IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC |
12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2021 | |
| IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC [Abstract] | |
| IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC | IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC The unprecedented and rapid spread of COVID-19 and the related government restrictions and social distancing measures implemented throughout the world significantly impacted our business from mid-March 2020 through the first half of this year. Late in the second quarter, however, we began to see the positive impacts of successful vaccination rollouts in many of our key markets, mainly the United States and United Kingdom, with social distancing restrictions easing and live events resuming. In the third quarter, we saw a meaningful restart of our operations with outdoor amphitheater events and festivals taking place in the United States and United Kingdom. The restart of our operations has been executed with careful consideration of the safety and health of our fans, artists and employees through a mix of masking, testing and vaccination protocols at our events, venues and offices around the world.
Operating Results
While the first half of the year saw a material impact from the global COVID-19 pandemic, in the second half of the year, ticket sales grew, new sponsor partners were signed and shows began to resume, primarily in the United States and United Kingdom. Our overall revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased by $4.4 billion to $6.3 billion as compared to prior year. The revenue increase during the year was across all of our segments as a result of more events going on sale and occurring globally, along with lower refunds, as compared to prior year. The increase in revenue during 2021 was primarily in our Concerts and Ticketing segments largely due to the resumption of shows and festivals late in the second quarter of 2021 and continuing throughout the rest of 2021 primarily in the United States and United Kingdom.
The event-related deferred revenue for our Concerts segment, which is reported as part of deferred revenue on our consolidated balance sheets, includes the face value and Concerts’ share of service charges for all tickets sold by December 31, 2021 for shows expected to occur in the next 12 months. Any refunds committed to for shows cancelled or rescheduled during the year ended December 31, 2021 have either been returned to fans or are reflected in accrued expenses on the consolidated balance sheets. We are no longer estimating future refunds as operations have resumed in our major markets and event cancellations and postponements have declined such that our estimation of future events that could be impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic would result in an insignificant reclassification from deferred revenue to accrued expenses. We expect that the majority of our shows postponed due to the pandemic will be rescheduled. Event-related deferred revenue for tickets sold for shows expected to occur after December 31, 2022 totaled $73.2 million and is reflected in other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets.
The revenue recognized in our Ticketing segment during 2021 includes our share of ticket service charges for tickets sold during the period for third-party clients and for shows that occurred in the period for our Concerts segment where our promoters control the ticketing. Revenue has been reduced for any shows that were cancelled and for refunds requested on rescheduled shows up to the time of the filing of these consolidated financial statements, and funds have either been returned to the customer or are reflected in accrued expenses on the consolidated balance sheets. Our ticketing clients determine if shows will be rescheduled or cancelled and what the refund policy will be for those shows. We have not recorded an estimate for refunds that may occur in the future since our clients, not Ticketmaster, determine when shows are cancelled or rescheduled and we have a limited amount of historical data of refunds resulting from a global shutdown of live events on which to reliably determine an estimate.
For events that are cancelled, our standard policy is to refund the fans within 30 days, subject to regulations in various markets and in some cases at the discretion of our venue or event organizer clients. Our ticket refund policies for rescheduled shows vary by ticketing client and country. In multiple international markets, including Germany, Italy and Belgium, governmental regulations have been put in place in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic which allow for the issuance of vouchers in place of cash refunds for rescheduled shows, and in some cases for cancelled shows.
The restart of our operations is now well underway in the United States and United Kingdom and we expect the same to happen in other parts of the world as vaccination efforts gain momentum in mainland Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The reduction in live events due to the pandemic has had a negative impact on our operating results during the year ended December 31, 2021 and we expect certain markets to continue to be impacted in the first quarter of 2022 as there is still uncertainty on the exact timing and pace of the recovery in certain markets where vaccination efforts are still underway.
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