Presidential Inauguration Enjoyed Record Live Streaming: Akamai
While the in-person audience was low, Friday's presidential inauguration drew a record number of viewers online. According to Akamai, the event was the largest live news event it's delivered, peaking at 8.7 Tbps at 12:04 PM. The CDN supported 4.6 million concurrent viewers at peak for its broadcast clients.
Akamai's previous record for a live news event was November 8, 2016, when it peaked with 7.5 Tbps of election day reports. It streamed 1.1 Tbps of live video at peak during the 2009 inauguration. The 2011 royal wedding saw it peak at 1.3 Tbps, while the 2016 Euro soccer tournament final peaked at 7.3 Tbps.
Content delivery company Fastly also weighed in with inauguration data, reporting U.S. media saw an 80 percent spike in activity at 12:01, when the new president's speech began, while foreign media saw an 89 percent spike.
News outlets weren't the only sites enjoying an inaugural bump: Fastly notes the ACLU experienced a 986 percent increase in visits Friday after filing a legal action against the president and announcing a 7-point plan to challenge the administration.
The transition in Washington D.C. led to an interesting online video art piece created by actor Shia LaBeouf working with the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. A camera mounted outside the museum records people continuously chanting "He will not divide us," and will remain active around the clock for four years. LaBeouf appears frequently on the live stream.
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