Among all Russian festivals “Invasion” has a cult character. The “big adventure of the year” attracted people from all over the country, despite the cold weather and muddy cars. The festival has been regularly postponed since 2019 and even changed venues. According to the calculations of the “Company”, the organizers lost about 700 million rubles of net profit due to the next cancellation of the “Invasion”.
“Invasion” is the largest open-air Russian rock festival. It was invented and launched in 1999 by Nashe Radio, which appeared the year before. “Invasion” did not immediately become open air – for the first time it took place in the winter in the Moscow Palace of Culture. Gorbunov and gathered about 4 thousand people. The line-up included Semantic Hallucinations, Bi-2, Dolphin, Zemfira recognized as a foreign agent, Okean Elzy and others.
The outdoor festival began in 2000. And since that moment, the number of participants and speakers has grown every year – in 2018, about 200 thousand people came to the Invasion to listen to 143 groups and performers, including Mumiy Troll, Garik Sukachev, DDT, Luna, Lumen , Diana Arbenina, Svetlana Surganova, “Aquarium”, “Spleen”, “Earring”, Vadim Samoilov, “Picnic”, Vyacheslav Butusov, “Chizh and So”, “Bravo” and many others.
In 2004, the festival was held online for the only time. This happened due to an explosion in Tushino a year earlier at another rock festival – “Wings”. Then, during a performance by the King and the Jester group, a suicide bomber blew herself up.
11 people died on the spot, four more later in the hospital. All festival participants in 2004 sang in the Nashe Radio studio, and the audience watched the performance live.
In 2005, Invasion became open air again and all the time before the pandemic took place in the village of Zavidovo, Tver Region. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the festival has been postponed each time. The location also changed – the “Invasion” was supposed to take place in the vicinity of the village of Mityaevo, Borovsky district, Kaluga region. In 2023, the postponement was again announced.
“Having assessed the situation and weighed all the risks together with the federal law enforcement agencies and services, we have decided to postpone the festival from August 4–6, 2023 to July 26–28, 2024. “Invasion-2024” will take place in the vicinity of the village of Aristovo, Borovsky district, Kaluga region … Your safety is more important than any of our desires, ”said the organizers of the festival.
Festival and self-sufficiency
“Invasion” is a commercial festival in its purest form. Its organizer is Multimedia Holding. Revenues are approximately 75% generated from ticket sales, 15% from sponsorship contracts and 10% from payments for the rental of parking spaces, tents and points of sale of souvenirs and drinks.
Tickets for entry in 2023 cost guests the following amounts:
2.3 thousand rubles per person – common area (ticket for any one day of the festival);
4.8 thousand rubles per person – Fan-zone (ticket for any one day of the festival);
for multiple entry to the festival for the general and Fan zones – 1.5 thousand rubles per person;
VIP zone – 10.5 thousand rubles per person;
grandstands of the main stage – 11 thousand rubles per person;
SUPER VIP – 150 thousand rubles per person.
The organizers do not disclose how many tickets of each type were sold.
If we assume that 5% of guests paid for SUPER VIP, and the remaining 95% were limited to other types of tickets, then the total income from sold tickets of all types could be 1.36 billion rubles.
Not all fans of rock music come only for one day of the festival – those who wish to stay on the site with an overnight stay are offered camping with an already installed tent (from 11 to 24 thousand rubles) or just with a place for it (from 2.8 to 4.8 thousand rubles). For VIP tickets, the organizers offer places for a tent for 5.5 thousand rubles.
According to Kompaniya’s estimates, renting recreation areas for the conditional 70% of the guests remaining in the tents could bring the organizers at least 500 million rubles.
Guests mostly get to the festival on their own transport. For example, in 2017, 15,000 cars were waiting for their owners in the Invasion parking lots. The cost of a parking space depends on the category of transport and costs guests from 1.8 to 4.3 thousand rubles.
Accordingly, the organizers of the festival could earn almost 46 million rubles at the places for cars.
Food and drinks from the organizers are not provided on the site. Places to eat are always rented out. In 2017, there were 105 outlets. At events of this level, 100-200 thousand rubles are taken from each point for the right to work at the festival, Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote. It is highly likely that by 2023 the organizers would have increased the cost of rent to 150-250 thousand rubles.
With the same number of outlets, they could bring the organizers of the “Invasion” 21 million rubles.
More than 1.9 billion rubles could be the total revenue of the Invasion organizers if the festival took place in 2023.
At the same time, the expenses of the organizers were divided into:
fees to artists (an average of 30% of income; in 2017 they ranged from 150 thousand to 5 million rubles);
advertising (20–25% of the budget);
staff salaries;
organization of the stage and fences;
security (3 thousand people);
installation of dry closets (at least 600 pieces).
The net profit of the organizers of the “Invasion” in 2023, according to the most minimal estimates, could be about 700 million rubles
Meanwhile, in 2017, the CEO of Multimedia Holding, Evgenia Kiseleva, noted that the festival pays off, but the task of making money is not worth it. “We do not have the task of making money, but from a financial point of view, the main thing is to remain self-sustaining,” Anna Abramova, press attache of the company, explained to RBC.
Business for locals
The publication noted that the organizers of the “Invasion” have support at the highest level: for example, in 2015 the festival was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergencies and the Ministry of Defense. The latter, by tradition, deployed an exposition of military equipment, master classes were organized by special forces and paratroopers.
It is not known whether Multimedia Holding pays the regional administration for renting land for the festival. Evgenia Kiseleva and Multimedia Holding could not send a prompt comment.
“Invasion” is becoming a gold mine not only for the catering business, but also for the hotel business. Not all guests plan to sleep in a tent or car – for the highest comfort and stable Internet, some of them choose local hotels. So, there is only one hotel near the festival site in Mityaevo, more precisely, the guest villa “Radiant” with two bedrooms. In it, the cost of living per day on the dates of the festival is about 14 thousand rubles. At the time of publication, there were no offers for daily rent of rooms, apartments or houses in Mityaevo.
At the same time, homeowners in Zavidovo-Konakovo, the previous location of the “Invasion”, quite successfully made money on fans of rock music. Ads marked “We are renting a house on Invasion” often appeared on the websites of real estate agencies in the Tver region. And payment was usually accepted only in cash. At the same time, rent during the festival increased by 30-80% of the price of a regular weekend, said Pavel Lutsenko, director general of the World of Apartments federal portal.
