Christopher BarrettTicketed livestream concert promoter Driift said its livestream for Little Mix, from The O2 arena (cap. 20,000) on 14 May, sold more than 85,000 tickets including 29,000 at cinemas.
The cinemas screening was sufficiently successful to make the UK-Ireland box office Top 5, with a gross of £356,000, according to Screen Daily.
The estimated audience for the livestream is believed to have been in the region of 255,000, based on each livestream being watched by three people, meaning that the overall online audience was more than ten times the AEG-owned London venue’s capacity.
The company said the final show on the band’s sell-out Confetti Tour was watched in realtime by fans in 143 countries. Tickets were priced at £13 in the UK.
Driift CEO Ric Salmon, who co-founded the business during the pandemic, said the success of the livestream illustrated that the format is here to stay: “With the right artist and the right creative and technical team in place, we can expand a single one-off performance into a genuine global event. The reaction from fans has been astonishing. I would like to congratulate Little Mix, their brilliant management team, and all our partners on this incredible achievement, and I’m delighted so many people around the world could share in such a unique and special moment.”
Modest! Management co-founder Harry Magee, who manages Little Mix, said, “Having worked with Driift on Niall Horan’s Royal Albert Hall livestream back in 2020, it’s been a real pleasure to repeat our partnership outside of lockdown. We are delighted with the results.”
Last month Driift and director Paul Dugdale won a BAFTA award for the Glastonbury, Live at Worthy Farm livestream show.