Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Broadband ISP BT has informed ISPreview that last Friday’s (19th June) FIFA World Cup 2026 match between Scotland v Morocco, which kicked off at 11pm BST (UK time), sent streaming demand across their network soaring, with a 544% increase in peak traffic through ITVX compared with an average evening.
The catch is that most people will have been home and watching this offline via a regular TV. So while the event may have been big on ITVX, it didn’t appear to move the overall level of general UK internet traffic by a significant margin. But it still had an impact, particularly given that this time of night is usually fairly quiet.
Nevertheless, across the full 11pm – 1am match window, BT also saw peak ITVX traffic rise by 219% compared with the busiest five-minute period during an average week, showing how Scotland’s World Cup moments are increasingly driving major streaming spikes alongside traditional TV viewing.
In Scotland, Glasgow led the way as the city most engaged with the game, generating more than three times the ITVX traffic of Edinburgh, the next highest city. Dundee followed in third, ahead of Perth, Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Stirling and Inverness.