Video Makes Up 58% Of Total Internet Traffic, With Most Of Us On Netflix, YouTube & Instagram
Netflix has been around long enough that it¡¯s a fairly commonplace service in most places. And all the people using the streaming service really add up. According to a recent report, Netflix is responsible for the most downlink traffic in the world.
Where the early Internet was predominantly text and image based, video consumption is shooting through the rooftops, as access to Internet gets cheaper and OTT services starts vying for our attention.
But ever wondered what everyone does on the Internet? How much of it is Google traffic or Facebook traffic? What's the top destination for most Internet traffic in the world? The answer may truly surprise you.
According to a recent report, Netflix is responsible for the highest downlink traffic in the world across the Internet. At least that's what network equipment maker, Sandvine, has claimed in a detailed report.
It says Netflix is the biggest contributor to download traffic across the world. It¡¯s responsible for almost 15 percent of downlink traffic on the Internet. It also has 26.58 percent of the global market share across video streaming services.
This is part of the 58 percent of downstream traffic on the Internet, that comes from video streaming. Web browsing is the second highest contributor, with 17.01 percent of downstream traffic coming from it, gaming third with 7.78 percent, and social media fourth with 5.1 percent.
Across all sections though, Netflix reigns supreme with a controlling share of 14.97 percent of downlink traffic. YouTube comes in third, behind HTTP media streams, at 11.35 percent. Amazon Prime meanwhile is far below in seventh place with 3.69 percent of traffic.
In just video traffic, Netflix is obviously in the lead as far as downstream traffic is concerned, with YouTube in third. Here Amazon prime comes in fifth, and Twitch in sixth place. However, though other streaming services like Hulu and HBO Go appear on the list, they¡¯re well below Openload, which is a video streaming platform used largely by porn websites, among others.
Even gaming gets a mention, with League of Legends ahead of the category pack in downlinks. Fortnite comes in second, with Overwatch a very close third. Minecraft and PlayerUnknown¡¯s Battlegrounds round out the top five.
Importantly though, as far as upstream traffic is concerned, BitTorrent holds the lead with a 22 percent global market share. According to the report, most of this is due to content like Game of Thrones, Narcos, Jack Ryan, and The Handmaid¡¯s Tale, all of which are movies or TV shows linked to a specific streaming service. Despite the ubiquitousness of streaming apps and websites, people don¡¯t like having their options limited by exclusive releases, and are still more than ready to resort to piracy to get their hands on them.
Some of these numbers might be a little off, as the company confesses it doesn¡¯t have data from China and India, two countries with the biggest consumer populace in the world. Netflix for one might see its numbers suffer otherwise. The service still isn¡¯t as widely used here as in the US and EMEA region for instance, and it¡¯s not even available in China.
