Updated: AOL drew roughly 5 million unique visitors during 12 hours of Live 8 live July 2, with peak simultaneous viewing of 175,000—and, according to the BBC, peak delivery of 50 gigabits a second. Numbers we’re still waiting for: the number of plays Saturday (ie how many times were live concerts actually viewed) and the initial post-concert on-demand use. An AOL spokeswoman told me the usual rule of thumb for video on demand is 10X live usage, which should bode well for AOL during its six-week on-demand window.
By comparison, ABC drew 2.9 million viewers and a 1.1 rating/5 share for its two-hour primetime highlights show. No ratings from MTV until later this week but, as we noted earlier, the brand clearly took a hit from many viewers for its VJ commentary, heavy use of commercials and and cutaways from performances of The Who and Pink Floyd in progress.
Some other numbers:
-- more than 26 million mobile text messages were sent in support of the campaign, according to Live 8 organizers.
-- The instant download of Sir Paul McCartney and U2 performing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is number one on numerous iTunes charts around the across Europe, according to AP. The first sale was made 45 minutes after the performance. Universal Music International’s share goes to Live 8.
-- Nearly 6,000 Flickr photos
-- rougly 40,000 posts at Technorati (about one-fourth actually used the tag).
Meanwhile, despite the free, legal viewing available at AOL for the next six weeks, BitTorrent files are flying around and, Reuters reports , illegal DVDs are for sale. EMI holds the DVD rights.

More to come.