Update: The U.S.-Germany and Portugal-Ghana matches combined set a new global streaming record, 6.8 Tbps, according to content delivery network provider Akamai. That makes the World Cup the most streamed sporting event in history ... so far.
"We are verifying the official number, but it is fair to say we exceeded 6 Tbps today during the combination of USA-Germany / Portugal-Ghana," an Akamai spokesperson told FierceOnlineVideo Thursday night. "This is the highest peak for a live sports event that Akamai has ever delivered."
Akamai on Friday morning confirmed the peak reached even higher--nearly 7 Tbps.
A live global traffic streaming feed supplied by Akamai showed traffic rates spiking to well above the 4.59 Tbps record set on June 17 during the Mexico-Brazil match.
The chart below is a snapshot of Akamai's feed at about halftime during the match between Germany and the United States. (Germany won the match, 1-0, though the United States will proceed to the final 16.)
It's important to note that Ghana and Portugal, another critical match, was being played at the same time.
Akamai is measuring traffic rates across its distributed content delivery network. The CDN provider is helping deliver World Cup streaming to more than 50 rights holders worldwide.
While the traffic spike looks impressive, it's important to note that the streaming rate for individual games may vary. Akamai analyzes the data to determine which games drove which traffic, a process that takes a day or more and has been held up somewhat by the number of concurrent games played this week.
A spokesperson for Akamai said that total platform data will be available tomorrow, although traffic for individual games may not be available so soon.
For more:
- The Wall Street Journal has this story
- see Akamai's World Cup site
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