a big asset within the European network”
“M&A is an essential part of our business, so there hasn’t been a year when we haven’t acquired new companies,” says Kornett. “I think we made fewer acquisitions than usual in 2024, but with MC2 Live, for example, it was a very important and sizeable acquisition.”
DEAG acquired Milan-based MC² Live in October 2024, bringing its co-founders and legendary promoters Andrea and Stefano Pieroni into the group. Over the past few decades, the stalwart promoter has organised numerous concerts, festivals and events with stars such as Judas Priest, Slipknot, Rammstein, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Eros Ramazzotti and Negrita.
“MC2 Live co-founder Andrea Pieroni is a big asset within the European network and we have managed to tap into new cycles of contacts and so forth,” Kornett adds.
Though he admits that the Netherlands and Benelux are obvious gaps in DEAG’s marketplace, the CEO is resistant to “expansion for the sake of expansion”. “There has to be a fit with the people and how to approach business,” he adds.
“It’s been a tough year and I don’t want to portray everything as hunky dory”
With the acquisition of MC² Live, DEAG is now present in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Spain and Italy.
“In 2024, we’ve not been outstandingly successful in just one country or one specific segment; it was hard work and everyone pitched in,” says Kornett. “It’s been a tough year and I don’t want to portray everything as hunky dory.
“In continental Europe, stadium acts and big shows were selling like hot cakes, but on the flip side, lots of good household names were clawing for every ticket to get to the water line.”
With former CEO Peter Schwenkow stepping down in March last year, Kornett framed 2024 as a “year of transformation to lay the foundations for sustainable and profitable growth”.
This is how the company explains a drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to around €14.4 million in 2024, compared to €26.4 million in 2023.
“It’s not a matter of if the weather will hit your festival, it’s when”
“With Peter stepping down, there was lots of reorganisation,” explains Kornett. “I have put a big emphasis on strengthening the executive vice president level within the company. We’re not on the stock exchange right now, but we are a company structured that way, and having a new board with all new board members just takes some time.”
The company also invested in a sustainability officer and the evolution of its IT infrastructure, both of which Kornett is confident will pay off in 2025.
An unexpected cost last year was the weather-related challenges in staging open-air events in parts of Europe.
“It’s not a matter of if the weather will hit your festival, it’s when,” says Kornett. “If it hits early enough, then you’re usually in an okay place because you’ve got insurance. But last year, we had to turn away 10,000 people at Nature One because of unsafe weather conditions. Then you miss all the auxiliary revenues, too. It was still a very good festival but the economic damage is done.”
“There are a lot of issues in the festival sector – from weather to headliners to costs to audiences”
Kornett says the company will continue to invest in weather prevention, having accepted that it increases the cost of putting on an outdoor event.
Last year, the company organised over 30 festivals and open-air concerts across the continent, but with margins decreasing, the firm has streamlined its outdoor event portfolio for 2025 and axed less profitable events and festivals in the UK, Germany and Italy.
“There are a lot of issues in the festival sector – from weather to headliners to costs to audiences,” he explains. “And when the rest of the year has strong events, you think ‘Do I need to risk it all for a small festival of the same genre?’ –probably not.”
DEAG Group’s rapidly expanding ticketing business was particularly successful in 2024, with over 11 million tickets sold compared to 10 million in the previous year.
“We have created a very good instrument to drive success for our events”
A steadily growing share of these tickets is sold via the DEAG Group’s ticketing platforms, which include myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie.
“It’s one segment of a business that has a very good margin and now contributes significantly to the total EBITDA, but for us, it’s more complementary [to the success of the company],” the CEO explains.
“Having our own ticketing machine in the core markets helps us put our content into the best possible light and it allows us to promote acts that otherwise would not get the limelight on that day of the week,” he says.
“Having access to data is also very important and other ticketing companies don’t do that. But I can’t stress enough: we’re not in competition with Eventim or Ticketmaster or vice versa. We have created a very good instrument to drive success for our events and add to the overall mix of our business, and that’s really important.”
“Spoken Word & Literary Events is probably the most important non-music segment we have”
Another segment of DEAG’s business that has seen significant growth is the Spoken Word & Literary Events division, which achieved a 10% share of revenue within just three years.
The event format “An Evening with…” featuring world-famous authors has been particularly successful, as has the international literature festival lit.COLOGNE, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2025 by welcoming around 120,000 visitors.
“Spoken Word & Literary Events is probably the most important non-music segment we have,” says Kornett. “I am very confident that there are more years of rapid growth in front of us, and we’re only just realising how big the audience is. There’s still a whole world for us to capture, outside of personality and literary events, and that’s where I think the growth will come from.”
It’s not just the Spoken Word & Literary Events division that Kornett is feeling optimistic about. If 2024 was DEAG’s year of transformation, 2025 is poised to be its year of success, according to the CEO.
For the financial year 2025, DEAG is aiming to sell 12 million tickets to concerts, festivals and live events
“We’re very confident that our EBITDA will increase significantly in the current financial year – I think all the signs are in our favour,” he says.
DEAG has already sold around four million tickets to events in 2025, achieving a new record for advance sales figures.
The revenue generated and already fixed is around €150 million and significantly exceeds the previous record of €129 million from 2021 for 2022, the most successful financial year to date.
For the financial year 2025, DEAG is also aiming to sell 12 million tickets to concerts, festivals and live events.
“I do feel that our two-to-three-year plan of becoming a company with more than €500 million in revenues will pay off”
This year, DEAG is organising concerts and tours by artists such as Sam Fender, Stereophonics, Andrea Bocelli, Till Lindemann, Lana Del Rey, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions. The tour for the 45th anniversary of German rock band Böhse Onkelz sold 160,000 tickets exclusively via the Group’s own ticketing platform myticket.de within just a few hours.
The firm is also expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors to its festivals, such as the 30th anniversary edition of Nature One, Mayday, Airbeat One and the Belladrum Tartan Heart.
“We’re not only looking at 2026 now, we’re also having bookings in 2027 – and not only at superstar level but arenas too,” he says. “For us as a company, that’s very helpful because it allows you to plan for resources and whatever is needed. So I do feel that our two-to-three-year plan of becoming a company with more than €500 million in revenues will pay off.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.