Online video streaming services are gaining consumers' interest while peer-to-peer filesharing is losing ground, according to a latest research by Sandvine. Netflix and YouTube account for more than half of America's broadband traffic
Developing technology in broadband is fulfilling customers' needs for faster internet service. Gone are the days when we used peer-to-peer filesharing to download movies. In fact, the new trend is, with the fast internet speeds, consumers prefer watching movies and videos online through on-demand streaming services. With the need for online streaming, it is evident that such services are gaining more importance.
A latest research from a broadband service company, Sandvine, backs the stated fact. On-demand streaming services like Netflix and YouTube have gained so much importance that they account for more than half of America's broadband traffic. Evidently, the peer-to-peer filesharing sites, like BitTorrent and Limewire, are constantly losing ground.
"For the first time ever, peer-to-peer filesharing has fallen below 10% of total traffic in North America, which is a stark difference from the 60% share it consumed 11 years ago," Dave Caputo, CEO, Sandvine, said in a press release. "Since 2009 on-demand entertainment has consumed more bandwidth than "experience later" applications like peer-to-peer filesharing and we had projected it would inevitably dip below 10% of total traffic by 2015. It's happened much faster. This phenomena, combined with the related rise in video applications like Netflix and YouTube, underscores a big reason why Sandvine's business has grown beyond traffic management to new service creation."
According to the report, Netflix accounts for 31.6 percent of North America's downstream traffic on fixed networks, used in offices and homes, and YouTube accounts for 18.6%. Together, these two services dominate with more than 50 percent of broadband traffic through fixed lines.
Netflix is growing enormously in the European markets. The service now accounts for more than 20 percent of downstream traffic in the British Isles, since its launch two years ago. In comparison, Netflix took nearly four years to achieve a similar dominance in the United States as it has in the British Isles.
