The web site TechCrunch is reporting that, at its high point, the US/Germany World Cup match on Thursday had 1.7 million people watching the game.
That’s a lot of people, more than the 2013 Super Bowl that pitted Seattle and Denver by more than a half-million viewers (approximately 1,000,000 eyes).
All this despite TechCrunch’s report that many people had trouble logging onto the WatchESPN app in the first place.The WatchESPN app (or site, or however you access it) was the way that many Americans were watching the US vs. Germany World Cup match today. So many, in fact, that the site had issues serving all of its users in the first half. Some folks, including me, couldn’t log on until many minutes into the match.
Still, that didn’t stop ESPN from hitting a record 1.7M concurrent viewers during the second half, the company tells us. “We did investigate some limited issues due to unprecedented demand during the first half,” a spokesperson said in response to inquiries about streaming issues.
Before you go bragging to all your American football-only friends, consider that the Super Bowl was played on a Sunday on network television. That’s going to limit the amount of people who have to head for the web.
And the ESPN app, as FOX points out, is far more established than the app that was dishing out the Super Bowl. Throw in the NFL being big primarily in America and the fact that many office-bound people likely had to go to the web, and you’ve got a big piece of the puzzle.
But still, 1.7 million? Get some, soccer.
