Photo Credit: Vivid Seats
Vivid Seats, a major digital marketplace for event tickets, reported a sharply challenging Q2 2025. Ticket pre-sales, recorded as marketplace orders, fell by 900,000 compared to the same period last year.
In total, Vivid Seats’ Q2 2025 saw 2.2 million tickets resold on the platform, down from 3.1 million in Q2 2024—a 30% drop by volume. This decline mirrors a broader downturn in revenue, with Q2 earnings falling by 28% year-over year to $143.6 million. Marketplace Gross Order Value (GOV) shrank 31% to $685.5 million compared to $998.1 million in 2024.
The ticketing company’s management attributed these figures to both seasonal effects and structural shifts within the live events industry. CEO Stanley Chia addressed the volatility directly on an earnings call with investors. “In Q2, we saw industry growth to start the quarter that gave way to double-digit industry declines across categories in June.”
“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.”
“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 an demand tailwinds,” Chia told investors.
Beyond industry-wide factors, Vivid Seats faces direct competition from major players like Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, and others. Hefty marketing competition and pricing pressures are notable, as rivals increase spend in digital search and customer loyalty incentives. Changes in consumer behavior post-pandemic have also poised challenges, with concert and sports event ticketing volumes both weakening as the post-COVID catch-up demand wanes.
The cost structure for the business adapted in response: Vivid Seats announced a $25 million annualized cost reduction program to right-size the organization and enhance long-term efficiency. This initiative will, in CEO Chia’s words, “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.” The company also executed a 20-to-1 reverse stock split this quarter as share prices approached multi-year lows.
Vivid Seats’ Q2 performance underscores the profound challenges facing ticketing platforms in 2025, including more competitive digital marketing environments, regulatory shifts, economic volatility, and evolving consumer demand.
