The 2022 National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final on 2 October, which saw Penrith Panthers beat the Parramatta Eels, drew a record average streaming audience of 389,000 viewers – up 7% year-on-year – on 9Now, making it one of the largest live sports deliveries in Australian history for both Nine (ASX: NEC) and Akamai Technologies, Inc., (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects life online.
The 2022 NRL Grand Final hit a record for Nine and Akamai, registering the highest ever live streaming audience for an AFL or NRL Grand Final in Australian TV history.
Partnering with Akamai since 2014, Nine utilises Akamai for video delivery and storage including comprehensive live event support for major events such as the NRL, enabling the network to deliver high-quality video consistently to its viewers with enhanced customer experience. Akamai assists 9Now with video workflow, delivery and security with the support of its streaming solutions.
“The NRL Grand Final is one of Australia’s most highly anticipated sporting events and it’s essential that high-quality, live video footage can be delivered to homes and handhelds in a fast, reliable, consistent and safe manner,” said Chris Gibbs, Managing Director and Regional Vice President ANZ for Akamai. “We are excited to be able to work with the Nine Network, one of Australia’s premier broadcasters, to deliver the grand final seamlessly to fans. With more sports and other live events coming up over the course of the year, viewers can look forward to streaming these events across all their devices wherever they are in the country.”
“Nine is proud to partner with Akamai again to deliver a flawless 2022 NRL Grand Final on 9Now. The scalability, robustness and reliability of Akamai’s solutions has helped grow 9Now’s live audiences significantly and we’re looking forward to scaling greater heights and breaking more records with Akamai as the summer sporting heats up,” said Andre Lackmann, Nine’s Technology Director.
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