Swifties are generous tippers, Lyft CEO says
Taylor Swift fans came out in droves to watch the singer on her Eras Tour. And a lot of them used ride-sharing apps to get to and from the stadiums. So much so, that it helped to boost Lyft's (LYFT) bottom line.
"If you look at stadiums, year-on-year, we're up 37%, just trips to stadiums. When you zoom in, and now we'll talk directly about Taylor, it's incredible. Nashville, our rides were up 25% when she comes to town. If you look in Cincinnati, rides to the hotel, because a lot of people are visiting from out of town, were up 60%," Lyft CEO David Risher tells Yahoo Finance. Not only that he says, that Taylor Swift fans "tend to tip three times higher than average."
Click here to watch the full interview or you can watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.
Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.
Video Transcript
- Taylor Swift and Beyonce, David. You actually called this out. And the idea was there's a lot of people, they're going to these stadiums, they're catching these shows these concerts. And we know they're taking Lyft to get there.
DAVID RISHER: Yeah. Yeah, it's so interesting, Josh. I mean, look, I think in a sense, like the big thing here, it's even bigger than what you're-- bigger than Taylor Swift. And now we're talking big.
It's almost the physical world fights back, right? For every new digital device, for every new app on the phone, for every new goggle, or whatever that shows up, there's just as much of a longing if not more so for going out and having real world experiences.
So if you look at stadiums year on year, we're up 37% just trips to stadiums. And then when you zoom in and now we'll talk directly about Taylor, it's incredible. And Nashville, our rides were up 25% when she comes to town.
If you look in Cincinnati, rides to the hotel, because a lot of people are visiting from out of town, were up 60%. And then here's a crazy stat that blows my mind. I think it's actually speaks very highly of Taylor Swift fans.
They tend to Tipped three times higher than average. So there's this whole ecosystem that goes along with travel in general, events, and specific. And then Taylor is kind of her own thing.
- All right, so Taylor Swift fans, that's some insight. They're more generous perhaps than some may think they're incredible. Let me ask you this, though. On the other side of it, David, would you be concerned about slower growth if there weren't, let's say, in the quarters ahead as many concerts from these kind of superstars?
DAVID RISHER: You know, I'm not. And here's why. It's not just concerts, it's not just NFL games, it's not-- it's the Seattle Storm And Seattle, a great WNBA franchise. It's the Kraken also in Seattle. It's the thorn in Portland.
We can do something interesting here in San Francisco. We haven't talked yet about publicly. So we won't talk about that today.
But so between sporting events, concert events. And then just frankly, humans desire to get out and about. I mean, that's a real thing.
And this is what Jeff Bezos always used to tell me. He said, don't make bets on short-term things. Make bets on long-term things.
And we're social. And so you can see everything from back to the office. Some of it voluntary, some of it involuntary. But still, concerts travel and all the rest. Over the long-term, these things will only grow.
