Microsoft Corp. says it set a record for streaming an online event to the most customers after offering the Live Earth concerts on MSN over the weekend.

About 8 million people watched at least parts of the concerts live over the 36 hours that the shows took place in ten locations around the world. At the peak, 237,000 people watched simultaneously, Microsoft said.

That's more than what Microsoft thinks is the previous most-watched online broadcast, the Live 8 concerts in 2005. According to AOL LLC, which streamed those ten concerts, 5 million people around the world watched live.