StubHub Pivoting From Tour-Driven Volatility

The key point is that StubHub is not just growing with ticket demand, it is levering a hit driven market where a few giant tours can move the whole year. That is why reported growth can swing from roughly 30% in 2023 and 2024 to near flat in 2025, even while marketplace activity stayed healthier underneath. In 2025, GMS grew 6%, or 18% excluding the prior year Taylor Swift effect, showing how one blockbuster tour can distort headline revenue.

• StubHub makes money by taking a cut of each resale, about 20% of GMS in 2024. When a tour like Eras creates scarce, high priced tickets, more buyers rush in, average order values rise, and StubHub collects more fee dollars from both sides of the trade.
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• This is a marketplace exposure, not just a StubHub issue. Vivid Seats reported first quarter 2025 revenue down 14% and marketplace GOV down 20%, showing that the secondary ticketing market broadly weakened when major event supply and consumer demand were less exceptional than 2024.
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• The strategic answer is to reduce dependence on resale spikes. StubHub is pushing into direct issuance, where it sells primary tickets for venues and promoters, and management said this business already exceeded $100 million in gross sales volume before the MLB rollout planned for 2026.
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Going forward, StubHub is likely to look less like a pure bet on the next superstar tour and more like a broader ticket distribution business. If direct issuance keeps scaling, the company can smooth out the feast and famine pattern of secondary resale and capture more steady volume from sports, venues, and promoters year round.