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Good luck, indeed. As we enter the final day of ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour shows in Toronto, we wish luck to anyone trying to snag a ticket… but also caution you not to get your hopes up.
Catch-up: For the few of you reading who don’t already have your calendar circled, Swift is coming to Toronto for six shows at Roger’s Centre at the end of November 2024.
Driving the news: An estimated 31 million people (about ¾ of Canada’s population, to give you some perspective) registered on Ticketmaster to receive a presale waitlist code. Per one estimate, that gave hopeful Swifties about a 1-in-413 chance of snagging a ticket.
- Missing out means hitting up the secondary market, where you might have to shell out as much as $13,000 to hear “Love Story” live.
Yes, but: This estimate doesn’t account for tickets stashed away for other presale deals.
As an official sponsor, RBC was able to grant presale access to members of its Avion loyalty program, and let people sign up for Avion even if they didn’t use an RBC product or service.
- RBC already had plans to make Avion available to everyone but decided to roll it out early to take advantage of Swift-mania.
- RBC hopes to attract new sign-ups (likely people buying Swift tickets for their kids) and gradually persuade them to do things like open an RBC chequing account.
Why it matters: Banks partnering with concert tours to offer presale access is old hat, but having one specific tour speed up drastic changes to its loyalty programs is very much new.
Bottom line: As the loyalty program space grows increasingly competitive and concert tours get so large they spur inflation, these partnerships could play a larger role in luring consumers.—QH