Live football and gaming drives Virgin Media O2’s busiest broadband day ever
- Virgin Media O2 saw its busiest day on record for network traffic on Wednesday 15 February, hitting a peak of 24.77Tbps at peak (8-10pm average) – a 10% increase on the previous record
- The surge was associated with football fans streaming Arsenal v Manchester City in the Premier League as well as Champions League matches
- The release of Call of duty: Warzone 2.0 Season Two also contributed to the record day
On Wednesday Virgin Media O2 experienced the busiest day ever on its broadband network driven by football fans and gamers.
On 15 February, Virgin Media O2’s broadband network hit 24.77Tbps at its peak (8-10pm average) which was a 10% increase on the previous record-breaking day which occurred on Wednesday 19 October 2022.
The top-of-the-table encounter between Arsenal v Manchester City in the Premier League – only available via streaming on Prime Video – saw huge numbers of fans tune in to the big match alongside Champions League games on the same night.
In addition to the live football, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 released Season Two (file size 22.1GB) of the popular Battle Royale game at 5pm with gamers rushing to download the latest update. Some gamers took advantage of the pre-download feature as well, with many downloading the patch throughout the day.
Virgin Media O2 has seen records tumble on its network in recent years, largely due to the shift in household digital behaviour following the pandemic.
Says Jeanie York, CTO of Virgin Media O2:
“We have once again seen records smashed on our network with football fans and gamers using our ultrafast speeds on Wednesday to enjoy some midweek entertainment. This rising demand and the continued importance of connectivity is why we keep investing and innovating to ensure that we deliver for our customers.”
Virgin Media O2 says it is continuing to invest more than £2bn a year in its fixed and mobile networks and services, delivering average broadband speeds that are four times faster than the UK average.
