Every year millions of people attend festival around the world, with a spike in attendance during summer months. In the UK it is estimated that festivals contribute £1bn to the economy
More and more festival-goers want to share their experience with their friends and followers, with 90% of the revellers owning a smartphone WiFi is a must-have. 3G, 4G and 5G connections can struggle to cope with the large number of users, often in remote areas. Festival WiFi provides crucial connectivity to the wider world by creating a strong wireless internet connection allowing the audience to share updates, photos, and videos.
Another key activity during the events is staying in contact with friends, with the majority of conversations taking place on platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Fans also use the WiFi to stay up to date with festival news via apps. All of this infrastructure helps to create connections between artists and fans, delivering events that customers will want to return to.
Festival connectivity isn’t just important for the fans but also provides a huge benefit for the event itself. A recent study of 25 million tweets about events found that 42% of the buzz took place during the event itself. 36% of this activity was created by fans sharing posts of videos, pictures, and quotes during the event*, creating valuable digital traffic for the event across multiple platforms.
WiFi also provides the ability for vendors to take cashless payments at the festival, with nearly all smartphones and banks now providing this option it is crucial for events to get on board with this trend.
In today’s digital world it is not just the audience who want to share the event but also the event itself by streaming the festival to the wider world. The ability to connect events to a global audience provides even more scope for growth. Beyoncé’s two-hour Coachella set was live-streamed on YouTube and attracted more than 450,000 online viewers, the actual overall attendance to the whole of the festival was only around 250,000*.
Like all forms of connectivity festival, WiFi options are always developing with the increasing use of wireless and satellite technology. With improved development and ongoing demand for faster and better connectivity options festival, WiFi can only advance. If you are hosting a large event and want to understand what your connectivity options are please contact us today.
*Figure taken from: Eventbrite and The Ringer
