Microsoft claims it set a record for the biggest online entertainment audience after offering the Live Earth concerts on MSN over the weekend, reporting more than 10 million streams worldwide. The concerts, aimed at raising awareness about global warming, were broadcasted live from venues in New York, London, Sydney, Rio, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hamburg.
"The over 10 million streams MSN has delivered so far today represent a milestone in live Internet broadcasting," said Joanne Bradford, VP and chief media officer at Microsoft's MSN unit, in a statement.
Streams do not equal viewers though, just the number of requests made for a video feed. At the peak, 237,000 people watched simultaneously, according to Microsoft. That said, the numbers seem large enough to beat the Live 8 concerts coverage two years ago by AOL - the previous record holder - which reported 5 million unique visitors, as opposed to streams, with 175,000 simultaneous streams.
Microsoft expects viewers to continue to visit the site for the next few weeks to watch archived footage of the events, including on-demand footage of all performances, along with artist interviews, backstage footage and more.