Vivid Seats sinks as ticket resales drop 900,000 in 3 months
Have we reached peak ticket presale or is Vivid Seats just not as good is its competitors? The company is clearly struggling, reporting that its marketplace ticket resales fell to 2.2 million compared to 3.1 million in Q2 last year.
Vivid claimed in an earnings call that its troubles are seasonal and that an industry wide June dip was just an anomaly.
“in Q2, we saw industry growth to start the quarter that gave way to double-digit industry declines across categories in June,” said Vivid Seats CEO Stanley Chia, “While some amount of monthly oscillation is to be expected due to event mix, the degree of monthly volatility has been elevated thus far in 2025, which we attribute to a combination of economic uncertainty and the implementation of the FTC’s all-in pricing mandate.
“The concerts category was up low single digits in Q2, but down double digits in June,” Chia continued. “Recent industry trends, including the switch to all-in pricing, do not change our view that live events remain an attractive long-term opportunity supported by durable supply and demand tailwinds.”
Vivid reported that revenue sunk 28% compared to the same period in 2024. Net loss totaled $263.3M, growing by $262.1M from a net loss of $1.2M in Q2 2024.
Revenue was $143.6m (£108m/€124m) during Q2, down 28% from $198.3m in Q2 last year. Marketplace Gross Order Value (GOV) was $685.5m, down 31% from $998.1m in Q2 last year.
Vivid management said it has identified and is in the processes of cutting $25 million in annual costs. “This program will both right-size the organization for the current environment and drive enhanced long-term efficiency to ensure Vivid Seats can offer a leading value proposition to fans and sellers,” Chia said.
Vivid Seats also announced a 20 to 1 reverse stock split this week in an attempt to bolster its stock price.
More Regulation and Caps
Falling sales and revenue may just the start of Vivid Seats woes.
FTC regulators recently began to crack down on ticket bots. Dozens of federal and state lawmakers are also calling for reform.
Concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary recently endorsed a 20% cap on ticket resales. Multiple major resellers responded that they would not survive that margin.
