World football’s governing body Fifa has hailed the 2014 World Cup as the “biggest multimedia sporting event in history,” claiming new landmarks for video streaming of a sports competition.
Fifa said content delivery network provider Akamai has confirmed the World Cup in Brazil is the biggest event in terms of video content streaming on record, due to the demand from fans accessing content live from the online platforms of Fifa’s media rights licensees.
In the United States alone, a record-breaking 5.3 million unique viewers tuned in for the round-of-16 match between Belgium and the United States on the online platforms of sports broadcaster ESPN and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.
The World Cup ‘white-label’ second screen app has been downloaded more than 10 million times in more than 20 broadcast territories since its launch at the start of June, with up to three million fans accessing videos, statistics and live match content each day.
In addition, 24 million unique users have already watched some 15 million hours of content through Fifa’s multimedia services solutions alone.
Stefan Wildemann, manager of sales and distribution at Fifa TV, said: “These figures show just how fast our industry is adapting to a truly multimedia world. Only on the digital platforms can fans watch the Fifa World Cup from every possible angle.”