If you’re building a ticketing strategy for the Nordic market, 2025 makes one thing painfully clear: you’re not selling into a niche live market. You’re selling into a region where digital commerce is already muscle memory.
Below is a data-led read on what’s happening, and what it means for promoters, venues, and anyone running a ticketing stack.
PostNord’s E-commerce in the Nordics 2025 – Spring survey (fielded February–March 2025, 1,000 respondents aged 18–79 per country) describes a baseline most ticketing markets would love to have: 83% of Nordic consumers shopped online in the last 30 days, and 73% bought online from abroad in the last year.
Digital commerce isn’t a feature. It’s the default. When the region’s e-commerce baseline is already high-frequency and mobile-driven, consumer friction tends to be lower for app delivery, wallet tickets, in-app entry, and verification flows.
Cross-border comfort is real. That 73% cross-border purchasing stat is a clean proxy for international tour/festival demand, especially when your on-sale is competing globally, not locally.
In short: the Nordics are a natural environment for product moves like identity-linked tickets, “phone-as-ticket” entry, official resale, and more sophisticated pricing mechanics, because the starting point is already digital.
Same region, different market structure. The International Ticketing Report’s country snapshots (via IQ Magazine) show meaningful differences in platform dynamics:
In the International Ticketing Report, Sweden is described as fragmented, with venues often sticking to preferred providers; key primary ticketers listed include AXS, Eventim, Nortic, Ticketmaster, Tickster, Tixly, and Showtic. It’s also described as having no legislation prohibiting resale above face value, a material detail if you’re writing about secondary markets, fan protection, or official resale adoption.
Norway is characterized as highly digital, with app-only solutions (including Ticketmaster SafeTix and EVENTIM.Pass) “often the only way” to purchase tickets.
The Norwegian report also notes that reselling above face value is prohibited in Norway, shaping how official resale is framed and enforced.
Finland’s primary market is described in its section as dominated by Lippupiste (CTS Eventim), Tiketti, and Ticketmaster.
Ticketing demand is easiest to understand when it shows up as behavior: sell-outs, record crowds, and volume.
Denmark – Roskilde Festival (2025): sell-out at scale
Roskilde reported more than 100,000 tickets sold, including nearly 80,000 full passes, and that the festival was completely sold out.
Sweden – Way Out West (Gothenburg, 2025): record attendance, again
Way Out West reported 78,000 unique visitors over three days, a new record—fourth year in a row breaking its attendance record.
Finland – Tuska (Helsinki, 2025): 60,000 visitors + clear price ladder
Tuska reported 60,000 attendees over three days, with day-by-day attendance detail (22k Fri / 20k Sat / 18k Sun).
Their ticket communications also show a clear price ladder (e.g., 3-day tickets from €239 and VIP tiers priced above that).
Norway – Øyafestivalen (2025): official resale as “safe marketplace” behavior
Øya publicly names Tixel as the official resale partner, working alongside See Tickets, positioning resale as a safer channel and explicitly capping resale at face value.
CTS EVENTIM is one of the cleanest Europe-wide anchors because it reports ticketing performance publicly.
In the first half of 2025, CTS EVENTIM achieved record-breaking revenue of €1.294 billion, representing a 7.6% increase despite a volatile global market. The Ticketing segment was the primary driver of this success, reaching new highs in both revenue and profitability thanks to international organic growth and scalable technology. While the Live Entertainment segment faced challenging market conditions and cost pressures, the company successfully consolidated its position as a top global player.
Live Nation reported 130M+ tickets sold through July 2025, up 6% year over year for that period.
Even without a Europe-only breakout, the system-wide signal is clear: demand didn’t disappear, it became more competitive, more time-sensitive, and more operationally demanding.
UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 (Switzerland) delivered record signals early: Reuters reported ~462,000 group-stage attendees with 22 of 24 matches sold out, and noted that 600,000+ tickets had been sold ahead of the tournament.
This is a useful anchor in ticketing content because it broadens the thesis: 2025 “demand intensity” isn’t a concert-only phenomenon.
Online purchase behaviour is already mainstream in Europe, and the Nordics sit at the front of that curve. That changes everything, from how quickly new ticket formats get accepted, to how aggressive on-sale moments can become.
Multiple market models put online event ticketing growth in the mid-single-digit CAGR range (roughly 5–7%) over the second half of the decade, with headline market sizes varying by definition and scope.
Historically, ticketing has been optimized for one moment: the purchase. But in a market where customer acquisition costs are rising and competition is intense, ticketing is moving toward lifecycle value.
Expect European ticketing to keep expanding into:
In practical terms: the “ticket” becomes the access pass to a broader digital experience that starts at discovery and continues well after the final encore. Platforms that integrate discovery, ticketing, and communication will be best positioned to retain audiences across seasons.
Most European ticketing is already mobile-first, but the next phase is wallet-native ticketing. Especially through Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
Why wallets matter:
Mobile-only also accelerates entry throughput, reduces printing, and aligns with sustainability expectations. For events serving older or less tech-confident demographics, the challenge will be inclusivity: clear on-site support and alternative access methods still matter.
This doesn’t mean every event becomes strictly “named tickets only.” Europe is diverse, and consumer expectations vary by market. But more ticket types will incorporate verification measures appropriate to event risk: high-demand concerts and major sports are different from local theatre or community festivals.
The best systems will strike a balance: protect against fraud and industrial-scale touting without turning legitimate gifting and last-minute changes into a customer support nightmare.