Wrestlemania XXX Undertakes* OTT Video Charts by Storm

Image Credit: WWE.com

Since its launch on February 24th, WWE’s subscription-based online video streaming service has managed to gain a foothold as a leading source of online entertainment.

Yesterday, April 6th, was a milestone in the network’s brief history with the first ever Wrestlemania event streaming live online. And what a show it was – from pre-game to finale of this flagship broadcast, WWE online traffic volume ranked below only industry giants Netflix and Youtube in North America, dropkicking all other OTT video services. Incredibly, Wrestlemania generated 20 times more traffic than it would on a regular day, leaving services like HBO, Hulu and Amazon hanging on the ropes.

Even more remarkable, overall online video traffic Sunday evening also grew, which reflects the fact that crowds tuning in to watch the main event did not come from other online services. Instead, Wrestlemania fans created an online power-bomb to the regular online video consumer audience.

Much like the wrestlers themselves, similar live streaming events will only get bigger, louder and more aggressive for ISPs as more linear TV content migrates to online OTT platforms. With Qwilt’s first ever Live Stream Cache, this load can be mitigated, offering consumers a higher quality of experience with reduced congestion and operational costs for the ISP.

So ISPs – Whatcha gonna do when live video streams run wild on you?

* We hated to see The Undertaker’s win streak end at 21 at the hands of Brock Lesnar.