During the Olympics – a record number of watchers over the Internet

The LRT portal www.lrt.lt, which provided the live broadcasting of the Olympic Games in London, attracted a record number of visitors. During the entire period of the Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August, the portal was visited by more than a third of a million unique visitors – about 370 thousand. Most of the visitors watched broadcasts on their computers, and about 3 per cent of all visitors – on mobile browsers, i.e. mobile phones and tablet PCs. It was the first live online broadcasting of such scale in Lithuania. "Before this year's major sporting events – the football championship and the Olympics – we had updated the LRT portal, expanded the website’s functionality and capabilities. During the Olympic broadcasts, the flow of visitors was enormous – much larger than on normal days. We wanted new visitors to the website to see the benefits of the portal and return to it not only during the Olympics", - Mindaugas Raguotis, Head of LRT.lt portal at LRT, said. The first boom of visitors to the portal was on the opening day of the Olympics – the event was watched by around 20 thousand people simultaneously. During the whole period of the Olympics, the highest flow of visitors was recorded on the day when the Lithuanian national basketball team played with the Tunisian basketball team for the right to enter the quarter-finals – the number of visitors amounted to 80 thousand. There were 30 to 40 thousand visitors simultaneously browsing the portal and watching the live broadcast. Data hosting services for the LRT web portal are provided by UAB Hostex. "At the beginning of our cooperation with LRT we provided with the possibility, where appropriate, to increase the server capacities. This was particularly relevant during important events, when a large number of visitors is expected. On the days of the Olympics, the flow of visitors kept increasing every day. Comparing with the usual use of the website, during the Olympics we increased the flow up to twenty times", - Pranas Slušnys, Director of UAB Hostex, says. Hostex provides services for live internet broadcasts for five TV broadcasters. With the company's help, as many as 30 television programs reach audiences in Lithuania and the Nordic countries over the Internet. "User habits are changing, people like to watch events in real time. The popularity of TV on the Internet is growing rapidly. Our mission – to ensure that relevant content is accessible to users at their convenience", - Pranas Slušnys said. According to Valentinas Gulcevas, CEO of UAB Citrus, which developed the LRT portal, the interest in the Games on the Internet has showed that television broadcasts are "moving" to the Internet or, in other words, the Internet is entering the TV space. The need arises in the market for a substantially new product – an Internet portal adapted for television and providing new communication opportunities for TV broadcasting. "The huge flows of users have revealed that such product is in demand. The project has prompted us on new forms of video information storage, sorting and dissemination as well as the integration of different types of media, the value of prompt response to the constantly rising demands of users. The experience gained will be useful for the further development of solutions that combine television and the Internet", - V.Gulcevas said. Visitors to the updated LRT website have the opportunity to watch the three channels (LRT TELEVIZIJA, LRT KULTŪRA and LRT LITUANICA) in real time and to listen to the three radio programs (LRT RADIJAS, LRT KLASIKA ir LRT OPUS) of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television. Also, they can watch the recordings of previously broadcasted programmes, find archives and read the most relevant information. LRT.LT – the Lithuanian National Radio and Television on the Internet. About Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) LRT, the national public broadcasting company of the Republic of Lithuania, is in the largest and most versatile media group that brings 7 media together – 3 television channels, 3 radio programs and the Internet news portal. Every day, 1.5 million people of Lithuania and thousands of our countrymen abroad choose the LRT programs to get objective, accurate, comprehensive and impartial information, watch or listen to high-quality educational, cultural and entertainment programmes. The LRT Group currently consists of the LRT TELEVIZIJA, LRT KULTŪRA (former LTV2), LRT LITUANICA (former LTV World) TV channels, LRT RADIJAS, LRT KLASIKA and LRT OPUS radio stations and the Internet portal LRT.LT About Hostex Hostex is one of the leading providers of data centers and virtual resources – cloud computing services in Lithuania. The company owns two data centers and specializes in the design, installation and support of web portals and information systems. Since September 2010, Hostex is a member of TEO LT, AB Group, the largest provider of integrated telecommunication, IT and TV services in Lithuania. About CITRUS Citrus, a website development company, has been working in the market for over 16 years. It has implemented over a hundred Internet solutions for retailers, telecommunications companies, banks and media publications. For more information, please contact: Virginija Bunevičiūtė, Public Relations Representative at LRT Tel. (8 5) 236 32 40, e-mail: [email protected] Lina Rimkutė-Žičkė, Head of External Communication Group at TEO Tel. (8 5) 236 71 03, mob. tel. 8 686 42 57 8, e-mail: [email protected] Jolanta Lunevičienė, Representative of Citrus Mob. tel. +370 611 46 75 1; e-mail: [email protected]