Deep packet inspection vendor Allot Communications said it performed an analysis of its customers' mobile data traffic around the world durin the month-long World Cup event in June and July and found that traffic levels jumped significantly--not just during the 64 games.
Overall, mobile data traffic increased 24 percent during the matches, and surprisingly, browsing was the biggest form of data consumption, not live video streaming. Mobile browsing saw a 35 percent jump during games.
"The growth in Web browsing occurred continuously in all matches, irrespective of whether the overall bandwidth rose or fell during that specific match," the report said. "This increase seems likely to stem in part from the dozens of mobile applications available to World Cup fans, providing football- and match-related information in real time, direct to the mobile device. Another reasonable explanation is the World Cup domination of everything social media from Facebook to Twitter, including the list of top tweeted topics during every week of the tournament."
On a whole, video streaming increased 11 percent during the games, but mornings after the matches, streaming on YouTube increased 32 percent and video streaming increased 22 percent overall as fans recapped the highlights of the previous games.
"The small screen did not replace the big screen during the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but instead created a new category," Allot's Mobile Trends study found. "Rather than replacing televisions, mobile devices found a niche where they function alongside the big screen, enhancing the viewer experience by offering additional information in real time and providing the ability to watch replays at leisure and share them with friends."
For more:
- see this Connected Planet article
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