ESPN's live stream of the USA vs. Belgium match has again caused some frustration among customers who found the stream cutting out and sometimes inaccessible.
The first half of the match topped out at 1.5 million simultaneous streams, according to ESPN. The previous USA match against Germany saw 1.7 million concurrent streams, while Univision said it served 745,000 streams.
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On WatchESPN #USAvsBEL in 1st half: 1.5 million peak concurrent viewers http://t.co/tufrHl9SQL— Kevin Ota (@ESPNKevinO) July 1, 2014
Streaming video demand tends to test the limitations of existing systems, with problems seen at other big events such as the Oscars and the season premiere of Game of Thrones. Users tend to blame the provider, in this case ESPN, although problems can occur at a variety of places throughout a network.
Frustrated fans vented frustrations on Twitter.
The @espn stream is bad and getting worse #USAvsBEL #firstworldproblems— Erin Hallmark (@erinhallmark) July 1, 2014
Espn stream is struggling hard!— Maddie M. (@MaddieM00) July 1, 2014
Can we start a Kickstarter campaign to buy ESPN some more server time?— paulkaps (@paulkaps) July 1, 2014
Others gave credit to ESPN for being able to provide the service despite the overwhelming demand.