Super Bowl 50 was a big day for Von Miller, Peyton Manning and the rest of the Denver Broncos, but it was also a big day with respect to the amount of data that fans consumed at the game’s venue – Levi’s Stadium.
Comcast, citing networking partners and industry experts, said that more than 10 terabytes of data (up and down) traversed the stadium’s Aruba Networks-powered WiFi network that day as Super Bowl attendees tweeted, streamed video and shared photos to their heart’s delight. (RELATED: CBS set streaming marks for Super Bowl with nearly 4 million unique viewers.)
“That’s a staggering amount of data, equal to streaming 6,000+ hours of HD video (more than 8 months worth) or almost 1.2 Million 2-megabyte images,” John Guillaume, vice president, product management at Comcast Business noted in this blog post. “A lot of that volume was generated by the free Super Bowl 50 Stadium app – which allows fans to order food, watch the Super Bowl commercials and replays, and check lines.”
Comcast is tooting its horn about that because it played a key role behind the network scenes. In 2014, it announced a ten-year deal partnership with the San Francisco 49ers and its new home that spans video and voice services, dual 10 Gbps connections, and free WiFi for the fans.
Broken down further fans used 9.3 TB of data during the game while logged on the “SB50FREE” network at the venue, while media (data gluttons that they are) gobbled up 453 gigabytes on their dedicated network. The cumulative data figures for the game were compiled from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. PT.
Comcast noted that the amount of data transferred during Super Bowl 50 outdid the previous high last year -- 6.2 TB at the University of Phoenix for Super Bowl XLIX.
Among other stats, the venue also set a Super Bowl record by registering 27,316 unique WiFi users and a peak of 20,300 concurrent users (at 5:55pm PT), toping last year’s respective 25,936 and 17,322.
WiFi usage during Super Bowl 50 peaked at 3.67 Gbps (at 3:25pm PT), passing the previous venue record of 3.55 Gbps for the NHL Stadium Series between San Jose and Los Angeles on Feb. 21, 2015.
Per Comcast, the 10 “moments” that generated the most traffic at the stadium during the game included:
-The introduction of the 50 Super Bowl MVPs
-Lady Gaga singing the National Anthem and the Blue Angels flyover
-The opening kickoff
-The first coach’s challenge
-Von Miller’s forced fumble and the first touchdown of the game by Malik Jackson
-The halftime show with Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars
-Von Miller’s second forced fumble and C.J. Anderson’s game-sealing touchdown
-Peyton Manning exiting the field and Gary Kubiak’s Gatorade shower
-The Lombardi Trophy presentation
-Using apps to get back home and to hotels
