When it comes to streaming the Super Bowl, Paramount Plus emerged as the big winner of the night when it comes to latency across streaming services.
Paramount Plus had the smallest gap between the action on-field and the delivery of each play to streaming TV sets across the country, according to a study performed by video content delivery service Phenix.
The study evaluated several streaming services offering the big game, which was carried on CBS, Nickelodeon and Univision this year. More than 170 data points were collected during the game, and the benchmarks were weighed against real-time reports from someone at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas during the Super Bowl, as well as broadcast, cable and satellite feeds of the game.
“By combining these measurements, Phenix is able to provide a more complete picture of the average latency and drift for each of the streaming services behind the action on the field,” a Phenix spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
According to Phenix, Paramount Plus had the lowest overall latency with just over 42 seconds between on-field action and delivery to smart TVs sets, while the CBS feed carried on YouTube TV had the second-lowest latency at just over 55 seconds.
Fubo had the worst latency in Phenix’s test with nearly a minute and a half of latency, with Disney’s Hulu with Live TV coming in as the second-worst by latency. Both streaming services were evaluated using local CBS station feeds carried on their platforms.
Latency information for broadcast, cable and satellite feeds were not made public by Phenix. Historically, broadcast television has the lowest latency between real-world action and the time events are displayed on a television set, with cable and satellite coming in a very close second to broadcast. All three platforms generally outperform streaming services.
Super Bowl LVIII (58) was carried on local CBS stations via Fubo, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and DirecTV Stream, with individual stations available on Paramount Plus with Showtime and NFL Plus. A Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl LVIII was also offered on Televisa-Univison’s streaming service, Vix.
A kid-friendly version of Super Bowl LVIII aired by Nickelodeon was also available through wallet-friendly streaming service Philo, though that platform was not evaluated by Phenix.
When it comes to drift across streaming services, Fubo drew some poor marks in Phenix’s test as well, with 128 seconds of difference across streams delivered to customers throughout the United States. Vix had the worst drift across services at 134 seconds across the country, while NFL Plus had the last amount of drift at 28 seconds.
The defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers with a score of 25-22.
