Festival owner Ascential reported $75.1m of Cannes Lions revenue in its interim results this morning, down from $82.5m last year. The company stated this was a 9% drop on a constant currency basis, but the fall is less steep if currency changes are taken into account.
Revenue from delegate passes dropped by 15.5% to $29.2m, “mainly as a result of reduced participation by agency holding companies including Publicis combined with the standardisation to a single five-day pass”.
Meanwhile, revenue from awards entries dropped by 13.6%, also to $29.2m, “driven by both the one-year Publicis withdrawal and the retirement of Lions awards and awards sub categories”.
The category brought in $15.7m, up 27% from last year, with Ascential commenting that together with the acquisition of Warc in June it was developing its year-round digital revenue streams.