The Cannes Lions advertising festival has been running for almost 70 years, yet its owner Ascential still finds new ways to generate money from it.
Revenues at the FTSE 250 group rose by a fifth in the first half of the year to £307.4 million, up from £260.7 million in the same period last year.
The improvement was driven by its events business, where revenues grew 25 per cent year-on-year. In addition to Cannes Lions, Ascential’s other big exhibition is the annual Money 20/20 held in Las Vegas and Amsterdam.
It has added more space for visitors and sponsors, while creating new packages to sell on. Daniel Cowan, an industry analyst at HSBC, said there was also “headroom” for more price increases.
Ascential, formerly