The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for business ISP Timico UK, Trefor Davies (blog), has been monitoring broadband internet traffic on their platform to identify which of the initial daytime Fifa World Cup 2010 football matches have been popular with office workers. Wednesday's recent Spain v Switzerland game came top.


The following list has been produced by matching video streaming activity on Timico's network against the time that particular daytime games actually occurred. It does not include evening matches, which are usually watched on regular television.

Top 10 Office Video Streaming Fifa WorldCup Matches
1. Wednesday 16th Spain v Switzerland
2. Friday 11th South Africa v Mexico
3. Tuesday 15th New Zealand v Slovakia
4. Tuesday 15th Ivory coast v Portugal
5. Monday 14th Netherlands v Denmark
6. Monday 14th Japan v Cameroon
7. Friday 11th Opening Ceremony
8. Wednesday 16th Honduras v Chile
9. England pre-tournament friendly
10. Thursday 17th Greece v Nigeria (tied) Argentina v South Korea

We note that no.9 is also technically tied with both of the games in 10th position. All this week ISPreview.co.uk has been asking ISPs to keep us apprised of the impact that WorldCup traffic has had on their network (here).

So far most of the early pre-tournament predictions, which estimated that daytime (office hours) UK video streaming/internet traffic could rise to around 30% above normal, have held true. Today's significant England v Algeria game will take place during evening hours and as a result it should not produce a significant peak above what we have already seen.