UK broadcaster the BBC delivered a staggering 2.8Pb (petabytes) of content in a single day during its coverage of the Olympics, peaking at a rate of 700Gbps as cyclist Bradley Wiggins took gold.

James Middleton

August 15, 2012

1 Min Read
Bradley Wiggins
Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins

UK broadcaster the BBC delivered a staggering 2.8Pb (petabytes) of content in a single day during its coverage of the Olympics, peaking at a rate of 700Gbps as cyclist Bradley Wiggins took gold in the time trial event.

The figures give some indication of the stresses facing delivery networks during major events, with a record-breaking 55 million global browsers to BBC Sport online (cumulative reach) throughout the course of the Games.

The BBC said it also had 9.2 million UK mobile browsers to its Olympics coverage, making up 34 per cent of all daily browsers, with 12 million requests from mobiles for video throughout the Games.

The broadcaster had 1.9 million downloads of its mobile app for iOS and Android smartphones, while 40 per cent of browsers accessing BBC’s Olympics coverage were from a mobile at weekends with 30 per cent during the week. And a total of 23.7 million people viewed the 24 live SD, HD & Freeview streams throughout the Games for at least 15 minutes.

Telecoms.com has been given some insight of the lengths operators have gone to to ensure sufficient capacity and delivery options for the games were in place. We can expect to hear more about the success here in the coming days.

In related news, popular video streaming service Netflix has announced plans to launch in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland before the end of 2012.

Netflix has over 27 million streaming members in the US, Canada, Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and allows streaming of content to PCs, Macs, Smart TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray disc players, smartphones and tablets, making it a prime contributor in any argument about net neutrality.

About the Author(s)

James Middleton

James Middleton is managing editor of telecoms.com | Follow him @telecomsjames

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