Microblogging site Twitter reached a milestone when it live streamed Jets and Bills game this Thursday night. The broadcast went ahead without any glitch. However, it failed to attract a substantial number of viewers.
The streaming saw an average of 243,000 viewers per minute. The NFL reported that each viewer stayed on for an average of 22 minutes of the game.
The viewership numbers are indeed worrying for Twitter, which is currently grappling with a stagnating user base. According to Yahoo, 15.7 million viewers watched the game using digital and conventional TV platforms.
Twitter is not the first technology company to live stream an NFL game. In October last year, Yahoo Inc. live streamed a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The broadcast attracted 15.2 million viewers who watch at least part of the game on Yahoo, far higher than a total 2.3 million people who watch at least three seconds of Thursday's game on Twitter.
ESPN reported that the NFL broadcast attracted an average of 314,000 viewers across all its digital platforms. These users each watched an average of 25 minutes of the game. CBS and NFL Network saw 15.4 million viewers on an average for a 9.5 rating and 18 shares, up by 20 percent from last season's average for Thursday nights.
While more people are turning to the Internet for streaming videos, Twitter's experience shows that it may take online services some time to get on par with traditional TVs when it comes to watching games.