5G redefines live events economics

Record-breaking events such as the Paris Olympics and Taylor Swift’s global Eras Tour – said to have added nearly £1bn to the British economy alone – have made 2024 a landmark year, with connectivity becoming a defining feature of the fan experience.

According to Ericsson’s latest Consumer lab report, stable and reliable networks have shifted from a luxury to an expectation, setting new standards for live events that will only rise in the future.

The global comms tech and solutions provider’s study was carried out from June to August 2024. A total of 2,404 respondents were interviewed, with recruitment occurring via in-person outreach at the events and in online panels.

It asked participants about their frequency attending big events (events with more than 45,000 attendees), their reliance on their mobile devices during such events, and their overall expectations of the networks. In addition, they were asked about their interest in opportunities to enhance connectivity and their expectations of future experiences at events.

This year was the first where several major European events – Taylor Swift’s Eras concerts, the Olympics ,and Euro 2024 – coincided with a focused buildout of 5G infrastructure from operators in anticipation of soaring mobile traffic demands. In Ericsson’s opinion, these events provided a real-world testing ground for 5G’s capabilities in delivering enhanced connectivity experiences in the most challenging traffic environments. 

The standout findings revealed in the report were data demand and 5G advantage, a preference for reliability over speed, current large revenue potential, and significant future market implications.

Network performance data showed that 5G networks provided a significantly improved user experience compared with 4G at the same locations. The performance uplift from 5G at these events allowed operators to accommodate a surge in upload traffic driven by real-time live streaming and content sharing.

At the Taylor Swift concerts, attendees consumed an average of 5.4 TB of data per night. During the Paris Olympic, daily uplink data traffic in central Paris increased by 20%, with uplink traffic also tripling during the opening ceremony. Relying solely on 4G to support this upload traffic would have resulted in overloaded networks and significant connectivity failures.

Over 40% of fans undertook streaming, uploading and sharing, thereby creating intense data peaks. Two out of three 5G users reported their expectations for connectivity were met or exceeded, with 5G having 20% more satisfied users than 4G at the same venues, underscoring its role as a critical asset for high-density environments.

Fans rated network stability and app performance 10x more important than speed alone, underscoring the need for resilient infrastructure to support digital engagement at scale. During peak moments of network usage and congestion, users continued to report issues around network dropouts and inconsistent experiences using apps, which the findings show is 10x more impactful on their perception than network speeds.

Two-fifths of fans were interested in paying to have guaranteed connectivity during big events. Event attendees are ready to pay between 5% and 15% more on top of ticket prices for guaranteed, seamless connectivity; 5-15% more to improve their connectivity and app experience; while connectivity-bundled tickets attracted 21% more eventgoers, suggesting an untapped revenue stream for venues and telecoms alike. This, noted Ericsson, provided an opportunity to deploy 5G standalone networks to best meet this requirement.

Ericsson believes that as more high-profile events are on the horizon, telecom providers have a window to set new standards in fan engagement and capture growth by partnering with venues to deliver premium 5G experiences.

“This study clearly shows that the enhanced experiences 5G provides are driving greater satisfaction. While network speed is important, it’s not the most important factor – our findings show that user satisfaction is driven more by the consistency and quality of app performance,” said Jasmeet Sethi, head of ConsumerLab at Ericsson.

“As previous ConsumerLab studies have already shown, poor experience can have a lasting impact on customer loyalty, and these results underline that users are willing to pay more for guaranteed service quality. This means that, with 5G standalone, operators have a significant opportunity to meet rising user expectations and capitalize on premium services for consumers seeking assured quality of experience.”

Jenny Lindqvist, Ericsson head of market area Europe and Latin America, added: “5G is already having a transformative impact on consumers at major events, allowing for more users to live stream or share their experiences. Looking ahead, differentiated connectivity will allow operators to cater for individual user needs and expectations, for instance through guaranteed premium connectivity. This will lead to even higher customer satisfaction and create new revenue opportunities for the operators.”

Anne Flore Roger, technical director, mobile network at Orange, added: “During this year’s global sporting event in Paris, we witnessed unprecedented traffic levels. To accommodate the anticipated 11 million attendees arriving in the city, we deployed numerous temporary mobile sites powered by 5G, which handled 25% of the total traffic – a remarkable figure.

“Key hot spots were also critical, with just six venues managing 50% of the total load. The opening ceremony alone saw traffic surge to three times the volume of a typical busy day, with 5G supporting half of that demand. It’s clear that without 5G, we could not have met the connectivity needs of users at this scale.”