We have been following Eventbrite since they are a similar company serving events and having a similar business model of charging for their services only with processing fees since they went public. We are also beginning to overlap with them more as nonprofits discover the GiveSignup Ticket Platform that is purpose built for nonprofits. We reported on the Eventbrite 2020 Annual Report, as well as past public Eventbrite reports.
This latest quarter showed the first significant return towards normal reaching 59% of Q2 2019 ticket volume and 74% of Q2 Gross Profit. This is up significantly from Q1 and from last year.
The good news that Julia Hartz, the CEO of Eventbrite, shared in the earnings call (Transcript and Shareholder Letter) was that Australia is at an all time high, and the US is up 70% from Q1 of 2021.
Financials
Financials looked very strong with adjusted EBITDA loss of only $300,000. The layoffs and restructuring taken on during the pandemic is paying off.
Future Forecasts
The company is not making future forecasts directly, but analysts are estimating for Net Revenue of $299M not to return to pre pandemic levels in 2022. There is continuing drag from the refocus on a self-serve business and away from some of the Ticketfly higher end venue business. However, most analysts are calling for a positive EBITDA.
As a comparable, GiveSignup | RunSignup will actually be above our 2019 Net Revenue and transaction volumes this year in 2021.
Live Events
Eventbrite is being driven by the global return of live events. While they express caution in the near term with COVID variants like Delta, they are seeing broad excitement about the return of live events.
We all hope for a rapid return of live events!