This year's Eurovision Song Contest will be remembered as the one which broke all the viewing figures records, not only on television but also via internet, through the webcast service available on eurovision.tv and powered by Octoshape. Over 1.5 sessions were served to more than 163 countries across the World.
Overall, more than 36 million minutes were consumed. These numbers complete record-breaking viewing figures regarding Eurovision Song Contest 2008 webcast. It has to be said that not all the countries tuning in to eurovision.tv broadcast the event live on their respective local broadcasters, so webcast was the only way possible to follow the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in those nations.
These data reveal that webcast services are currently taking advantage, and so said EBU's Nicoletta Iacobacci: “Broadband penetration is on the rise everywhere, and streaming should no longer be considered a supplement to traditional broadcasts. In fact, for global broadcasts like these, it’s really the other way around and using Octoshape we have a proven and viable solution for large scale, high quality, global webcasts.”
Collaboration between EBU and Octoshape will continue in order to provide fans with high resolution streams of Eurovision events like national finals and the Eurovision Song Contest itself. Next event to be webcast will be the forthcoming Eurovision Dance Contest, next September in Glasgow.
Remember that you still can re-watch the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final here .
