14 DAY TRIAL // President Trump’s inauguration day may not have gathered the crowds he had hoped for in Washington, but it did manage to break records when it comes to video streaming.
Content delivery network Akamai claims that the live video streaming of the inauguration peaked at 8.7 Tbps at 12:04 ET, during Trump’s speech, up from the 7.9 Tbps at the start of the inaugural oath. It looks like everyone wanted to watch the whole thing live, waiting to see what’s the next big thing to escape his mouth. The previous record was held by the Election Day evening events when 7.5 Tbps were reached.
This means that, while the inauguration was not the largest event to ever hit Washington, it was the largest to hit the Internet. The results are not that surprising, of course, especially when taking in all the elements. First, there’s the fact that the inauguration took place in the middle of the day, allowing more people to watch the event, even from across the sea, or while they were at work, for instance. Then, there’s the main character of the event as well, whom many wanted to see even if they chose to cry rather than cheer while doing so.
Not really an indicator of the new American President's popularity
Akamai had also provided some numbers for other events in the past, such as the Royal Wedding from 2011, when 1.3 Tbps were hit, or the 2009 Obama inauguration, when 1.1 Tbps were hit, but it’s really not a good idea to compare data regarding live video streaming with so many years in between. The rise of HD streaming is one of the reasons why we should not compare these figures, especially since that alone means there is a higher bitrate necessity.
When compared to more recent events, however, Trump’s inauguration still comes on top. The 2016 Euro soccer tournament peaked at 7.3 Tbps, while the Rio Olympics had a peak of 4.5 Tbps.
That being said, the record numbers have more to do with the rise in online video streaming than the popularity of the new American President.