Download Festival turns festival content into early-bird ticket demand

Company

Download Festival is one of the UK’s largest and most established rock and metal festivals, attracting hundreds of thousands of fans each year both on-site and online. Owned and operated by Live Nation, Download is known for its passionate fanbase and immersive, community-driven festival experience.

Beyond the live event itself, Download plays a critical role in sustaining year-round fan engagement and driving future ticket demand – particularly in the short window immediately after the festival ends, when early-bird tickets go on sale. 

Challenge

Live Nation wanted Download Festival to feel inclusive – not just for fans attending in person, but also for the wider audience following from home. 

During festival weekend, fan posts, artist moments and branded content were spread across multiple social platforms, making it hard for audiences to feel part of a single shared experience. This fragmentation limited engagement and made it difficult to sustain momentum beyond the final headline set.

At the same time, early-bird tickets for the following year go on sale shortly after the festival ends. Without a central destination to capture attention at this peak emotional moment, Live Nation risked losing demand when intent was highest.

Solution

Live Nation partnered with Amondo to create a central content experience for Download Festival – bringing the full festival story into one place and connecting content engagement directly to ticket demand. 

Instead of festival content living temporarily in social feeds, Amondo enabled Live Nation to bring fan, artist and brand content into a single Gallery experience on the Download Festival website, giving fans one place to explore, engage with and return to throughout the weekend.

Creating a shared festival experience in one place

The Gallery brought together fan-generated content, artist moments and branded media into one continuous experience that unfolded in real time. 

Structured by day with clear navigation, fans could explore highlights from different performances, headline artists and moments as the festival progressed. This allowed both on-site attendees and fans following from home to engage in the same shared story.

By making content easy to discover and return to, Live Nation increased dwell time and repeat engagement, while gaining clearer insight into which moments kept fans engaged.

Turning excitement into ticket demand

To convert this engagement into ticket sales, Live Nation embedded Click-Through Tiles within the Gallery to promote early-bird tickets for the following year’s festival. 

Because these ticket prompts appeared alongside high-energy fan content and artist moments, fans were able to move from moments of excitement straight into ticket purchase – without leaving the experience or waiting for a separate campaign. 

This meant Live Nation could capture demand at the point when intent was highest, directly connecting festival content to revenue.

Extending the life of the festival

The Amondo Gallery was embedded on Download Festival’s website and amplified across social channels, including Instagram Stories, bringing fans back to a destination Live Nation owned and controlled.

As fans returned to explore new content, the experience created repeat opportunities to engage and present early-bird ticket prompts – extending momentum beyond the festival weekend and converting attention into measurable demand.

Results

The Amondo-powered experience delivered strong engagement and clear commercial impact: 

• 6.3% click-through rate on early-bird ticket promotion, demonstrating strong purchase intent driven directly from content engagement
• 1 million content impressions, amplifying the festival experience and keeping fans connected before, during and after the weekend
• 53 seconds average session length, demonstrating meaningful time spent engaging with festival content

By bringing festival content into a single, owned experience and connecting it directly to ticket sales, Download Festival turned post-event attention into measurable demand – capturing momentum when it mattered most.