UK streaming gets Brexit bounce
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Editor
| 18 January 2019

As the argument as for what benefits Brexit may or ever bring rages continuously in the UK, research from Limelight Networks has shown that the live streaming sector has already seen a Brexit bonus.

According to new data analysis from Limelight Networks, the live coverage of the vote by the UK parliament on PM Theresa May’s doomed deal on 15 January caused a spike in live streaming and online video downloads.

During the course of the parliamentary debate and vote, Limelight saw a 200% increase in simultaneous live streaming data traffic across its networks compared with normal levels of streamed parliamentary content for the previous Tuesday. Higher than normal levels of non-live demand video were sustained more than an hour and a half after the vote results itself. Moreover, there was a six-fold increase in the number of data requests for video content with Brexit directly in the URL.

Remarking upon the spike in Brexit live streaming, Steve Miller-Jones, vice president product strategy, Limelight Networks said: “With the fractious political climate of current times, we’re seeing major political events cause significant spikes in traffic across our network. These events can place significant strain on a broadcaster’s content delivery strategy if they haven’t planned ahead, namely because they can be completely unexpected.

"Online services can plan for the launch of a new hit show or a major sporting event, but they may only get a few minutes warning that a politician is about to make a statement on a current political issue...We are pleased that our infrastructure helped ensure British voters could keep tabs on their political representatives in real time.”