Mobile devices took a backseat to Windows PCs during Rio Olympics

Now that the torch has been extinguished on the 2016 Rio Olympics we’re starting to get a clearer picture of how streamers actually tuned in to watch the games — and it may surprise you.

For all we’ve heard about the mobile revolution, the results were surprisingly skewed toward desktop streaming.

Over 60 percent of those who streamed the games did so on a desktop device. Windows PCs led the pack here with nearly 50 percent of the streaming audience (47.44 percent) with Mac PCs trailing at just 14.10 percent.

Fair enough, but most probably aren’t streaming on a laptop anyway, right? I mean, you’d have to assume that a fair number of people tuned in using devices meant to watch TV on, like Apple TV, Roku or Amazon Fire TV. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong. Those three devices (combined) accounted for just over 17 percent of viewers.

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What’s interesting is that this flies in the face of convention. Mobile devices have slowly stolen marketshare from PCs for the better part of the last decade. The idea that there are still some facets of life not being swallowed by smaller, more portable devices shows we may still be a ways off from the predicted “death of the PC.”