Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

Watching sports and other special events on the Web is becoming more popular day by day. According to statistics published by Flash Networks (News - Alert), a provider of mobile Internet optimization and monetization solutions, there was a significant increase in global traffic and video viewing of sports-related content during the EURO 2012 (the UEFA European Football Championship).

The company observed a 156-percent increase of traffic to sports sites in Asia-Pacific and a 215-percent increase in Europe on the day of the final match.

Europe witnessed a 210-percent increase in HTTP streaming of live sports broadcasts on the EURO 2012 final match day, while in Asia-Pacific the increase was only 20 percent. For P2P streaming, there was a 123-percent average increase in Asia-Pacific and a 42-percent average increase in Europe in the month of the EURO 2012, compared to the same timeframe during the previous month.

These findings reflect the differences in the way Europeans and Asians view football over mobile networks.

Overall, these statistics indicate the increasing popularity of viewing special events on the computer and mobile devices, supported by data recently published by Digital Spy showing that 8.3 percent of British fans watched the EURO 2012 games on the Web via a desktop, notebook computer, smartphone or tablet.

In contrast, North America depicted only a minor increase in sport-related traffic during EURO 2012, with an 8-percent increase in mobile internet traffic for sports sites and a 24-percent rise in the P2P streaming peak during the matches. This stresses on the popularity of European football in Asia-Pacific and Europe versus North America.

Flash Networks has installed a base of operators in Asia, Europe and North America that service over 250 million subscribers, including operators from European countries that competed in EURO 2012.

These findings were derived using the Harmony Analytics platform.

"Special events in general, and sporting events specifically, have a significant impact on mobile video traffic patterns for operators worldwide," said Merav Bahat, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Flash Networks. "By identifying data trends in real-time and over time, Harmony Analytics helps operators plan their networks in advance and provide the best possible service to their subscribers."

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