Mustard Media, leading performance and growth agency for the experience economy, drove £166 million in ticket revenue for its clients in 2025.
The figure is the strongest annual performance in the agency’s two decade history, with Mustard demonstrating what’s possible when audience growth is treated as a structured commercial discipline rather than a campaign-by-campaign gamble. Data has been pulled from campaigns with their client roster including Reading & Leeds Festival, Aston Villa Women FC, Kendal Calling, Wireless Festival, Snowboming Festival, Chelsea Winter Village, Birmingham Phoenix, Bongo’s Bingo, Diecast, Golf Fang and over 100 brands in the experience economy.
The results cap a year of significant commercial growth across music, sport, hospitality, attractions and competitive socialising, reinforcing Mustard’s position as a leading growth and performance partner for experience-led brands. Major wins included record-breaking festival campaigns, rapid growth in sports, and expansion into hospitality and challenger experience formats. With this success came a 30% growth in their client roster and expansion with a London office.
Race for Growth Intensifies In The Experience Economy
According to data, the UK experience economy is thriving. Entertainment spending grew 4.3% in 2025 according to Barclays, marking the latest in a run of 42 out of 48 months of year-on-year growth since May 2021. Experience-led businesses now contribute £134 billion to the UK economy annually, with EY research showing 45% of UK consumers plan to maintain spending on live entertainment over the next 12 months despite wider economic uncertainty. Consumer demand for live experiences, from festivals and sport to hospitality and competitive socialising, shows no sign of slowing.
Reports suggests that capturing that demand is becoming dramatically more competitive and expensive for live events, hospitality and attractions to reach new audiences at scale. UK advertising CPMs on Meta platforms rose 65% year on year in 2025 according to Vaizle’s analysis of over 5,200 ad accounts. Google Ads CPCs climbed nearly 13% across all industries according to WordStream. Experience operators are competing for the same consumers against an ever-widening market of options.
“What the data across our campaigns tells us is that consumer appetite for live experiences has never been stronger, but we believe attention is more fragmented and more expensive to capture than at any point in the last decade,” said Rob Masterson, Managing Director of Mustard Media. “The operators who are growing are the ones who have built systems around audience acquisition. The ones who haven’t are being priced out.”
Who’s winning in this space?
Mustard work with a comprehensive roster of ambitious experience operators to deliver measurable, revenue-led outcomes at scale.
Among the year’s standout results:
- Experiential hospitality venue Diecast’s winter programme delivered a £1 million uplift in revenue.
- Birmingham Phoenix delivered a 47% uplift in match day ticket sales, marking a major step forward for The Hundred franchise.
- A Women’s Super League club achieved a 54% increase in total tickets sold vs the previous season, proving Mustard’s growth engine across more verticals.
- Chelsea Winter Village hit 120,000 attendees in its first year, establishing the attraction as a major seasonal destination from a cold start.
- TikTok award-winning campaign for Reading & Leeds Festival drove a 488% uplift in purchases, setting a new benchmark for large-scale festival performance.
- Truck Festival recorded its fastest sell-out on record.
- Y Not Festival doubled their launch sales with a +130% increase.
- TikTok award-winning campaign for Reading & Leeds Festival drove a 488% uplift in purchases, setting a new benchmark for large-scale festival performance.
“We needed an understanding of how to find new fans and connect the city through sport” adds Chris Airey, Head of Marketing & Brand for Birmingham Phoenix. “Mustard’s end-to-end strategy allowed us to reach a new and diverse audience across Birmingham and resulted in Birmingham Phoenix seeing the highest increase in fan attendance across the competition during this time period.”
Further growth was demonstrated by Mustard expanding its client roster across multiple experience sectors. In hospitality, the agency expanded its footprint with Diecast, Golf Fang, Ramona, Firehouse and Artezzan. In sport, Mustard retained partnerships with Aston Villa Women and WSL Clubs while launching into cricket with Birmingham Phoenix, and secured new relationships with disruptive sports and entertainment brands including BOXXER, Baller League and Golf Clubber. Growth also continued across attractions and live experiences, with new partnerships including Concerts by Candlelight, Chelsea Winter Village, and a major push into competitive socialising through Golf Fang and Bongo’s Bingo.
“We’re seeing momentum accelerating very quickly across sport, hospitality and cultural experiences” adds Sian Bennett, Strategy Director at Mustard Media. “Our job is to make attendee growth predictable so experience brands can scale with confidence.”
This breadth reflects a broader evolution of Mustard’s offer. Originally known for its work in music and festivals, the agency has increasingly focused on growth strategy and performance for the wider experience economy, applying a proprietary, data-driven methodology designed around how consumers discover, commit to, and purchase live experiences.
The year also marked the launch of a new London office, as the agency scales its capabilities to meet demand from larger, more complex experience brands.
