William and Kate Rule the Internet: Breaking Streaming Records, Ebay Sales and BBC Crash
It seemed as if the whole world stopped to witness Prince William and Catherine Middleton, as they tied the knot at the West Minster Abbey earlier today. With over 2 billion watching from around the world, the Royal couple has brought madness not only to Cupid, but to the internet universe as well, making it the sixth biggest event in history.
Mashable was among the first to reveal the event’s stunning streaming and traffic figures a few hours after the grand ceremony began, reporting that London became the hottest spot in the worldwide web saying: “…the event broke broader live streaming records as well. A representative for the company — whose network hosts some of the web’s largest news sites — reports that concurrent live streams of Royal Wedding on Akamai surpassed the 1.6M peak set by World Cup in June of 2010.” In fact, when Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, walked down the aisle, BBC’s site wobbled. It led to a momentarily interruption of viewing.
The frenzy also radiated to the number of searches recorded in Google by 90%, and auction giant eBay posted a whopping 1,800% increase in sales for anything placed under the “royal” category. The company reported that they sold around $70,000 and over 3,000 items in April alone related to the Royal wedding.
This anticipation and eagerness from the public also inspired other enterprises to ride along the royal wedding fever. FreeAgent, online accounting provider, celebrate with this momentous occasion with the rest of the planet by giving away three months of free trial of their service to all those who are working within the wedding industry. Media agencies from around the globe covering this event were supported by KIT Digital Inc, by providing multi-screen video management and delivery. Pinnacle Telecom Groups was also tapped to supply network connectivity to international news organizations during the royal wedding.
While the 4.6 million concurrent views were not enough to top the 10.3 million that watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup in June of 2010 or whether you are a cynic or fanatic, today marks one of the most relevant happening not only in UK’s history, but also within the tech community.
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