If you’re reading this story, we think it’s pretty safe to say that you spend a lot of time on the Internet. Whether it’s casually browsing your social network feeds, watching the latest Epic Rap Battles of History video or playing an online multiplay game, the Internet has become a major part of most people’s everyday lives. But what do people do with their time while they’re on the Internet? Sandvine has released a report that sheds some light on this question.
Sandvine, which is a provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, has released an Internet traffic trends report. The report has found peer-to-peer file sharing has dropped below 10% of the total traffic in North America, which is a pretty big drop when compared to its 60% share 11 years ago. This drop in file sharing is believed to be due to the rise of video applications such as Netflix and YouTube.
Speaking of Netflix and YouTube, both services combined account for over 50% of downstream Internet traffic on fixed networks. Netflix is currently holding the lead as it accounts for 31.6% of downstream traffic, while YouTube accounts for 18.6%. Those are some extremely impressive numbers when you think about for a second 50% of all downstream traffic is comprised of video data, which we’re sure you can blame if you ever experience lag at any point when you’re connected to the Internet.