Netflix and YouTube together make up more than half of peak Internet traffic in North America while their main rivals barely register, and video file-sharing is a sliver of what it once was, a new report says. November 11, 2013 6:31 AM PST (Credit: Netflix) Netflix is still the Goliath, and YouTube is only getting bigger. Streaming video and audio continue to throw up the largest traffic of any category on virtually every network reviewed by Sandvine, which runs fixed and mobile data networks worldwide and reports on what is taking place on them. In North America, Netflix and YouTube are the main culprits, according to its twice yearly Global Internet Phenomena Report. Combined, they account for more than half of the downstream traffic during peak period. By comparison, Amazon and Hulu garnered just 1.61 and 1.29 percent, respectively. The rankings come the same week that Amazon is set to premiere its first original television series, "Alpha House," as its answer the Netflix push for homemade programming like "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development." Netflix has been devoting a sizable chunk of its content budget to its own shows to rely less on licensing other companies' content and something akin to the Internet's HBO. The company has even shifted to referring to itself as the "world's leading Internet television network" rather than the leading Internet video subscription. (Credit: Sandvine) However, in an email to CNET, Sandvine noted that Netflix's originals didn't appear to move the needle on traffic when new series are released. In fact, Netflix traffic overall dipped very slightly in the latest six month period. Netflix's traffic needle is a pretty big one to move though, and the effect of originals is more likely to manifest in subscription tallies than in traffic changes, it noted. Related stories Internet Explorer transforms into anime heroine The 404 1,380: Where all your late fees are waived (podcast) Netflix cloaks itself in Marvel superheroes Connect with an expert on Google Helpouts Netflix picks film-fest darling as first original doc Netflix has kept mum about how much its original programming pulls in subscribers and keeps them signed up, but a Nielsen study suggested that original programming has quickly become a key factor in what its customers are coming to watch. Streaming video and audio's dominance of worldwide traffic should "lead to the emergence of longer form video on mobile networks globally into 2014," Sandvine said in its report. Now, average monthly mobile usage in Asia-Pacific accounts for more than 50 pecent of peak downstream traffic and exceeds 1 gigabyte, more than double the 443 megabyte average in North America, Sandvine said. It added that video accounts for less than 6 percent of traffic in mobile networks in Africa, but it expect it to grow faster there than any other region before it. Meanwhile, filesharing continued to emaciate on many fixed-access networks as streaming video and audio options like Netflix, YouTube and others proliferate. Filesharing accounts for less than 10 percent of total daily traffic in North America, down from the more than 60 percent it netted in Sandvine's first Global Internet Phenomena Report release more than ten years ago. Five years ago it accounted for more than 31 percent.
Netflix and YouTube together make up more than half of peak Internet traffic in North America while their main rivals barely register, and video file-sharing is a sliver of what it once was, a new report says.
Netflix is still the Goliath, and YouTube is only getting bigger.
Streaming video and audio continue to throw up the largest traffic of any category on virtually every network reviewed by Sandvine, which runs fixed and mobile data networks worldwide and reports on what is taking place on them.
In North America, Netflix and YouTube are the main culprits, according to its twice yearly Global Internet Phenomena Report. Combined, they account for more than half of the downstream traffic during peak period.
By comparison, Amazon and Hulu garnered just 1.61 and 1.29 percent, respectively.
The rankings come the same week that Amazon is set to premiere its first original television series, "Alpha House," as its answer the Netflix push for homemade programming like "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development." Netflix has been devoting a sizable chunk of its content budget to its own shows to rely less on licensing other companies' content and something akin to the Internet's HBO. The company has even shifted to referring to itself as the "world's leading Internet television network" rather than the leading Internet video subscription.
However, in an email to CNET, Sandvine noted that Netflix's originals didn't appear to move the needle on traffic when new series are released. In fact, Netflix traffic overall dipped very slightly in the latest six month period.
Netflix's traffic needle is a pretty big one to move though, and the effect of originals is more likely to manifest in subscription tallies than in traffic changes, it noted.
Related stories
- Internet Explorer transforms into anime heroine
- The 404 1,380: Where all your late fees are waived (podcast)
- Netflix cloaks itself in Marvel superheroes
- Connect with an expert on Google Helpouts
- Netflix picks film-fest darling as first original doc
Netflix has kept mum about how much its original programming pulls in subscribers and keeps them signed up, but a Nielsen study suggested that original programming has quickly become a key factor in what its customers are coming to watch.
Streaming video and audio's dominance of worldwide traffic should "lead to the emergence of longer form video on mobile networks globally into 2014," Sandvine said in its report.
Now, average monthly mobile usage in Asia-Pacific accounts for more than 50 pecent of peak downstream traffic and exceeds 1 gigabyte, more than double the 443 megabyte average in North America, Sandvine said. It added that video accounts for less than 6 percent of traffic in mobile networks in Africa, but it expect it to grow faster there than any other region before it.
Meanwhile, filesharing continued to emaciate on many fixed-access networks as streaming video and audio options like Netflix, YouTube and others proliferate. Filesharing accounts for less than 10 percent of total daily traffic in North America, down from the more than 60 percent it netted in Sandvine's first Global Internet Phenomena Report release more than ten years ago.
Five years ago it accounted for more than 31 percent.
