Situation

What Situation does

Situation is a privately held, full-service digital marketing and advertising agency founded in 2001 and headquartered in New York City (469 7th Avenue, 13th Floor) with a UK subsidiary in London. The firm specializes exclusively in the live experience economy — Broadway productions, professional sports teams and leagues, iconic venues (Madison Square Garden, Sphere Las Vegas), performing arts institutions, museums, and ticketing platforms — and provides integrated campaign strategy, digital advertising, social media management, media buying, creative production, and audience development services. Its enterprise client base includes Aladdin (Broadway), Radio City Christmas Spectacular, the Gotham Sports App (Knicks, Rangers, Devils, Sabres, Yankees), Ticketmaster, and the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs).

The agency's core technology stack combines proprietary audience tooling — Situation Exchange, a lookalike audience network for theater, museum, and performing arts attendees — with best-in-class external platforms, notably The Trade Desk for programmatic ad activation and audience targeting across digital, social, CTV, and audio channels. The firm also operates Fandom Unpacked, a podcast and livestream research platform featuring interviews with executives from NBA, USTA, Disney, and the Recording Academy, which functions as both a thought-leadership asset and a top-of-funnel business development channel. Internal capabilities span creative, media buying, paid search, web development, analytics (Executive Director, BI analyst, senior data engineer, ad tech manager), and account management.

Situation generates revenue through professional services engagements — project-based fees, retainers, and media buying markups — delivered via direct enterprise sales to live experience organizations. The company is founder-led (Damian Bazadona, Founder/President), appears to be founder-controlled with no disclosed institutional investment, and operates community-facing subsidiaries including Situation Project, a 501(c)(3) serving over 100,000 New York City students since 2011, and the Ian C. Bennett/Situation Cares Memorial Fund scholarship program.

Name

Situation

Legal name

Situation Group

Website

https://situationinteractive.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Situation is a privately held, full-service digital marketing agency founded in 2001, specializing in audience development, media buying, and campaign strategy for live experience brands including Broadway productions, professional sports teams, venues, and cultural institutions across the US and UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Marketing Services for Live Experiences

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (541830), Media Representatives (541840), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events (7113)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Live Event Marketing, Sponsorship & Brand Partnerships (MPAIAFAI)

Keywords

• Digital marketing agency
• Live entertainment marketing
• Media buying services
• Audience development campaigns
• Creative campaign strategy

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Marketing and Advertising Services: Full-service marketing and advertising agency providing services to live experience brands including digital campaigns, media buying, creative development, and strategic consulting. Revenue generated through project fees, retainers, and media buying markups.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Situation is a full-service digital marketing and advertising agency that builds audiences and drives ticket sales for live experience brands, including Broadway productions, professional sports teams, entertainment venues, museums, and cultural attractions. The firm delivers campaign strategy, digital and social media advertising, creative production, multi-channel media buying, audience research, and data-driven campaign optimization. It operates the Fandom Unpacked podcast and the proprietary Situation Exchange audience network as differentiators.

Product overview

Situation is a full-service digital marketing and advertising agency specializing in live experiences, serving clients in theater, sports, arts & culture, and entertainment sectors. The agency's offerings center around its Fandom Unpacked podcast and research platform, along with proprietary audience targeting tools like Situation Exchange. The company operates the Situation Project community initiative and awards scholarships through the Ian C. Bennett Memorial Fund. Services include campaign strategy, digital advertising, social media management, creative production, and audience insights for major entertainment brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fandom Unpacked: A podcast series featuring conversations with leaders of live experience brands about audience connection, loyalty, and fandom building.
• Situation Exchange

Products and services

• Situation Exchange A proprietary audience network that identifies lookalike audiences of theater, museum, and performing arts attendees for targeted marketing campaigns. Built and operated in-house by Situation for use across client engagements.
• Full-Service Digital Marketing and Advertising Core agency service offering campaign strategy, digital and social media advertising, creative production, multi-channel media buying, audience research, and data-driven campaign optimization for live experience brands. Revenue generated through project fees, retainers, and media buying markups.
• Fandom Unpacked Podcast A podcast series featuring conversations with leaders from live experience brands in sports, culture, and entertainment, exploring how fandom is built and maintained across audiences. Distributed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Buzzsprout. Functions as a thought leadership platform for Situation and the live experience industry.
• Research and Insights Industry-leading research and data analysis covering live entertainment, sports marketing, Broadway audiences, and fan engagement, often published as livestream events, reports, and blog content.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% digital sales increase for Radio City Christmas Spectacular campaign
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• TicketmastercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing research partnership conducting livestream events exploring audience behavior, purchase decisions, and conversion patterns for live entertainment. Collaborated on studies about intermittent Broadway buyers, concert/sports fan conversion to theatergoers, and seasonal purchasing trends.
• INTIX (International Ticketing Association)flagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerOfficial partnership announced in 2025 positioning Fandom Unpacked podcast series as a key content platform for the ticketing and live entertainment industry. INTIX is the leading trade association for ticketing professionals.
• The Trade DeskcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partnership utilizing The Trade Desk platform to optimize ad campaigns across global entertainment sectors, enabling programmatic advertising and audience targeting for sports and cultural attractions clients.
• Situation ExchangecoreTechnology or IntegrationProprietary audience network developed in-house that identifies lookalike audiences of theater, museum, and performing arts attendees for targeted marketing campaigns.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Big Spaceship: NYC-based digital creative and media agency with comparable scale and a similar enterprise-client posture. Comparable as a fellow mid-sized NYC digital agency, though without Situation's specific live-entertainment vertical focus.
• Pereira O'Dell: Independent advertising agency working across brand storytelling, content, and media. Relevant as a similarly sized independent agency pursuing creative-led, brand-partnership work in entertainment-adjacent categories.

Direct peers

• Momentum Worldwide: Global experiential marketing agency (IPG) focused on live brand experiences, cultural moments, and fan engagement. Comparable because its core proposition — translating cultural and live-event IP into audience-driven marketing — overlaps directly with Situation's value proposition.
• Jack Morton: Global brand experience agency (part of IPG) that builds live and experiential campaigns for entertainment, sports, and cultural brands. Directly comparable to Situation in the live-experience marketing vertical, but with significantly larger scale and global footprint.
• MKG: Experiential marketing and creative agency working across entertainment, lifestyle, and culture clients. Comparable as an independent-leaning experiential agency pursuing the same kind of brand-experience-led work that powers Situation's campaigns.
• Leverage Agency: Sports, entertainment, and lifestyle public relations and marketing agency. Comparable because it operates at the intersection of entertainment PR, audience development, and partnership marketing — the same demand pool as Situation's Broadway, music, and sports clients.
• Octagon: Sports and entertainment marketing agency within IPG, serving rights-holders, brands, and athletes with sponsorship and audience-development services. Direct peer because it competes for the same sports- and entertainment-client marketing budgets that anchor Situation's book.
• GMR Marketing: Sports, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing agency operating across event-based campaigns, fan engagement, and sponsorship activation. Direct peer in audience-building for live events and sports properties.
• The Marketing Arm (Omnicom): Experiential, sponsorship, and entertainment marketing agency within Omnicom that serves major sports and entertainment clients. Direct peer sharing the same live-entertainment and sports client pool as Situation.
• Two Nil: London-based digital marketing agency specializing in entertainment, culture, and theatre — including clients across West End and the broader UK cultural sector. Direct peer given the same live-entertainment specialization and explicit focus on theatre and cultural marketing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/situation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/situationgroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/SituationInteractive
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/situation-interactive
• Instagraminstagram.com/situationgroup
• TikToktiktok.com/@situationgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Situation