Sports Media Report
Signaling technology’s massive presence in sports, a record 26.42 terabytes of data was transferred within the stadium during Super Bowl LIV in Miami—an increase of 9.9% from last year’s NFL championship game, despite being held at a smaller-capacity stadium with nearly 10,000 fewer fans. Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR), the Official Wi-Fi Solutions Provider of the NFL and of Super Bowl LIV, provided all of the Wi-Fi infrastructure for the event and analyzed the record-breaking increase in fan engagement, as well as trends in user behavior, throughout the game. The results show Instagram was the top driver of Wi-Fi usage, and each user consumed an average of 595.6 megabytes of data – an increase of 21% per user over last year’s Super Bowl LIII.
The National Football League is leading the way in the digital sports world, investing in stadium infrastructure, including 5G and advanced Wi-Fi solutions, to support its increasingly mobile-centric, connected fan base. Since Extreme announced its partnership with the NFL in 2014, it has deployed its edge solutions, including ExtremeWireless™ access points and/or ExtremeAnalytics™ software, across 24 NFL stadiums and supporting 25 teams to improve stadium Wi-Fi and drive next-generation in-stadium experiences for fans. The NFL has tapped Extreme to provide data and analytics for the previous six Super Bowls.
Super Bowl LIV by the Numbers:
- Data Transferred: 26.42 TB
- Before Kick-off: 11.1 TB
- After Kick-off: 15.32 TB
- Network Spikes
- Peak Concurrent Users: 24,837 (pre-game)
- Peak Network Utilization: 10.4 Gbps (pre-game)
- Game Attendance: 62,417
- Fan Engagement
- Number of Users: 44,358
- Adoption Rate: 71%
- Average Usage Per Device: 595.6 MB
- Most Popular Apps
- Most Used Streaming Apps
- iTunes
- Apple Streaming
- YouTube
- Spotify
- Netflix
- Most Used Streaming Apps
- Most Used Social Apps
- Snapchat
- Bitmoji
- Most Used Sporting Apps
- ESPN
- NFL
- NFL OnePass
- CBS Sports
- ESPN Go
These insights, powered by ExtremeAnalytics, provide greater visibility into network performance, as well as which apps are running on the Wi-Fi network and what the response time is for each app. This information empowers stadium IT to deliver reliable Wi-Fi connectivity and proactively remediate issues, so that fans can consistently connect to social media and gameday apps, access mobile ticketing, order in-seat concessions, and leverage advanced applications like virtual reality. All statistics are available in Extreme’s seventh annual Super Bowl Infographic.
Executive Perspectives:
John Brams, Director, Hospitality, Sports and Entertainment, Extreme Networks, Inc.
“This is the seventh consecutive year we’ve provided data and analytics for the Super Bowl, and once again we’ve seen record-breaking Wi-Fi usage. With years of these reports in hand now, it’s clear the metrics signaling fans’ insatiable data demands are not anomalous, but part of a longer-term trend that’s here to stay. And as NFL teams start to embrace Wi-Fi 6 moving forward, stadiums will be able to provide even more compelling, cutting-edge experiences to fans across the league – further cementing the NFL as a technology pioneer.”
Aaron Amendolia, Vice President of Information Technology Services, The National Football League
“The Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for the NFL, and it takes a deep bench of innovative and collaborative technology partners to make it a success. Year after year, Extreme provides industry-leading technology and expertise that help us ensure the best possible gameday. In addition to providing Wi-Fi connectivity, Extreme’s analytics software provides granular insights that we can use to optimize the in-stadium experience in real time. The data generated on fan behavior also informs our long-term strategy, guiding us to new areas we should invest in to continue to improve the fan experience.”
