Euro 2012 a superhit on iStream website

BANGALORE, INDIA: Bangalore-based iStream, a live video streaming website run by A2 Media Pvt. Ltd, has hit the bull's-eye with its Euro 2012 broadcast.

It is broadcasting the live feed from Neo Sports on a dedicated segment for the entire tournament and has already got over a million views. iStream, basically, puts up videos, that include news, TV shows and movies in five Indian languages —  Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam, besides English - from over 50 channels. It also streams 26 news channels live round-the-clock.

Founder & CEO of iStream, Radhakrishnan Ramachandran, is naturally elated and in an exclusive conversation with CIOL, shares about the kind of response their site is garnering.

How has the response been so far, considering it is the first such streaming of Euro football tournament in India?

The response has been overwhelming. Over a million users have viewed the live games on our main EURO 2012 page — www.istream.com/euro-2012. Besides the live games fans have come back for highlights and tournament extras.

Over 200,000 visitors have watched these videos on our EURO 2012 Highlights page. We spent all our energy in building a great user experience. Most of our marketing has been word-of-mouth or rather share-and-click through Facebook. Moreover, a lot of blogs and sites are sending their visitors to iStream.com, as we are the exclusive online broadcasting partner for EURO 2012 in India.

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Of the 12 days yet, which day saw the most traffic on your site, and more specifically, which match?

Our traffic has grown as the tournament progressed. Our biggest day was Sunday night-Monday morning (June 17-18), when over 100,000 visitors tuned in to watch the simultaneous Portugal vs Netherlands and the Germany vs Denmark games.

We are really glad that the games were super exciting with a slew of top quality goals. Spain has been the favorite team, largely due to their attractive game play. Spain's EURO 2012 team page is the most liked/shared page on our site right now.

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s breathtaking volley against France is the most appreciated goal.

How much views are you expecting throughout the tournament?

The rate at which the traffic is accelerating, we expect to cross 5 million visits by the end of the tournament.

Hopefully, we can hit the magic 500,000 visits on the night of the EURO 2012 final. If the crowd favorites, Spain and Germany make it to the final, we should hit that number quite easily.

Now, are you oscillating between whether to watch the matches either on TV or the site?