FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 drives more than twice traffic demand

Pay TV providers are experiencing unprecedented traffic demand on their video networks, driven by strong consumer interest in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022^TM according to Velocix, the market-leading content delivery software and service provider. Velocix supplies software and fully managed services for video service provider based content delivery networks (CDNs) and it has tracked the video traffic peaks in countries around the world as fans watch the football tournament in Qatar.

The company’s managed services team has recorded the largest viewing increases in Latin America, with pay TV operators’ peak traffic levels rising by as much as 140% in some countries. In Europe, the peak traffic increases have also been impressive, with video service providers experiencing surges of up to 82%. In North America, modest increases in peak traffic have been recorded of around 20%, potentially reflecting the lower profile of soccer in the region.

Marco Rico, VP of Maintenance and Managed Services at Velocix said: “Velocix has been working closely with many of the world’s largest pay TV providers over several months to prepare their content delivery networks for the upswell in viewership caused by the FIFA World Cup. This detailed capacity planning and network optimisation ensures consumers are able to enjoy the highest quality viewing experience, even as network traffic reaches record levels.”

“As the competition progresses through to the final, we are expecting even higher streaming traffic peaks. Over the coming days, we will be monitoring video networks as they come under greater pressure and will fine tune the CDNs as needed to deliver the best performance to sports fans around the world.” 

Velocix's carrier-grade content delivery solutions support high capacity live, on-demand, time-shifted video and cloud DVR applications, enabling operators to rapidly scale-out premium multiscreen video services using cloud and on-premises software to best suit individual business requirements.