Akamai Helps NBC Olympics Reach Record Digital Audience
10.8 Million Total Hours of Online Video Delivered during 2014 Olympic Winter Games
CAMBRIDGE, Mass(24 Mar 2014)
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimizing and securing online content and business applications, was integral in helping NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, deliver a massive 10.8 million hours of online video as part of its production of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Akamai provided high-definition video streaming, site performance and security services to support NBC Olympics’ mammoth 18-day undertaking from Sochi last month.
More than 8.5 million hours of the video was consumed through “TV Everywhere” authenticated live streams on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app. According to NBC Olympics, its live stream of the USA vs. Canada men’s semifinal hockey game on Friday, Feb. 21, generated more than 2.1 million unique users, which it believes is the most-watched authenticated stream for any Internet event.
“We were pleased with the performance of Akamai’s digital media, site performance and security solutions, and the role they played in helping us present an unprecedented Winter Olympics experience across platforms and devices,” said Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group. “We set numerous streaming and online user records over the course of the Games and resoundingly demonstrated the ability to enable millions of viewers to watch all Winter Games competitions when they chose, on any screen they wanted.”
“Our work in helping NBC Olympics deliver the Sochi experience is a testament to the scale and reach of Akamai’s Intelligent Platform and the viability to stream live and on-demand video from events around the world at high quality to connected devices of all types,” said Bill Wheaton, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Media Division, Akamai. “We are proud to have been a part of NBC Olympics’ Sochi digital experience and to have helped viewers enjoy the most comprehensive presentation of a Winter Olympics to date.”
NBC Olympics leveraged Akamai’s Ion site performance technology to help a Winter Olympics-record 61.8 million unique users enjoy fast, personalized experiences when visiting its digital properties during the Winter Games. Ion’s acceleration and optimization capabilities make real-time decisions based upon the requirements and complexity of the given connectivity and situation, helping to deliver positive, reliable experiences across devices, browsers and networks, even during peak usage times.
To help protect NBCOlympics.com against defacement and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which are particularly common during high-profile events such as the Winter Games, NBC Olympics implemented Akamai’s Kona Site Defender. A cloud-based site and web application security solution, Kona is designed to help prevent defacement, data theft and downtime, and mitigate DDoS and SQL injection attacks by extending the security perimeter beyond the data center. NBC Olympics did not report any compromises in the performance of its digital properties as a result of malicious traffic during the course of the Winter Games.
To learn more about how NBC Olympics leveraged Akamai in its digital production of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, sign up for the free, live webinar, “Delivering Events of Olympic Proportions,” featuring speakers from NBC Olympics, IDC Research and Akamai. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, March 25th, at 12 P.M. EST.
Akamai media delivery solutions helped more than 25 broadcasters worldwide deliver live and on-demand video from Sochi, continuing the work it has done with Summer and Winter Olympic Games rights-holders since 2004. For more information about Akamai’s work on the Sochi Games, visit http://www.akamai.com/sochi.
Akamai is showing its full range of digital media storage, processing and delivery solutions at the 2014 NAB Show, booth SL4525, in Las Vegas, April 7-10. Demonstrations will underscore how live and on-demand online video content, including 4K, can be delivered at the quality and scale necessary to meet increasing consumer demands and expectations.
About NBC Olympics?
A division of the NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history.
For more information on NBC Olympics’ coverage of the Sochi Olympics, please visit:http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/
About Akamai?
Akamai is the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimizing and securing online content and business applications. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.