Photo: Donn Jones/CMA
The 2016 CMA Music Festival has set a record for daily attendance, with an average of 88,500 fans participating each day. The event was held June 9-12 in downtown Nashville.
Attendance figures for 2016 include four-day ticket packages and promotional tickets, as well as attendance in Fan Fair X and free areas downtown. In all, more than 500 artists and celebrities participated in more than 250 hours of concerts on 11 stages, seven of which were free.
The 2016 CMA Music Festival sold out months in advance prompting large, enthusiastic crowds at the Festival’s numerous stages and event areas with a record-setting daily attendance of 88,500 fans.
“The advance sell out speaks to the strength of the event, but great weather, the addition of two new, free stages at Ascend Amphitheater, and record crowds at Fan Fair X at the Music City Center contributed to our attendance hike,” said CMA CEO Sarah Trahern. “We continue to see strong local and regional support for this event, which is a boon to the city of Nashville.”
For the first time since moving to downtown Nashville in 2001, Chevrolet Riverfront Stage reached capacity twice on opening day. Official CMA Music Festival merchandise sales increased 16 percent over 2015. The Festival’s two newest stages at Ascend Amphitheater hosted 5,000 fans each day.
In addition, the CMA Music Festival app saw 48,800 active users, a 21 percent increase in usage over 2015. There were 118,00 downloads, more than double last year. The new app featured CMA Fest Fan Access, Fest Pay and Pandora Radio’s CMA Country Experience. The Fan Access portion had nearly 15,000 registered users.
First-time Facebook Live broadcasts with over 20 artists generated over 1.3 million views. Snapchat artist takeovers increased views 260 percent over last year. Screens at five stages powered by Postano generated 55,000 social interactions resulting in 1.2 billion impressions. CMA website views were up 25 percent partially due to the fan social hub powered by Postano. Giphy hosted more than 400 artist GIFs for fans to use in their social feeds.
Corporate brand partnerships are a key element to the marketing, fan experience, and support of the festival with more than 50 different brand experiences activating at CMA Music Festival.
“This year’s Festival brought new and bigger immersive partner activations that enhanced the experience for both fans and brands and continued to differentiate our Festival as a global leader in music festival brand partnerships,” said Damon Whiteside, CMA Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships. “The increased attendance and fan engagement showcases the passion and loyalty of our country music fans and artists in addition to the dynamic opportunity for brands to reach this meaningful audience and create lasting impressions.”
