Case Study: MTV Networks achieves $61M for Haiti through multi-million HD streams with Akamai Technologies

Combining television with a high-definition online event delivered over the Akamai network, MTV Networks helps raise over $61 million for Haiti earthquake victims

MTV Networks produced the Hope for Haiti Now benefit concert after the January 2010 earthquake and faced the challenge of launching a televised and webstreamed telethon in under a week. The company needed to reach a global audience, deliver television‑quality HD streaming across partner sites, and scale on demand to handle unpredictable traffic while maximizing donations.

MTV partnered with Akamai and iStreamPlanet to deliver multi‑bitrate HD streams via Akamai’s CDN and a Flash player with adaptive bitrate switching and DVR features, syndicating the feed across 40+ major sites. The solution launched within 24 hours, delivering more than 100,000 concurrent streams and 140 Gbps peak during the broadcast, over 5.8 million high‑quality streams over the weekend (many at Full HD), deep analytics on viewing and QoS, and helped the event raise over $61 million.

MTV Networks

Nick Rockwell

Executive Vice President and CTO of Digital Technology, MTV Networks