Imagine the entire population of Finland watching the same match, at the same time, on YouTube. The number of viewers would be lower than Brazilian service provider Casablanca’s record end of 2022 during the World Cup’s Brazil-Croatia match. Six million viewers watched the match live on Casablanca’s YouTube channel. This shattered YouTube records for the largest number of viewers for a live event streaming from a single country. And it secured a second-place ranking globally. And all this, powered by Ateme.
“Reaching more than six million devices for a single live event is a huge achievement, ranking this live event second worldwide in terms of number of viewers on YouTube, and first nationally,” said Alex Pimentel, General Manager at Casablanca.
Casablanca redistributed World Cup international feeds to local production via platforms such as Youtube. This included distribution to the biggest Brazilian channel for soccer on YouTube. It used Ateme’s KYRION contribution solutions to decode feeds coming from production in Qatar. And it implemented the Ateme TITAN solutions for transcoding, delivery, and local production.
Unlike broadcast, live event streaming requires a more robust platform as the number of viewers increases. So how did Casablanca achieve this scale?
It all started in 2018. Back then, Casablanca used TITAN transcoders for its streaming operation and content publication strategy on social networks. Among the events it delivered were the matches of the 2021 Campeonato Paulista Série A. This is a top-flight professional soccer league in the state of São Paulo. The endeavor was successful, reached a significant number of viewers, and opened the doors to even bigger projects. As a result, Casablanca could act as one of the main distribution teleports for the World Cup Games in Brazil.
Ateme’s technology enabling the new record
Behind the screens and the success was Ateme’s technology. Casablanca needed a video platform that was based on reliable solutions with high-performance capabilities. Ateme’s KYRION contribution encoders and TITAN transcoders not only met the need for reliability, but also enabled superior experiences with video quality of around 10 Mbps – much higher than rival streaming solutions. This meant they could deliver extremely high-quality, low-latency live feeds to streamers.
Future-Forward Vision
Casablanca is a highly innovative service provider that understands the need to offer the best quality live coverage of these huge World Cup matches. Having ensured distribution for six million concurrent viewers, they have shown that their technology infrastructure meets the needs of today’s innovative media channels.
Personally, I’m delighted that Ateme is supporting their infrastructure strategy, and to see the amazing impact it has made on viewing preferences during the tournament.
Conclusion
Brazilians love soccer and demand the best experiences. The collaboration between Ateme and Casablanca has set new benchmarks for live event streaming on YouTube, showcasing the reliability of Ateme technology.
In fact, since that record, Casablanca has continued to deliver amazing experiences to Brazilian audiences, based on Ateme technology – including the Women World Cup, the Panamerican Games, and the World Cup Qualifiers.
I’m convinced that streaming services will take a huge proportion of eyeballs, even for sports events. How about you? How important do you think sports will be for streaming? Share with us in the comments below!