ISP Plusnet has said that it saw a surge in broadband usage on US election night as people stayed awake and streamed live video content over the web.

The company said traffic between 0200 and 0300GMT on Wednesday morning was double its normal levels, and more than treble the usual between 0500 and 0600GMT.

"There was a definite spike in the amount of online TV viewing [during the] all-night coverage of the American elections and Obama's landslide victory," said Neil Armstrong of Plusnet.

"It was not only a good night for Obama but also for services such as the BBC iPlayer. It just shows how more Britons are getting used to watching live, streamed content on their computers," Armstrong continued.

Plusnet also saw a surge in traffic first thing in the morning, with people eager to catch up with events as soon as they woke up.

There was a "substantial rise" in the amount of TV streaming between 0800 and 1100GMT, Plusnet said.

www.plus.net
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

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