Advanced Television

Netflix still dominates Internet traffic

November 20, 2014

Findings from intelligent broadband network solutions specialist Sandvine’s latest latest bi-annual Internet traffic trends report – Global Internet Phenomena Report 2H 2014 – suggest that Netflix continues to dominate North American networks, with Amazon Instant Video establishing itself as the second largest paid streaming service.

“With both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video gaining bandwidth share in North America during 2014, it will be fascinating to see how a stand-alone HBOGO streaming option will impact networks when it launches in 2015,” said Dave Caputo, President and CEO, Sandvine. “The dynamic streaming video market underscores how important it is that operators around the globe have the business intelligence and big data solutions in place to understand the ever-changing behaviour of their subscribers.”

Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report 2H 2014 contains findings from fixed and mobile networks around the world, including:

Video Streaming Services

  • Netflix continues to dominate North American networks, accounting for 34.9 per cent of downstream traffic in the peak evening hours

  • Amazon Instant Video has established itself as the second largest paid streaming video service in North America. While still only accounting for 2.6 per cent of downstream traffic, its share has more than doubled in the past 18 months

  • In advance of plans to start offering a stand-alone streaming subscriptions in the US, HBOGO accounts for just 1 per cent of downstream traffic in the region

  • On a fixed network in Australasia, where Netflix isn’t even available yet, approximately 2.5 per cent of subscribers are accessing the service and it comprises as much as 4 per cent of peak downstream traffic

Other Applications

  • Facebook’s introduction of video autoplay saw average subscriber usage increase by as much as 60 per cent on mobile networks and over 200 per cent on fixed networks in the past year

  • As a percentage of traffic, Filesharing traffic continues to decline globally in almost all regions except Asia-Pacific, where it still accounts for more than 33 per cent of total traffic

  • In Latin America, contrary to Sandvine’s own predictions, World Cup streaming on some mobile networks accounted for just 10 per cent of traffic. Apparently, consumers still prefer to view major sporting events on television, with mobile devices as a backup

  • Apple’s iOS 8 launch in September saw the software update account for over 12 per cent of peak traffic on one Middle Eastern fixed access network

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