Super Bowl XLVI Draws 2.1 Million Online Viewers During First Live Telecast Event


On Sunday, February 5th, 2012 NBC and the NFL teamed up to deliver the first ever live streaming feeds for online Super Bowl viewers and that feature drew in an impressive 2.1 million unique viewers.

While still far from the record 111.3 million TV viewers who tuned in for the event it’s still a promising number of viewers for NBCSports.com and NFL.com who teamed up to broadcast the event live.

Online viewing still lagged a few seconds behind the live event and users didn’t receive the Madonna halftime show or the commercials, however those features were available through on-demand clickable viewing.

What users were given was optional camera views, access to Tweets from several respected NFL personalities and HD-quality video.

Kevin Monaghan, managing director of digital media for NBC Sports Group, said the live stream “exceeded our expectations in every way.”

Verizon Wireless also made the event available for streaming on some of the companies Smartphones.

Called a “complementary” option for viewers the program tested the ability of the NFL and NBC to deliver a unique experience that could add a “second screen” to the event for football fans who wants to cull extra information.

Past sporting events have already been tested online including the 2010 World Cup by ESPN and NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Olympics.

When all was said and done Super Bowl XLVI managed to engage online users for an average of 39 minutes, a huge number in terms of online sports viewing which should help push such offerings to users at an increasing level.

Did you watch Super Bowl XLVI online? What did you think of the quality of streaming services provided?

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