SEAT

• Q2 2026 Financial and Event Performance

  • Q2 results exceeded market expectations, with sequential growth across GOV, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA, driven by unexpectedly strong FIFA World Cup demand. World Cup transaction volume was comparable to the entire Taylor Swift Eras Tour, but concentrated entirely in Q2 rather than spread across two years.
  • Vivid Seats maintained a >99.7% successful fulfillment rate for World Cup orders, despite operational complexity introduced by the event organizer's new ticketing system, meeting elevated customer expectations for the high-stakes event.

• Core Buyer Experience Strategy

  • Management is focused on optimizing the core transaction funnel and improving end-to-end customer journeys, with foundational app and web enhancements deployed in Q2 to streamline event discovery, reduce purchase friction, and improve conversion rates.
  • The product roadmap includes upcoming improvements to personalization, seat selection, event discovery, and transaction efficiency, with the goal of returning to year-over-year growth in the second half of 2026.
  • The company incentivizes app adoption via lower in-app prices, and leverages post-purchase fulfillment experiences in the app to drive ongoing engagement and repeat visits; app volume growth has consistently outpaced broader market growth since the adoption initiative launched in Q3 2025.

• Seller and Product Initiatives

  • Skybox remains the leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform for professional ticket sellers. The company recently launched the new Skybox broker-to-broker marketplace, which enables sellers to trade and optimize inventory across the Skybox network with minimal friction, and early reception has been positive due to its seamless integration with the existing Skybox ERP.

• Private Label Channel Growth

  • After lapping a large private label partner loss from July 2025, private label has shifted from a material headwind to a growth driver. A new major private label partner has continued to outperform launch expectations, delivering material volume uplift compared to the partner's prior platform, and the company has upgraded its onboarding stack to add new private label partners more efficiently.

• For full fiscal year 2026, management updated guidance to reflect Q2 outperformance, now expecting full-year Marketplace GOV in the range of $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $34 million to $40 million.
• Management expects consolidated take rates to remain around 16% for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.
• Management expects Vivid Seats to be cash generative in fiscal 2026 if it meets its GOV and EBITDA targets, with offsetting impacts from slightly higher interest expenses and lower-than-expected capital expenditures keeping the overall cash conversion framework consistent with prior outlooks.
• Management expects to return to targeted investments in international expansion by the end of 2026, after completing core funnel upgrades for the core North American business, with the goal of reaccelerating international growth in 2027.

The transcript does not break out separate financial performance for multiple distinct product segments. Aggregated Q2 2026 results are as follows: Marketplace Gross Order Value (GOV) was $659 million, up 8% quarter-over-quarter from $612 million in Q1 2026. Consolidated revenue was $130 million, up 3% quarter-over-quarter from $126 million in Q1 2026. Within consolidated revenue, private label revenue grew 16% quarter-over-quarter. The consolidated marketplace take rate was 15.8% in Q2 2026, flat relative to 15.9% in Q1 2026. Adjusted EBITDA was $12.6 million, up 33% quarter-over-quarter from $9.5 million in Q1 2026. Approximately a mid-teens percentage of Q2 2026 GOV was generated by FIFA World Cup transactions.

• Competitive intensity remains at elevated levels: while the largest competitor has moderated activity from peak levels, multiple new competitors have entered performance marketing channels to capture market share, with many competitors prioritizing volume and market share over profitability, putting downward pressure on industry take rates, particularly for large, high-price-point events.
• Event cycles are inherently episodic, and non-World Cup industry event volumes were softer in Q2 2026, partially due to consumer spending being diverted to World Cup ticket purchases; the outlook for non-major event volumes in the second half of 2026 remains uncertain.
• Theater vertical performance has been pressured by both increased competitive intensity and ongoing softness in lower-end consumer leisure travel to the Las Vegas market, which is a heavy contributor to theater segment revenue.
• State and local regulatory proposals for ticket resale are seeing increased discussion, though near-term changes in small jurisdictions are not expected to have a material impact on business results; long-term regulatory risk remains as new frameworks are debated across U.S. jurisdictions.
• Predicting average order values (AOV) for individual quarters is highly uncertain, as AOV is heavily dependent on the mix of high-profile events scheduled in the quarter, leading to a broad range of potential outcomes for Q4 2026 AOV.

Q: What is the current state of the competitive landscape, and how does World Cup impact take rate strategy?

A: The largest competitor has moderated activity from peak levels, but new competitors have filled the gap in performance marketing, and competitive intensity remains elevated, with most competitors prioritizing volume over profitability. Large high-price events like the World Cup typically have downward pressure on take rate as the company competes for market share, and the World Cup Q2 take rate came in below the company's average, as expected due to a high share of one-time customers with lower lifetime value.

Q: Did the World Cup help drive long-term brand momentum and customer acquisition for Vivid Seats?

A: The company outperformed its expected share of World Cup transaction volume, indicating successful messaging of its value proposition to new customers. After delivering a strong 99.7% fulfillment rate and positive customer experience during the high-profile event, the company expects a meaningful share of these new one-time customers to return for future purchases, driving long-term momentum.

Q: What product upgrades has the company delivered in Q2, and what is planned for the second half of 2026?

A: Q2 work focused on reducing friction in the core purchase funnel, cleaning up unnecessary steps, clicks, and content on both web and app properties to streamline the checkout experience for users who already know what event they want to attend. Upcoming work in the second half focuses on upper-funnel improvements to help customers compare seat options based on view, price, amenities, and value to improve conversion, plus app experience upgrades to drive ongoing user engagement and repeat visits.

Q: What is the update on the private label channel and pipeline of new partners?

A: The new major private label partner launched earlier this year continues to outperform expectations, delivering material volume uplift over the partner's prior platform. The company has now lapped the large private label partner loss from July 2025, so the segment has shifted from a headwind to a growth driver. Upgrades to the partner onboarding stack have improved delivery speed and predictability, leading to positive feedback from current partners and building a strong pipeline for future additions.