As Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour transformed the Melbourne Cricket Ground into a sea of blinking lights and exhilarated faces, fans were not just savouring the musical experience; they were digitally encapsulating every moment in astonishing volumes of data. Telstra, an eagle-eyed observer of data trends, has crunched the numbers to reveal a narrative as compelling as the concert itself.
Over three spellbinding nights, the Swiftie fandom, armed with their smartphones, ushered in a whopping 35 terabytes of data usage—equivalent to a staggering 15,500 hours of video. That’s enough time to stream the Eras Tour Concert Film on loop for about 1.7 years straight without a breather! In a startling comparison with her peers, Swift’s concerts saw fans consuming almost double the data, marking The Eras Tour at the MCG as a digitally colossal affair.
The concert’s digital footprint emanated patterns of its own. Before the star graced the stage, there was a surge in phone usage, but as soon as the opening notes reverberated through the stadium, the Swiftie smartphones dimmed in unison, only to re-emerge with vigour, capturing every beat and ballad. The end of the 1989 set was a particularly undistracted affair, with the mystery of ‘surprise songs’ keeping the devices pocketed and eyes fixated on the stage.
An infrastructure ballet was Telstra’s response to the Sydney legions of Taylor fans. A strategic deployment of a Cell-on-Wheels was reminiscent of widening a highway; it promised a bandwidth boon designed to uphold the weight of thousands of streaming, sharing fans. Alongside, Sydney’s Accor Stadium boasted an upgraded 5G antenna system, promising an enhanced in-concert connection experience.
And so, the competition is set—a Sydney versus Melbourne showdown in the digital realm. Will the Sydney Swifties eclipse the data deluge set by their Melbourne counterparts? Only the ensuing concerts will tell.
Before you get lost in the Swiftie wave, glance over Telstra’s top tips HERE to ensure that your phone is concert-ready to capture every monumental moment of Taylor’s longest-ever Aussie performance.
