Live events economy surges 44% to Rs 14,500 crore as concerts and ticketed experiences take off

The country's live events economy is undergoing a structural shift, with audiences increasingly paying for experiences and brands, media companies and event organisers expanding their presence beyond traditional advertising-led formats.

According to the FICCI-EY Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2026, the organised live events segment grew 44% in 2025 to ₹14,500 crore, making it the fastest-growing major segment of India’s media and entertainment industry.

The growth was driven by concerts, ticketed events, weddings, government events, religious gatherings and activations. The Maha Kumbh Mela alone contributed ₹2,500 crore in direct event production spend, according to the report.

The report also points to a significant change in the business model: India's live events economy is moving away from advertising-funded formats towards ticketed experiences.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, ticketing revenues accounted for less than 15% of live events revenues. In 2025, ticketed experiences became a much more significant part of the market.

Sports, music, spirituality and comedy emerged as the biggest contributors to ticket sales, although sales remained concentrated in India's top 10 metros.

The number of large concerts also rose sharply. India recorded 130 concert days in 2025 where attendance was 10,000 or more per day, compared with 75 such days in 2024—a 73% increase.

Ticket sales for IPL matches also increased, reaching 3.7 million tickets in 2025, up from 3.2 million in 2024.

The rise of concerts was one of the clearest signs of the changing appetite for live entertainment.

The report notes the growing presence of both international and Indian artists in India's ticketed event market. International acts performing in India during 2025 included Sting, Keane, Bryan Adams, Deep Purple, Backstreet Boys, Jonas Brothers, Halsey, Linkin Park and others.

Indian artists including Karan Aujla, Diljit Dosanjh, Arijit Singh, AP Dhillon, Sunidhi Chauhan and AR Rahman also featured prominently in the ticketed event economy.

The report, however, notes that the concert business showed signs of over-enthusiasm in 2025. Several concerts in the final quarter did not sell out and were cancelled or postponed. It expects the market to rationalise in 2026, with greater focus on more bankable artists.

Gen Z and millennials fuel experience-first spending

The report identifies several factors behind the rise in ticketing.

Rising disposable incomes among India's top 40–50 million households, along with Gen Z and millennials increasingly seeking an “experience-first” lifestyle, are helping drive demand.

FOMO is also playing a role in encouraging fandom, ticket sales and repeat attendance.

The report sees live entertainment increasingly competing with cinema for discretionary entertainment spending, particularly as audiences become more selective about the films they watch.

Weddings remain a major business

The live events opportunity extends well beyond concerts.

For 62% of event management companies surveyed, weddings and personal events remained a key revenue driver in 2025, compared with 60% in 2024.

The report attributes the growth to premiumisation, destination-led formats and the Wed in India initiative.

Government events were another important area. 44% of survey respondents said they were focusing on government events in 2025, up from 39% in 2024. These included policy summits, trade expos, investment forums, cultural and religious gatherings and infrastructure conferences.

Activations also grew as national brands invested in product trials across a larger number of Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

The opportunity moves beyond the metros

While India's biggest metropolitan markets remain important, the report expects the next phase of growth to come from a broader set of cities.

Event company CEOs surveyed for the report identified the next 10 large cities as having the highest growth potential.

The opportunity also extends across India's top 40 cities with populations of more than one million, where consumption is growing and brands are looking to increase their share of voice.

The report describes this as a shift in event revenues from “India” to “Bharat”, with consumption growth in emerging cities creating opportunities for event companies and brands.

Media companies are entering events

The growth of live experiences is also changing the strategy of traditional media companies.

Print, radio and television companies have been investing more heavily in events as they look to compensate for pressure on advertising revenues.

This is expanding the role of media companies from simply selling advertising inventory to creating and monetising events, intellectual property and experiences.

For brands, the attraction lies in the ability to create deeper consumer engagement through physical experiences, particularly in categories where product trials, fandom and community can influence purchase.

The organised market does not capture the entire opportunity

The ₹14,500-crore figure represents the organised and addressable events segment and does not capture the full value of India's events economy.

The report excludes a range of activities that are difficult to measure accurately, including the revenues of unorganised event companies, personal events paid for in cash and in-house corporate events.

It also excludes the value of media spends and telecast rights for events unless the event IP is owned by an event and activation management company, as well as MICE activity conducted by pure travel companies.

The report provides broader estimates for these non-addressable segments but cautions that data availability limits the precision of those estimates.

Talent, transparency and competition remain challenges

The rapid expansion of the industry is also exposing structural challenges.

Event companies identified unorganised and unregulated competition as a major challenge, followed by poor industry image and lack of transparency, talent scarcity, cumbersome taxation, inadequate infrastructure and difficulties in demonstrating ROI in a universally accepted manner.

Competition from less experienced players can affect pricing discipline, delivery quality, safety, talent costs and client trust.

The report also highlights talent availability as a concern, with new companies entering the sector competing for experienced professionals.

The organised live events segment is expected to grow from ₹14,500 crore in 2025 to ₹19,600 crore by 2028.

The report expects a slight dip in 2026 to ₹14,000 crore, partly because of concert rationalisation and the absence of an event on the scale of the Maha Kumbh Mela.

However, excluding the revenue boost from the Kumbh Mela in 2025, the segment is expected to grow at 18% through 2028.

The report expects the next phase of the market to be defined by premium, ticketed experiences, year-round event calendars, new formats for niche audiences and an influx of global players.

It also points to the potential role of the Live Events Development Cell (LEDC) being implemented by the Government of India in reducing friction and supporting further growth.

For an industry once largely dependent on brands and advertising, the numbers suggest a different business taking shape: one where audiences themselves are becoming a major source of revenue, and experiences are becoming an increasingly important form of entertainment, content and commerce.