Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s massive stadium world tours helped boost rides on Uber and Lyft in 2023. Both companies have highlighted the bumps they’ve seen in rides thanks to the pop stars.
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“Last year, fans flocked to stadiums, with these rides growing by more than 35% year-over-year, driven by high-attendance stadium events including Taylor Swift and Beyoncé concerts, the U.S. Open, and football games,” Lyft said in its latest quarterly earnings report released Tuesday.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pointed out the impact of the tours back in August. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Khosrowshahi said each show of the collective 200-stop tours averaged over 3,000 rides each for Uber alone.
Overall, Uber’s number of rides grew 24% in 2023 to 9.4 billion rides globally, up from 7.6 billion the prior year. Lyft’s rides were up 18% to 709 million in the U.S. and Canada — where the company operates — up from 599 million in 2022. These figures translated to bumps in revenue too. Uber’s full-year revenue grew 17% to $115 billion and Lyft’s rose 8% to $4.4 billion in 2023.
Their stocks are also up today following strong earnings reports from both companies. Uber’s stock is up 12%. And Lyft shares skyrocketed over 31%, despite a typo in its earnings report.
The economic power of pop
The Beyoncé-Taylor bump on ride-sharing apps is just another example of the influence the two singers wield over the economy.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour generated an estimated $4.5 billion for the U.S. economy, according to the New York Times. Swift’s The Eras Tour generated $5.7 billion.
In the sports world, Swift’s relationship with Super Bowl champ Travis Kelce has generated $331.5 million in brand value for the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs.