Olympic Streaming Numbers Show Live Streaming A Success

Internet Streaming appears to be going without any issues thus far.

It sure looks like the idea of live Internet Streaming of the 2012 London Olympic games has turned out to be a big success for NBC. With the expected large numbers of people who would be watching the Olympics live on their computers, tablets or mobile phones, the total volume would be huge. But at the half way point of the Olympics, we are not hearing of any problems with streaming video from any event. And this seems to prove that the Internet can handle the load when called upon to provide large streams of video on demand.

And the concerns about testing the Internet have largely turned out to be a non-issue thus far. Even the minor issues which were encountered during cycling where Tweets along the course disrupted coverage seem to have been brushed aside and not considered to be a big problem. That has been the only negative report involving a mobile network to this point in time. Given that, things are looking very good.

The reports of over 75 million streaming videos is a testimony to the preparation which has been done for the Olympics and the ability to stream video, live or otherwise. I have been watching video of Equestrian events this evening from earlier in the week because it conflicted with live events I was watching. With all the full events you can watch, it is a great way to watch the Olympics. One of the great things I like about watching it this way is that I can bypass the evening presentation from NBC where they cut out parts of the sports to fit things into the limited time. I get to see everything.

All of this capability is the result of two companies which were hired to make sure that the streaming of video went off without any problems. And they have proven they were up for that task. Limelight Networks which is located in Tempe, Arizona has been involved with streaming video at the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijiing. With that history, they were well prepared to handle the 2012 Olympic Games in London. They have a global network of data centers which are working to stream video using a number of different technologies. The other company involved is Akamai, which has been involved in handling some of the support for major broadcasters from the Olympics.

The volume of numbers coming out from this are phenomenal. In a Bleacher Report, they have combed through the available numbers and provided insight into the make up of people viewing the Olympics via non-traditional methods. Based on what they have analyzed and are reporting, the Olympics are going to continue to become a portable sport to watch. So as long as the streaming of videos can be handled by the Internet and NBC continues to allow that, we are going to see more people watching the Olympics on mobile devices.

The next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will have even more video available to a much wider audience we hope. Here in the US, you have to be a Comcast customer to get to watch all of the available coverage, either live or the full events at a later time. We can hope that as more people cut the cord, the next Olympics will not be restricted for non-traditional viewing as it has here in the US. It may not, as NBC will again be broadcasting the 2016 Olympics. But, we do know that the Internet can handle the load as they have demonstrated thus far. And concerns for future streaming of videos for the Olympics are no longer justified given the past week.