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Broadband Brits stay awake for Obama

British broadband users showed their support for Barrack Obama by staying up late to watch the US election using broadband TV services.

Broadband provider PlusNet has reported that it saw a dramatic surge in broadband usage on the night of the election, which saw President-elect Obama sweep to a landslide win.

"There was a definite spike in the amount of online TV viewing [during the] all-night coverage of the American elections and Obama's landslide victory," said Neil Armstrong of PlusNet.

The broadband operator revealed that broadband traffic between 0200 and 0300GMT on Wednesday was twice what it normally is – with the figure more than trebling between 5am-6am.

The surge in overnight broadband usage is thought to reflect how Brits used the internet in order to check for the latest poll results and keep up with election coverage using so-called TV-over-broadband services.

"It was not only a good night for Obama but also for services such as the BBC iPlayer. It just shows how more Britons are getting used to watching live, streamed content on their computers," said Armstrong.


PlusNet also reported an increase in broadband use later on Wednesday morning, with those people who did not stay up late to watch the election logging on to check the latest news. This contributed to a “substantial rise” in the amount of broadband TV streaming between 8am-11am, PlusNet said.

06/11/2008
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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