Live streaming soars during Euro final

Mobile Internet traffic to sports-related sites increased by 215% in Europe and 156% in the Asia-Pacific, during the Euro 2012 football tournament, according to a survey by Flash Networks, Mobile Marketing Magazine reports.

The research used Flash Networks' Harmony Analytics solution to study data from major operators across Asia, Europe and North America that, between them, service over 250 million subscribers, and found there was a 210% increase in streaming of live sport coverage across Europe during the final day of the tournament.

Indicating the contrast in mainstream availability of football in each region, for P2P streaming, there was a 123% average increase in Asia-Pacific and a 42% average increase in Europe in June, compared with the same timeframe during the previous month, Rapid TV News writes.

These findings reflect the differences in the way Europeans and Asians view football over mobile networks. Even though Flash Networks also confirmed the global increasing popularity of viewing special events via online video services on the Web, it also found that, in North America, there was only a minor increase in sport-related traffic during Euro 2012, with an 8% increase in mobile Internet traffic for sports sites and a 24% increase in the P2P streaming peak during the games.

According to Advanced Television, Flash Networks' results are supported by data recently published by Digital Spy, which revealed that 8.3% of British fans watched the Euro 2012 games on the Web via a desktop, notebook computer, smartphone or tablet.