Royal wedding breaks Internet records

"I can tell you the World Cup (last June) was around 1.6 million concurrent views as well, but the royal wedding has edged that out just a little bit more," said Jeff Young, spokesman for Akamai, which provides streaming-media services for more than 300 news websites, including msnbc.com, as well as other companies.

The wedding, streamed by YouTube and other sites, also surpassed "other major video events, like Michael Jackson's funeral and the inauguration of President Obama," Young said.

It's yet another sign that the Internet has "become a broadcast medium," he said. Obama's inauguration in January 2009 and Michael Jackson's funeral in June 2009 were "both really large events, but as time goes on and technology improves, you’re finding more people consuming more video on more devices," such as smartphones and tablets, Young said.

"Over those two years, there’s been an influx of connected devices, tablets, mobile phones."

The Associated Press said another company, Livestream, which partnered with the AP, UK Press Association, CBS and Entertainment Tonight for its live stream, "said it surpassed its own record with, at one point, more than 300,000 concurrent live streams."

In terms of Internet traffic for news, the wedding ranked 6th, behind the U.S. mid-term elections last fall, based on page views, Young said. At one point during the wedding, Akamai reported a peak of 5 million-plus page views each minute.