Hull swaps surfing for sweating as it turns to the television for England triumph

Hull and East Yorkshire came to a standstill as it tuned in to watch England triumph in a nail-biting World Cup victory over Colombia.

Evidence that England fans had suspended their usual Tuesday night activities of streaming Netflix, Xbox gaming and surfing the internet came as figures showed the region’s internet usage was down by a third.

Data usage figures collected by KCOM showed the region was streaming the equivalent of 20,000 fewer YouTube videos than it would on a normal Tuesday night.

As people across Hull and East Yorkshire were glued to Harry Kane’s heroics, Netflix usage was down by 35 per cent, Google and YouTube were down by 15 per cent and Xbox online gaming traffic was down by 35 per cent.

And with a quarter final tie against Sweden to come on Saturday, KCOM is expecting the same again as the nation turns its hopeful gaze eastward to Russia.

Nationally, 24m people tuned in to watch Gareth Southgate’s team triumph in the tense penalty shootout against opponents Colombia.

England, who conceded an injury time equaliser to the South Americans, eventually banished decades of World Cup penalty misery as Jordan Pickford made a string of match winning saves and Eric Dier coolly slotted home the winner.

And although most people are still watching the World Cup on traditional terrestrial TV channels new technology is becoming more influential in our viewing habits.

Last night saw a record number of streams of a live event with 3.3m simulcast requests on the ITV Hub. England’s opener with Tunisia was previously the most popular online match with 3.22m viewers.

For the first time at a major sporting event the BBC is also trialing streaming its content online both in 4k HD and using virtual reality – where the audience can watch the match as if they’re sitting pitch-side