Vrienden van Amstel becomes Netherlands’ biggest live stream

De Vrienden van Amstel (The Friends of Amstel), the long-running Dutch concert series, reached an estimated 1.7 million viewers from 120 countries for its first online-only edition, held on 16 January 2021.

Nicknamed ‘the largest pub in the Netherlands’, De Vrienden van Amstel is one of the country’s biggest concert events, usually attracting around 150,000 people to the Ahoy Rotterdam arena every year. The 2021 event – the first all-digital show in the series’ its 23-year history – became the biggest livestreamed show in Dutch history, with 750,000 people simultaneously streaming Armin van Buuren’s headline set, according to organisers.

The average simultaneous viewers throughout the entire show was 650,000, with fans watching over 1.3m hours of footage, reveals livestreaming partner Red Bee Media, who delivered the stream via www.vriendenstream.nl on behalf on Amstel, event agency Tribe Company and media production firm FabriQ Media Group.

“We are looking forward to delivering many events like this throughout 2021”

“When the largest pub in the Netherlands opens digitally for the first time, offering live entertainment from the biggest artists in country, you know that you can expect a lot of traffic on your platform”, says Tim Verhulsdonck, founder and managing partner of FabriQ Media Group. “With 650,000 tickets sold upfront, there is absolutely no room for mistakes, and after collaborating with Red Bee on SemiFest Live, we knew they were the right partner to deliver a flawless live stream to homes across the Netherlands and the world.

“Throughout the whole event they maintained a steady hand, delivering high-quality streams with no hiccups or interruptions.”

“I’m very happy that we were given the opportunity to showcase the full capacity of our OTT services through such a large-scale event as Vrienden van Amstel,” adds Steve Nylund, CEO of Red Bee Media. “The result truly shows the strength of our platform and our people, and we are looking forward to delivering many events like this throughout 2021 and beyond.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.