Broadband provider Eclipse Internet has reported seeing a massive 118% increase in online traffic to video streaming sites (e.g. BBC iPlayer UK), compared to the first of the three live leaders debates. Last night's final showdown between the party leaders also had a 26% increase in traffic, compared to the streaming statistics from last week.

Eclipse Internet, who has monitored online traffic at the time of all three debates, saw a significant increase in its customers switching over to streaming channels such as BBC iPlayer to watch the leaders make their final pitch for votes. Last night, they saw a 67% increase comparing to figures at the same time the day before between 8:00pm and 9:30pm, the time the debate was on.


The final live debate saw David Cameron (Conservative), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) and current PM Gordon Brown (Labour) squaring off on the issue of the economy ahead of next Thursday’s General Election. Figures show that more than 6 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate on various channels, a 2 million increase on last week.

We even heard Gordon Brown promise to deliver superfast broadband to 100% of the country again. Mind you, no date was mentioned. The first time Gordon Brown spoke of 100% coverage it came alongside a 2020 target. Refreshingly all of the three major parties now have plans to help deploy Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband services around the UK.