On Sunday, January 7th, we received a large amount of traffic for the S4 premiere of All Creatures Great and Small starting around 8 PM ET. This resulted in performance issues across the PBS site and app.
Users encountered a range of technical errors that interfered with logging into accounts, activating the PBS app, and streaming videos. Users may also have reported that the site or app was failing to load and that videos seemed to "hang" or return them to their device's home screen. Other related error messages include 502 errors, "Processing" errors, or general messages that PBS encountered an issue.
Our engineers took steps to mitigate the traffic issues, and we saw performance improvements starting around 9:30 PM ET. At the time of this message, users should no longer have any issue accessing and using the PBS site or PBS app. Users do not need to take any additional action on their end and should be able to sign in and watch videos as usual.
We are taking steps to address any future occurrences.
Please contact the PBS Digital Support team at digitalsupport.pbs.org if you encounter any ongoing issues related to last night.
Posted Jan 08, 2024 - 10:12 EST
This incident affected: PBS Website, PBS Video Portal, PBS Mobile and OTT Apps, and PBS Account.