According to figures released by Variety, the U2 concert streamed live on Youtube on Sunday night was seen by 10 million viewers.

That makes it the biggest live streaming event YouTube has ever streamed. And the whole thing appeared to run so smoothly as well. The two and a half hour concert went by without any interruptions.

Though YouTube hasn’t officially commented on it, it’s widely believed that Akamai, and not Google, were the ones actually handling the streaming capabilities. They’re the group that also handled it for YouTube Live, this past summer. That event saw some 700,000 concurrent views during its peak, it goes without saying though that this event had many more.

Of course, even 10 million is nothing compared to some of the most popular television shows, but we’re starting to see audience of comprable sizes (though on a worldwide level whereas TV ratings are generally cited for the U.S.).

The recorded version of the full 2 and a half hour concert is now officially being served up by YouTube and it already has over a million views in 3 days.

The legendary rock group set yet another career record Sunday night as the first band to broadcast a concert live on the popular video sharing Web site YouTube. The band performed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. in front of a crowd of 100,000 while simultaneously, Internet users from 16 countries around the world were able to tune in to the concert from the comfort of their own homes.

After the California concert, the group is continuing their tour in Europe, including their first-ever shows in Russia and Turkey.

You would think that as the group are of a certain age, they wouldnt want to be doing so many exciting things.

Related posts:

1. Internet TV Viewing Figures Rise Again in September
2. Online TV And Video Viewing Figures Rocket
3. Nielsen To Start Incorporating Internet TV Viewing Figures
4. Youtube finally goes widescreen
5. December sees a massive surge in online TV viewing