Cannes Lions racks up over $60 million in entry fees
This year’s Cannes Lions has pulled in an estimated US$40.4 (AU$61.7) million on award entry fees alone.
The festival confirmed 26,900 entries in 2025, up less than 1% from last year’s 26,753.
Said to reflect “strong global participation” from the creative industry, this year saw an 18% increase in entries from independent agencies. Such an increase from independents indicates a drop in entries from the big holdcos because total entry numbers rose less than 1%.
Known to be quite the expense for agencies, a single entry has an average cost of around US$1,500 (AU$2,300). This average is based on rolling entry deadline prices and higher costs for the higher-ranking awards, including the Titaniums.
The 26,900 submissions, at US$1,500 a pop, means Cannes Lions made a whopping US$40,350,000 (A$62.2m) solely on entry fees.
Add the costs of festival tickets — a “classic” delegate pass this year was €4,295, or AU$7,620 — as well as corporate sponsorships, and total revenue for the week-long festival is clearly well over AU$100 million.
In 2023, the festival generated nearly US$138 (AU$212) million in revenue, according to Statista.
Several trends emerged from this year’s entries, according to the festival’s website.
The Design category experienced a 17% increase in submissions following “significant updates”, while Creative B2B was up 13% ,and the Entertainment Lions for Sport rose 15%.
The Social and Creator Lions were also updated this year, with 18% of entries within that category submitted to new sub-categories that focus specifically on creator-led content. The Strategy track — which encompasses the Creative Strategy and Creative Effectiveness Lions — increased by 10%.
The most interesting, however, was the 53% increase in submissions for Glass: The Lion for Change. This has been “driven by a broader, more intersectional approach to work that tackles systemic issues and drives real-world impact”, according to the festival’s website. This category had 251 entries, with 28 shortlisted.
On the flip side, the Industry Craft, Entertainment – Gaming, Sustainable Development Goals, and Film categories experienced decreases of 23%, 20%, 18%, and 13%, respectively.
Overall, despite this year’s slight increase, the total entries number is 38% lower than the all-time high of 43,101 in 2016, according to Adweek.
Source: Adweek
Marian Brannelly, the global director of awards at Cannes Lions, said these changes reveal a shift in how creativity is being harness for “meaningful change” for businesses and society.
“We’re seeing record growth in categories that demand measurable impact, whether that’s through design thinking that transforms user experiences or strategic approaches that deliver tangible business outcomes,” she said in a statement on the festival’s website.
“Overall, the data shows an industry that continues to evolve and embrace new opportunities to drive impact, with strong engagement with creator-focused submissions and the growth of independent agency participation, representing an industry embracing new models of impact, innovation and transformation.”
Cannes Lions is owned by publisher and events group Informa. It was previously owned by Ascential, which Informa acquired last year for US$1.6 billion (AU$2.28b). Ascential also owned the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC). Following that acquisition, Informa also agreed to buy the commercial assets of The Effies.
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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Do the judges from Australia…indeed anywhere..get flown to the event to judge? On the Cannes festival budget? Paid?
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