Netflix utilizes 15 percent of the internet bandwidth, up to 40 percent in the evening

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 10/05/2018 09:16 AM | source: golem | 29 comment(s)

Video streaming eats away a sizable chunk of internet bandwidth, and who don't use Netflix, YouTube and services like Prime these days? generates a high volume of data is not new. But Netflix is the single application with the highest download volume.

It's been measured now, Netflix uses 15 percent of the total Internet download volume, making it the leader in each application. This is reported by the industry magazine Variety. Netflix is followed by HTTP media streams, which account for 13.1 percent of total downstream traffic, YouTube at 11.4 percent, web usage at 7.8 percent, and MPEG at 4.4 percent.

Netflix accounts for 19.1 percent of total downstream traffic across the Americas, according to Sandvine. Here, Amazon Prime Video generates more data (7.7 percent) than Youtube (7.5 percent) and during the evening in prime time, Netflix usage can reach up to 40 percent of total downstream traffic in some fixed networks in America.

Worldwide, video playback accounts for 57.7 percent of total downstream traffic, followed by web use (17 percent), gaming (7.8 percent), and social media (5.1 percent). Other categories include iTunes and Google Play (4.6 percent), file sharing (2.8 percent) and audio streaming (1 percent).

Netflix represents 26.6 percent of all video traffic worldwide. Regionally, Netflix is growing 30.7 percent in America. In the EMEA region, which stands for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Youtube has the highest share of downstream video traffic (30.4 percent), followed by Netflix (23.1 percent). In the Asia-Pacific region, web-based video streaming leads the pack with 29.2 percent, followed by Facebook video with 17.7 percent.

The data used by Sandvine for the Global Internet Phenomena Report is reported by some 150 service providers worldwide representing 2.1 billion subscribers. For China or India, the report contains no significant data.

Read the full Sandvine report here.

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fantaskarsef
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#5592562 Posted on: 10/05/2018 09:44 AM

So in the evenings the other 60% of traffic are pretty much accountable to porn then?

sverek
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#5592573 Posted on: 10/05/2018 10:18 AM

Youtube preloads a small amount of data into buffer so it can play without delay. Smarter way to safe bandwidth.

Netflix users probably downloading movies on their devices as well as streaming.

nevcairiel
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#5592578 Posted on: 10/05/2018 10:53 AM

Youtube preloads a small amount of data into buffer so it can play without delay. Smarter way to safe bandwidth.

That doesn't really safe bandwidth, it just protects you from playback disruption. At the end of the clip you're watching, you will always have downloaded the whole thing, no matter what strategy one uses to go about that.

0blivious
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#5592579 Posted on: 10/05/2018 10:59 AM

It's because Comcast sucks.

Loobyluggs
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#5592588 Posted on: 10/05/2018 11:22 AM

I have to say thank you so much for this link to the report Hilbert.

I missed this report and it was just not on my radar at all, yet has a lot of the information I require right now!

Embra
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#5592632 Posted on: 10/05/2018 12:48 PM

Not surprising. They are hitting it out of the park with quality shows.

slyphnier
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#5592672 Posted on: 10/05/2018 02:38 PM

for japan, i think amazon prime is abit more popular than netflix or hulu
but again with the rise for internet TV, there are many alternative like abematv, rakutenTV etc.

then if we look on whole-internet-stream in japan, like mentioned in the report
personal live-streaming service also trending, probably more people watching livestream than on-demand service nowdays, i am not really sure....
with youtube(r) probably at the top, then there is various streaming sites, niconicolive, linelive, twitcast, onerec, showroom, there are still bunch of the rest
its really simple to live-streaming nowdays, all u need is mobile phone and internet connection and thats it

StewieTech
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#5592686 Posted on: 10/05/2018 03:09 PM

The other 60% is guru3d

and porn

schmidtbag
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#5592711 Posted on: 10/05/2018 04:28 PM

It's because Comcast sucks.

They most certainly do, but I still prefer them over Verizon.

buhehe
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#5592724 Posted on: 10/05/2018 05:02 PM

If you watch the whole video, then yes, no bandwidth is saved. But as of now, youtube only preloads a tiny amount of the upcoming datastream (not sure if it's % or time based, maybe a combination of both or, more likely, something smarter) instead of preloading content that you might not end up watching.

Youtube used to preload everything, which was nice if you wanted to skip through a video, but hugely wasteful since most videos are not watched in full anyway.

RzrTrek
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#5592728 Posted on: 10/05/2018 05:10 PM

chispy
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#5592729 Posted on: 10/05/2018 05:11 PM

That's a lot of bandwidth.

Corrupt^
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#5592805 Posted on: 10/05/2018 08:07 PM

I'm sure the numbers will drop now that the EU has forced Amazon Prime, HBO and Netflix by law to flood their services with European garbage.

https://www.techradar.com/news/netflix-and-amazon-are-now-legally-obligated-to-provide-more-european-content

Ugh...

Sometimes the EU does good stuff, sometimes just outright bad. This is bad. Want EU shows to be picked up? Make them suck less. There are good ones though, like "Dark" was surprisingly good.

tsunami231
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#5592809 Posted on: 10/05/2018 08:14 PM

im confused it this say netflix is using 15~40% the Internets bandwidth? or that 15-40% of internet usage is netflix?

wavetrex
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#5592886 Posted on: 10/05/2018 11:53 PM

I'm an European but I don't enjoy any of the EU produced stuff.
US shows all the way! *
* (With some tiny exceptions)

It's interesting though that Youtube, an american Google-owned service, is more popular in EU than it is in US.

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