Culture

U2 YouTube Live Streaming: Millions Of Fans Watching Globally

by Yuliya Talmazan | October 26, 2009 at 11:21 am

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The live stream of the U2 360 concert that took place via YouTube yesterday has attracted the attention of million fans who watched the stream all over the world, and thousands of fans who simultaneously Tweeted about it in many different languages. There is no exact estimate of the number of people who watched YouTube stream yet, but the closest estimate is in the millions. Some sources estimate it at 2.5 million viewers in 16 countries over 5 continents. In an interesting experiment, fans could watch the concert live streamed online and Tweet simultaneously without leaving the YouTube page. Twitterers all over the world seemed to appreciate the quality of the broadcast, which was largely uninterrupted and undelayed during the live stream. Moreover, U2 has partnered with Google Earth to show the 3-D image of their 360-stage. But, Google Earth images of the stage were available ahead of yesterday's concert and are just another way to be interactive with the fans.

The show that took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, featured the likes of Black Eyed Peas and Desmund Tutu. The actual concert was attended by 96,000 people. Over the course of the concert, Bono has repeatedly mentioned the YouTube streaming of the show and thanked fans for tuning in.

The playlist of songs played by U2 can be found here.

Now, that the live stream experiment is over, there are questions over whether there is a torrent of the show that can be downloaded. YouTube said they would rebroadcast the concert, but given the generally negative attitude of U2's manager Paul McGuinnes toward Internet, it seems highly unlikely that the band will tolerate any illegal distribution of yesterday's concert.

Did you watch U2's historic YouTube live stream yesterday? Share your experiences here at NowPublic.com.

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sara star

at 12:11 on October 26th, 2009

In an interesting experiment, fans could watch the concert live streamed online and Tweet simultaneously without leaving the YouTube page.

I will have to find out more about this, just can't keep up with the technology. Thanks for the info!

jazzyzazzy

at 16:25 on October 26th, 2009

And I still havnt found what am looking for.Love that song.

caj1

at 16:37 on October 26th, 2009

Can someone explain what "a torrent" is in this context? (I don't know.) Didn't see it, but glad it the YouTube stream was available.

Amy Judd

at 11:37 on October 27th, 2009

A torrent, as I understand it, is a constant stream of something, be it water or sounds or pictures, or in this case words, sounds and pictures. You don't have to download it on to your computer or anything, you can stream it straight from the internet.

I loved watching YouTube and being able to tweet at the same time, very clever of them.