Despite some streaming issues that popped up early into the USA-Germany World Cup match, ESPN’s authenticated WatchESPN app pulled in big numbers Thursday, setting a new record for the authenticated TV Everywhere service. Univision’s non-authenticated live stream of the match also produced record figures for the network.
At its peak during the match, which kicked off at noon Eastern Time, WatchESPN hosted 1.7 million concurrent at its peak. That figure comprised streams across all the live channels delivered via the app, not just the ESPN feed of the USA/Germany game.
A subset of users reported issues with the app during early into the game, which Germany won 1-0 in the rain-soaked pitch in Recife, Brazil. Despite the loss, the U.S. team still managed to back into the single-elimination round of 16, thanks to Portugal’s 2-1 win over Ghana, a match that was also live-streamed by WatchESPN.
ESPN acknowledged that there were “minor issues” at the start of the match that caused problems for a subset of WatchESPN users. An ESPN spokesperson said the network was investigating some limited issues that came about due to overwhelming demand, but didn’t elaborate on any specific causes.
Univision’s free, non-authenticated live stream of the USA/Germany matchup “had no issues whatsoever,” a spokesman said, noting that its 750,000 live concurrent streams for the USA/Germany matchup set a new record for the network.
Update: Univision said it generated 900,000 concurrent live streams on desktop, tablet and mobile when factoring in both USA vs. Germany and Portugal vs. Ghana.
By way of comparison, the February 21 U.S.-Canada men’s hockey game in Sochi via NBC generated more than 2.12 million unique streamers – exceeding the non-authenticated tally for Super Bowl XLVI, making it the largest TV Everywhere-verified streaming audience in U.S. history.
