It’s been a little more than 5 weeks since we launched the Theta testnet, and we’re excited to share our early results!

On June 27th we released three major components of the Theta testnet: a test channel on SLIVER.tv fully-powered by the Theta mesh streaming protocol, the Theta blockchain source code on GitHub, and the Theta blockchain explorer.

The Theta test channel on SLIVER.tv allows users to share their bandwidth as soon as they load the webpage. By using WebRTC (the open source protocol that also powers Google Hangouts), there is no client or extension download — a big advantage for user adoption/conversion! The channel UI allows you to view how much bandwidth you are sharing with peers, how much peers are sharing with you, and how much is being pulled from the centralized CDN. If you click the wallet link, you can see each microtransaction between users as it happens on the Theta blockchain testnet.

In just 5 weeks, more than 300K users have shared bandwidth on the Theta testnet. Bandwidth offload to the Theta Network has averaged around 45%, which is a great starting point. That figure can vary greatly depending on the circumstances like the number of concurrent users and ISP configurations; in highly connected major cities like San Francisco or Seoul, we have observed offload % as high as 90%. A major development focus from now until mainnet launch will be optimizing the mesh streaming protocol to maximize bandwidth offload under all circumstances.

We’re very proud to reveal that users from 149 different countries have shared bandwidth on the Theta testnet. Building a global network is key to establishing the critical mass of users that the Theta Network needs in each region to function effectively. The country distribution is large part reflects the esports focus of SLIVER.tv, but the network can add value virtually anywhere.

The average session time on the testnet channel has been 31 minutes, almost than 3x the rest of SLIVER.tv (11 minutes) and more than 5x Twitch (6 minutes)! This is a very promising statistic, as we’ve been told by SamsungVR and several other video platforms that user engagement and session time is a top priority for them. We think this number can be increased further on the mainnet when true token rewards can be earned.

It’s important that we encourage users to join the test channel so we can gather as much data as possible. As a way to incentivize users to join the testnet channel, we’ve giving out huge amounts of Theta Tokens, gift cards, Nano Ledgers, and Theta merch to users every day, and we’ve got more ideas in the works here too. Soon we’ll be adding new live content to the SLIVER.tv test channel (including just-added League of Legends content on SLIVER!), which will help drive more organic traffic and allow us to test more concurrent users. And later this month the testnet channel will feature a live AMA with the Theta team!

Testing and optimizing the Theta testnet is just getting started, and will continue throughout this year. Stay tuned for the latest news as we progress toward Theta mainnet launch!

More questions on the testnet? Check out the FAQs, or fill out our feedback form here if you’re having issues streaming.

The Theta Team