Industry Focus

Inaugurating Tomorrow’s Internet – What January 20 Tells Us About the Future of Streaming

Among the many firsts associated with the inauguration of America’s 44^th president on January 20 this year were numerous milestones related to the scope and scale of the spectacle and its audience. From the massive security contingent to the crushing 2+ million crowd that converged on the National Mall, virtually everything about the ceremony set some sort of record. And as it turns out, the electronic tsunami it triggered was no exception.

The sheer volume of data pumped across our mobile and Internet pipelines in the hours surrounding the swearing-in was staggering. With millions of Americans watching the event online; texting, chatting, blogging and tweeting about it; capturing and sharing images of it; and searching for inauguration-related information over the course of the day, our online mettle was tested as never before.

So, how did we do? The answer by most accounts is pretty well, given the extreme circumstances. But the fact is, those circumstances won’t represent the extreme for long. As our consumption of bandwidth escalates and households open up their taps to receive an exploding array of streaming content, what seemed exceptional on January 20 may soon be the norm.

Here, Keynote takes a look at how the Web and key content providers performed on inauguration day; the role streaming content played in that performance; and what it may mean for our electronic future.

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