When the Red Devils play in the European Championship, the Belgian leaves his PC behind. Cloudflare records a fifteen percent drop in Belgian internet traffic during the group stage matches. Only Turkey and the Netherlands are more enthusiastic.

Internet traffic drops during Euro 2016 matches. This was discovered by Cloudflare. The company, which runs a large part of the world’s internet traffic through its data centers, compared internet traffic during the matches of the participating national teams with the traffic at the same time a week earlier. A drop is seen in all EU countries, but Belgians seem to be among the most enthusiastic traditional spectators.

Less surfing

During the Red Devils’ match against Slovakia, traffic in our country dropped by fifteen percent. The Slovaks were also interested: Cloudflare recorded a fourteen percent drop there. The Turks and Dutch are even more enthusiastic. Cloudflare recorded a 16 percent drop in Turkey during the match against Georgia and an 18 percent drop in our northern neighbors during the match against Poland.

Cloudflare explains this drop in traffic by the nature of the event. The European Championship is closely watched, but often still via the classic TV infrastructure. Although streaming is on the rise in Belgium, most people still watch via copper or coax. The added value that applications try to offer during the Euro experience has no significant impact on internet traffic.

Cloudflare only recorded an increase in traffic in a few countries. Games are more likely to be watched online in Poland (12 percent), Romania (16 percent) and Albania (25 percent).