Eventbrite Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 8, 2025

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Eventbrite, Inc. First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode. If you have any questions or comments during the presentation, you may press star one on your phone to enter the question queue at any time, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Megan Manister.

Operator

Megan, the floor is yours.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon, and welcome to Eventbrite's first quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. My name is Megan Manister, Investor Relations. With us today are Julia Hartz, our Co Founder and Chief Executive Officer and Anand Gandhi, our Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay at Eventbrite's Investor Relations website @investor.eventbrite.com. Please also refer to our Investor Relations website to find our press release announcing our financial results, which was released prior to the call.

Speaker 1

Before we get started, I would like to remind you that during today's call, we'll be making forward looking statements regarding future events and financial performance. We caution that such statements reflect our best judgment as of today, May 8, based on the factors that are currently known to us and that actual future events or results could differ materially due to several factors, many of which are beyond our control. For a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties affecting our future results, we refer you to the section titled Forward Looking Statements in our press release and our filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements made during the call to reflect events or circumstances after today or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. During this call, we'll present adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin, which are non GAAP financial measures.

Speaker 1

These non GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and have limitations as an analytical tool. You should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis for our results of operation as reported under GAAP. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is available in our investor presentation, which is available on our Investor Relations website. We encourage you to read our investor presentation, which contains important information about GAAP and non GAAP results. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Julia.

Speaker 1

Thanks Megan and thank

Speaker 2

you to everyone joining our call today. We're off to a solid start this year. In Q1, we delivered $73,800,000 in revenue, landing at the high end of our guidance. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $4,600,000 representing a 6% margin, right in line with what we told you to expect. But more importantly, we're seeing continued progress in our recovery.

Speaker 2

Paid ticket trends improved for a third quarter in a row. While ticket volume was still down 7.7% year over year, it showed clear improvement over Q4 which was down 10% and Q3 which was down 14. This was the plan. We knew this year would still carry the impact of last year's organizer fee reversal. We're managing through it and working to get back to growth in the second half of the year.

Speaker 2

We're driving consistent momentum across our strategic levers. The consumer flywheel is turning, our most impactful creators are sticking with us and we're investing with discipline. Let's jump into the quarter's highlights starting with the consumer side. This is the year where we're reintroducing Eventbrite, not just as a ticketing tool, but as the place to find something great to do. To deliver on this promise, we launched a new Eventbrite app and brand campaign in Q1 and consumer response has been strong.

Speaker 2

The app's focus on user preferences, discoverability, and real world connection is making Eventbrite a go to destination for live experiences. March app installs accelerated post launch and paid tickets generated from the app were up 11% compared to last year's Q1. Total average monthly app users were up 13% in Q1 year over year. Total Discovery users, who are people looking for something to do across our platform on any surface, rose 16% year over year. That matters to our creators because they succeed when more people come to Eventbrite to find events.

Speaker 2

To build on this growth, we're focused on improving how we match the right event to the right person at the right time both within our marketplace and across our distribution channels. Now let's talk creators. We saw solid momentum on both of our sales and self sign on channels, thanks in large part to powerful creator solutions we're delivering. Our new Timed Entry solution launched in late twenty twenty four continues to gain traction. The experience improvements we made are resonating with creators who used to rely on manual workarounds to manage session based events.

Speaker 2

Let's bring that to life with a few examples. IBoatNYC is based in New York and has sold more than 110,000 tickets on Eventbrite, over half of those driven directly by our efforts. They use the full suite of tools: Time Gentry to manage big crowds on multi level yachts Eventbrite ads to fill seats and our TikTok integration to reach younger audiences. By automating event creation, they save up to eight-ten hours per series. That's a full workday back, time they can now spend focusing on the experience and growing their business.

Speaker 2

In Q1 Eventbrite Ads revenue was up 30% year over year. Creators are seeing the impact. One of the clearest examples is Orlov. They're known for throwing some of the most exciting parties in The US, producing over two fifty events each year across 40 cities. For their national St.

Speaker 2

Patrick's Day rollout, they leaned into Eventbrite Ads and it delivered. The campaigns drove high sales with very little manual work. It was so effective, they've now built Eventbrite Ads into their broader marketing strategy for both current and future events. These creators are proof. Eventbrite doesn't just help you sell tickets, it helps you operate smarter, reach more people, and scale what you're best at.

Speaker 2

And we're making it easier to do that every day. Our sales team is focused on the right segments, helping our largest and most frequent creators drive even greater retention and revenue. Now let's talk about how we're running the business. We're operating with financial discipline. Q1 operating expenses were down 14% year to year, reflecting cost actions from last year.

Speaker 2

We held G and A dollars flat by staying tight on costs and we directed investment toward go to market functions and scaling consumer engagement and ads where we see the greatest leverage. Our liquidity position remains strong with $550,000,000 in cash and $240,000,000 in available liquidity, up from $230,000,000 at year end. To sum it up, Q1 played out as expected. The year is off to a steady focused start. We're on track for what we laid out, returning to paid ticket volume growth in the second half of the year and driving long term profitability.

Speaker 2

Before I hand it over to Anand, I want to share a quick update on our executive team. As we recently announced, Julia Taylor, our Chief Legal and People Officer, and Vivek Sagi, our Chief Technology Officer, have decided to move on to pursue new opportunities outside of Eventbrite. JT, as we all know her, has been an incredible leader, partner, and champion of our culture. Vivek has played a key role in modernizing our platform, strengthening reliability, and building a solid engineering foundation. I'm deeply grateful for their impact.

Speaker 2

Just as important, both JT and Vivek have built strong teams that will carry their work forward. That includes Lisa Gorman, who was recently promoted to General Counsel. As we kick off searches for our next executive teammates, I want to personally thank JT and Vivek for the legacy they are leaving behind and for helping develop leaders who are ready to step up. Now I'll turn it over to Anand to walk through our Q1 financials and outlook.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Julia. We delivered on our outlook for Q1, with net revenue and adjusted EBITDA each at the top end of our guidance range. Our ongoing efforts to strengthen the business continued to yield results, with the trend in paid ticket volume improving again for the third consecutive quarter. The progress we're achieving gives us confidence in our plan for the year, and as a result, we are reaffirming our full year financial outlook. I will walk you through our first quarter results and then share more about our expectations for the year.

Speaker 3

All of the financial comparisons I will reference are on a year over year basis unless indicated otherwise. Starting with net revenue. Net revenue of $73,800,000 was at the high end of our outlook range of 71,000,000 to $74,000,000 This was down 14% year over year, in large part due to the elimination of organizer fees, which, as expected, significantly reduced Marketplace revenue. This was partially offset by the continued rapid growth in Eventbrite ads, which was up 30%. Paid ticket volume of $19,600,000 reflected continued sequential improvement in year over year trends, declining at a slower rate of 7.7%, a meaningful improvement compared to the year over year declines of 10.213.6% in Q4 and Q3 of twenty twenty four, respectively.

Speaker 3

Also, we're seeing continued sequential improvement in year over year trends in paid creators, paid events and paid buyers. Now looking at gross profit. Gross profit was $49,000,000 representing a gross margin of 67% compared to 71% a year ago. The margin contraction was expected due to the elimination of the higher margin organizer fees. Now turning to operating expenses.

Speaker 3

OpEx was $59,000,000 in Q1, down 14%, which was our lowest OpEx quarter since 2022. Also, this represents our fifth consecutive quarter of OpEx reductions due to our continued focus on expense discipline. Stock based compensation declined 27% to $10,000,000 in Q1, reflecting our intentional equity management. We reduced product development expenses from $27,000,000 a year ago to $21,000,000 and reduced general and administrative expenses from $21,000,000 to $17,000,000 Sales, marketing and support expenses were $22,000,000 up modestly from $21,000,000 in part due to strategic investment in our revenue generating sales team. Now looking at profitability.

Speaker 3

Net loss was 6,600,000 compared to $4,500,000 a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $4,600,000 representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.2%. This was at the upper end of our outlook and marks our fifteenth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. Now turning to our balance sheet. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $551,000,000 up $86,000,000 from the end of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3

When deducting for creator payables, our available liquidity was $241,000,000 at the end of Q1, which is an $11,000,000 increase from the end of twenty twenty four. We are mindful of our outstanding convertible notes. We're confident in our ability to manage these maturities given our available liquidity and our consistent track record of generating positive adjusted EBITDA. We're also proactively evaluating options to secure incremental liquidity, and we're prioritizing non dilutive alternatives. Now turning to our outlook for 2025.

Speaker 3

Based on current performance, we continue to expect full year 2025 net revenue in the range of $295,000,000 to $310,000,000 with an adjusted EBITDA margin in the mid single digits. As we look to Q2, we expect net revenue in the range of 70,000,000 to 73,000,000 and an adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 3% to 4%. We attribute the sequential declines in revenue and margin to a few factors, including Easter week landing in April, creating a headwind for Q2 ticket sales some larger planned Q2 events shifting to later in the year and lower ticket prices, consistent with historical quarter over quarter trends. We believe these Q2 factors will normalize, and we're confident that our progress across the business, combined with our continued financial discipline, will enable us to deliver improved revenue and margin trends in the second half of twenty twenty five. Now to recap.

Speaker 3

As Julia highlighted, our decisive actions and effective execution have delivered meaningful improvements in ticketing trends and product enhancements that are accelerating our Marketplace transformation. Our strong operational execution and our continued financial discipline are setting the stage for long term profitable growth. We have a promising year ahead, and we look forward to sharing more with you at our next earnings. And with that, now I'll turn it back to the operator for Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. And our first question today is coming from Cameron Mansoon Perrone from Morgan Stanley. Cameron, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, thanks. Yeah, first on the app MAU growth, that's still a modest portion of the total MAUs, but it is nicely outpacing. Is a shift to more app based MAUs an intentional strategy that you guys are pursuing? And then maybe just some help on kind of how user behavior differs between creators and attendees using the app relative to those on the web. If that is a strategy, we can help better understand how that influences the business or impacts the business.

Speaker 4

Thanks.

Speaker 5

Yeah, thanks, Cameron. So our intention around the consumer side investments in the marketplace is to really focus on the app. Our app users are up healthily year over year and they're more retentive and engaging than our total buyer behavior. And so when we think about the redesigned app and the pillars that we used when we relaunched the app really focusing on simplification, discoverability, personalization, and also making event discovery more social. We were thinking about how we could be disciplined in investing in consumer side growth, but also go toward the highest intent, most valuable users, and that's really where we're leaning in.

Speaker 5

Those users are three times more likely to buy a ticket than web users, and while they are a smaller subset, we think that we can learn a lot from these signals in app discovery. Overall, discovery users are up 16% year over year, so we know that writ large we're doing a better job of putting that right event in front of the right person at the right time wherever they are. And I want to really commend the team that they've done a really nice job of balancing both focused, intense work on our consumer app and that end to end journey and that work continues even post the rebrand. But also extending Eventbrite's inventory out into the world where people are searching for things to do. So especially social media with our partnership with TikTok and other platforms, we're really focused on connecting the dots for people so that wherever you're looking for something to do, Eventbrite's there, and our omnipresence is really driving the liquidity in our marketplace.

Speaker 5

In terms of creator behavior, we're starting to educate our creators on how their events are showing up in the app and how they can optimize their listings in the app to make it even more high converting. And we don't see any major derivations in terms of how creators are going to be thinking about when they put their events on sale, but we do hope to continue to educate them through our reporting and analytics dashboard around how effective mobile app consumers are and why they should really lean into making that experience better for their users.

Speaker 4

That's helpful. One other just quick housekeeping item, but Anand, curious to the 1Q SBC, is that a good run rate for the remainder of the year or just anything in terms of from a stock based comp perspective, what should we should expect as we move through '25?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Cameron. Yeah, that is a good is good run rate for the year. If anything, anything, we might see some improvements. I would say in general, you know, given the fact that they this vesting is over multiple years, it's not exactly a straight line pattern. And there's a little jaggedness in the progression, but we don't we see this at the high end, most likely of the quarterly SPC for the year.

Speaker 4

Got it. And then one more if I can. But on the ads growth, I'd be curious or would love to hear just a little bit more detail on what's helping sustain that. I think 30% was similar to the growth we saw last quarter. So any additional color on kind of what's supporting that?

Speaker 4

And then as we think about the continued growth in marketplace revs, any additional color around you called out higher incrementals, but any additional color on kind of how the incrementals for Marketplace compared to the core ticketing business? That'd be helpful.

Speaker 5

Absolutely. So VampRite Ads is is working, you know, really for our creators because it's native to the marketplace. It's performance driven, and it's creator led. It's not just an add on. It's a it's a part of the core monetization engine.

Speaker 5

And so as we get better at educating our creators and putting the ads tool in the right place within their event creation and lifecycle process, we think that we'll continue to grow adoption. We're happy with the 30% year over year growth because it is a clear signal that there is product market fit. And when we think about how can we beyond education and really helping our creators onboard to the tool, how can we grow ads better? Well first is expand the high intent placement. So there are surfaces on Eventbrite where ads are not yet embedded and where we know they will convert and we're continuing to roll a roadmap against that work stream.

Speaker 5

We also want to give creators better tools to see better ROI, so things like ticket sales ad objectives. And then finally the third thing that we're focused on improving consistently is the relevance of the ads that we're showing to consumers when they're searching whatever surface they're searching on whether it's desktop, mobile web or app. We want consumers to see the most relevant ads which will of course drive the best outcome for our creators. So I think the bottom line really is that ads are growing because they help creators sell more tickets and more creators are seeing the effectiveness. And that really aligns perfectly with how we think about scaling the marketplace monetization.

Speaker 5

We'll really focus on marketing and promotion and driving demand within our our monetization picture, this year, we also are focusing on opening up core ticketing volume growth through new segments like timed entry, which is a relatively new capability on Eventbrite that brings a lot of opportunity growing nearly 40%. We think that we have a lot of room to grow there and we're just getting started. Visibility into the sales pipeline is very positive and combined time denture creators who are hyper frequent and regular customers and Eventbrite ads makes a lot of sense. So I'm excited about the combination of that.

Speaker 4

That's all helpful. Thank you both.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question is coming from Naved Khan from B. Riley Securities. Naved, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hi. This is Ryan Powell on for Naved. Thank you for taking our questions. So first question I wanted to ask is, on the Eventbrite app redesign, if there's anything to call out in terms of event category performance since launch? And then second, for traction on timed entry, wondering what percent of overall events those are now and what the long term expectations for that could be?

Speaker 6

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Sure, thanks so much Ryan. So on the Eventbrite app, in terms of category performance, we're not breaking that out right now, but what I can tell you is that we've seen some strong growth within the categories where we have executed our ITLA strategy. It's sort of a self fulfilling prophecy, we're focusing on the most highly liquid categories in the key metros where we see the most focused buyer intent. And so the categories like music, food and drink, community and culture, and performing arts are the ones that I think you should keep an eye on. We're continuing to lean in there.

Speaker 5

And again, we are running a strategy that's scaling right now where we partner with local influencers to have them help curate the best events in those categories, and we're seeing a really nice conversion rate from that curation. And then on the timed entry side, you know, a little too early to start sharing numbers there, but how I would think about it is that timed entry expands our addressable market. So I'd look beyond the traditional categories to more like attractions and installed experiences that are happening hyper frequently. So what I mean by that is there are sessions, are several time sessions throughout the day, they're happening seven days a week, three sixty five days a year. That's really the market we're focused on and this is the first time that Eventbrite has really stepped into this segment of live experiences.

Speaker 5

So it's early. We will continue to update you as we have more metrics that we want you to start baking into your models. We do have dedicated sales members focused on timed entry, which is also relatively new. And so that's what drives my confidence in both timed entry and then know, in what we're seeing in curation and discovery.

Speaker 4

Thank you. That's all very helpful.

Speaker 6

And then on the TikTok partnership, is there anything to call out there on trends for impressions and conversion rates?

Speaker 5

I don't have any new news for you other than the adoption of social sharing tools for creators is continuing to be a cornerstone to our strategy for driving demand and why creators are staying at a higher rate. We're really focused on helping higher value creators in the 100 to 1,000 attendee range find ways to drive demand and build audience. And we're seeing a higher retention rate because of that in that segment. So I think that as we continue to build these blocks around how we can help creators be the best marketers and promoters of their events, We are really focused on the most important platforms that we need to integrate with, and TikTok's a great example. But there's certainly others out there, and we continue to work on those partnerships.

Speaker 4

All very helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And as a reminder, if you wish to join the queue at this time to ask a question, you may press And And your next question today is coming from Hamed Khorsand from BWS Financial. Hamed, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hi. So my first question was, I was just trying to understand what you're trying to do as far as taking up the paid creator account. There was a lot of talk last quarter that you were optimistic about that number. It went down this quarter. So if you just provide a little bit more insight into that strategy.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I think that as we look at the year and how it plays out, we are encouraged by the trajectory that we're seeing. The overall number of pay creators is, yes, still recovering. But as I touched on this in the previous answer a little bit, importantly we're seeing growth in the right segments. So in Q1 we saw improvement in large and frequent creators who publish events that are between 101,000 attendees. And that's really the heart of our strategy and our most monetizable cohort.

Speaker 5

So while the headline creator count it may look slower to rebound, what matters is that activity is shifting toward higher quality supply. And we found that these creators, not only are they selling more tickets more regularly, but they're also adopting features like timed entry and adopting and paying for ads and retaining at higher rates. And that's exactly what we want to see. So creator and event growth is obviously very important to us and our leading indicators, but it's not the only path to inflecting paid tickets. We're also seeing improvements in repeat creator retention, in ticket volume per event, and in buyer conversion particularly on the mobile app as we discussed.

Speaker 5

So I think these are all key drivers and together they're powering this recovery. I think that Eventbrite continues to be top of mind for creators who are hosting local relevant events and we're doing a much better job at helping them drive demand to their events. We can see that in the sentiment analysis and in the feedback that we're getting from them.

Operator

Our next question is coming from Dai Li from JPMorgan. Dai, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two. So first one, a follow-up on the app redesign. So just curious on the philosophy behind it, like what you're trying to accomplish relative to the app design that you had previously.

Speaker 8

Is it more user engagement, time spent, or trying to achieve a different action from the consumer choosing your app? And then secondly, on your full year guide, I appreciate you guys reiterating that, but just curious if that's more of you not seeing an impact from macro conditions or you're seeing some signs, you just feel more confident in your strategy to deliver against that full year target? Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Dave. So the goal of the app redesign is really simple. It's to make Eventbrite the easiest and most relevant place to find live experiences. And what we want to do is turn that engagement of easily finding something to do into real business for our creators. So we think about the consumer investment through the lens of what's actually going to make the creator more successful.

Speaker 5

And as we think about how we then convert that into business results, we think that it ties directly to not only our ability to attract more sales led acquisition, which is accelerating, but also to reactivate our self sign on channel, which is a very attractive channel for us and is a near term focus. And then finally, as we attract more new creator types through features like timed entry, that only reinforces the flywheel and also improves the category and inventory on the app. And so as we think about pushing the app more and more into our buyers' hands through things like ticket access, this gives us the great opportunity to then connect them to the personalization that we know will help them think of Eventbrite as a place to go to find things to do. And so I would say engagement and conversion to ticket sales are the two core metrics that we're looking at on behalf of our creators.

Speaker 3

And to your second question there about macro environment and what does that mean for a full year outlook? So, right now, we're not seeing clear impact from macro pressure. We're very aware of the overall sentiment of the markets. Understandably, we're cautious and we're going continue to monitor that closely. But we do think we're in a place that has some resilience here given our price points and the fact that we're not a category that requires a lot of additional investment in terms of purchasing a hotel or an air or a flight.

Speaker 3

So we think we have elements that suggest that we can be more resilient in times of macro uncertainty. At the same time, we are monitoring and we realize that as the macro situation worsens materially, it is possible to have an impact on customer sentiments, and we're going to pay close attention to that.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

This does conclude our question and answer session for today and also concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at this time. Have a wonderful day.

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Key Takeaways

  • Q1 revenue of $73.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $4.6 million (6% margin) came in at the high end of guidance, despite a $6.6 million net loss and margin contraction from organizer fee reversals.
  • Paid ticket volume declined 7.7% year-over-year—an improvement for the third straight quarter from 10% and 14% declines in Q4 and Q3—and Eventbrite expects to return to growth in the second half of 2025.
  • The new Eventbrite app and brand campaign drove strong consumer engagement, with paid tickets from the app up 11%, average monthly app users up 13%, and total discovery users rising 16% year-over-year.
  • On the creator side, the Timed Entry solution and native Eventbrite Ads grew rapidly—ads revenue surged 30%—as high-intent creators like IBoatNYC and Orlov automate ticketing and scale marketing efforts.
  • Eventbrite cut Q1 operating expenses by 14%, maintained $550 million in cash (and $240 million in available liquidity), and reaffirmed full-year 2025 guidance of $295–310 million in revenue with mid-single-digit EBITDA margins.
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Earnings Conference Call
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