Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Toronto brought thousands of fans to the downtown core — and their mobile data usage was through the roof.
On Monday, Rogers Communications said fans at Swift’s Nov. 21 concert “shattered” the record for the highest sharing and streaming rates of any single event ever held at the Rogers Centre.
The telecommunications provider — who was also the presenting sponsor of Swift’s concerts at the Rogers Centre — said Swifties used 7.4 terabytes of mobile data in just a few hours. That’s equivalent to uploading 182,000 photos and 1,600 hours of video streaming.
“Taylor breaks records wherever she goes and her fans’ data usage at her Toronto shows was no exception,” Rogers chief technology officer Mark Kennedy said in a press release. “Our network at Rogers Centre saw more traffic every night of the tour than any other event.”
The record breaking data usage came after Rogers completed an $8-million upgrade to its 5G network at Rogers Centre this fall. Prior to the update, many fans at other events were met with poor signal and slow upload speeds when sharing content to social media.
For instance, fans at Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in July experienced download speeds 2.7 times slower than Swifties would have this month. Upload speeds at Dosanjh’s performance were also 3.8 times slower than at the Eras Tour.
Rogers said its branded arena is now equipped with the latest technology to deliver three times more 5G network capacity throughout the stadium. The company said the tech accounts for “the equivalent coverage of 33 towers in downtown Toronto.”
Throughout the entirety of Swift’s six Eras Tour shows in Toronto, Rogers said fans on the company’s 5G network used 42 terabytes of data at the Rogers Centre.
Swift’s Toronto residency at Rogers Centre concluded on Saturday, when she shed tears and thanked Toronto fans for sharing in a “moment that we’ll never forget.”
Taylor crying makes me cry 🥺😭 we are SO proud of you and the band, crew, dancers, and all the production staff. YOU ALL DESERVE THE WORLD 🫶🏻 #TorontoTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/446MKoCS0m
— paige 🫶🏻🤍 TAYRONTO (@alltoopaige) November 24, 2024
The Eras Tour will move on to Vancouver next month for three more concerts before finally concluding.
