Paramount+ wins 'latency bowl' for short lag time behind Super Bowl

Paramount+ had a relatively "super" Sunday compared to other video providers that streamed Super Bowl LVIII.

Daniel Frankel of Next TV reported that the digital platform for CBS, Nickelodeon and many other channels in the media empire had the shortest lag time among measured streaming providers. In a real-time study by research company Phenix, the Paramount+ stream was 42.73 seconds behind the action on the field. The CBS service was close to 13 seconds better than YouTube TV's CBS stream, and almost 20 better than NFL+, the league's own streaming platform.

Fubo, a sports-based multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), was the worst of the seven measured at 86.75 seconds - nearly a minute and a half.

Of course, Paramount+ being nearly 43 seconds behind the real thing is far from ideal in this day and age. One household could celebrate or bemoan a play as it happens while neighbors may feel like someone spoiled the moment by the sound of those who saw the play first. As streaming video providers came onto the scene in the 2010s, this became a common refrain from those early cord-cutters who dealt with lengthier delays on live events. 

According to Phenix's CEO Roy Reichbach, broadcasters continue to come up short in meeting the moment:

"For today’s consumers, live sporting events are riddled with spoilers, especially as we continue to see this new ‘scroll and watch’ habit, getting notifications straight to our phones via apps and social media," Reichbach added. "For one of the most highly anticipated sporting and cultural moments, and in a world where artificial intelligence is taking reign, there should be no excuse as to why broadcasters aren’t able to stream the game as it is happening on the field in real-time. A solution exists, and the people want it.”

Every broadcast contends with latency issues in one way or another because of the services that deliver the streams. Sports tend to provide the biggest tests for every company involved because of their large audiences and the necessity to watch games as they happen. Paramount - as well as rival/partner Warner Bros. Discovery - will get another chance at shrinking its latency window when the NCAA men's basketball tournament kicks off in March. Peacock, which is owned by Comcast, will have a massive test in April with WWE's two-night WrestleMania XL (40) and a gargantuan task to keep up with the upcoming Summer Olympics.

Even more, live TV providers such as Fubo, DirecTV Stream and others have to view the Super Bowl as an own fumble of sorts compared to Paramount+. Although most people may not be interested in adding more subscription services, these lags may compel sports fans to consider directly paying for network apps if they want to get as close to the moment as they were accustomed to before the streaming age arrived.