Advanced Television

Study: Canadians love Netflix

September 19, 2014

Findings from Sandvine, a provider of intelligent broadband and network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, reveal that Netflix is the leading application in Canada, and on select networks, can account for between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of downstream traffic in the peak evening hours.

The data was collected as part of Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Program which, together with Sandvine’s Internet Phenomena Blog, reveals the latest facts, fads, and future trends about consumer Internet usage from networks around the globe.

Some of the unique traits found on Canadian networks include:

Fixed Networks

  • Netflix is the leading application in Canada, and on select networks, can account for between 30 per cent-40 per cent of downstream traffic in the peak evening hours. Three years ago, Netflix accounted for just 13.5 per cent of evening traffic in Canada

  • No other paid over-the-top (OTT) video service accounts for more than 1 per cent of traffic in the evening, making Canada a prime candidate for the introduction of new streaming options. For comparison, in the United States, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, and HBOGO account for almost 7 per cent of peak downstream traffic

  • P2P Filesharing still represents over 15 per cent of total fixed network traffic on many networks, while in the US it is below 10 per cent

  • No surprise: Canadians love to livestream hockey, with data from a Canadian operator showing some Olympic men’s hockey games accounted for over 35 per cent of traffic

Mobile Networks

  • Canadians are social butterflies with over 25 per cent of downstream traffic being generated by social networking apps. The three largest consumers of data being Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

  • YouTube is the single largest source of mobile traffic, accounting for over 20 per cent of downstream traffic

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