Netflix Continues to Rule the Internet by Accounting for More Than 31% of Internet Traffic
Netflix is a service that most people already know about. It started off by delivering movies right to your mailbox. Soon after, it moved to allowing you to stream movies right to your house. To say that its streaming service is popular is a huge understatement. In fact, Netflix alone accounts for more than 31.62 percent of all Internet traffic. This was followed by YouTube, which accounts for 18.69 percent. Together, these two companies account for just over half of all Internet traffic.
This information was brought to light by the Global Internet Phenomena Report. This is a report that is published twice every year. It gives people some insight into what sites bring in the biggest crowds.
It is easy to say that Netflix brings in the most Internet traffic because it is allowing people to stream movies, which uses a lot of bandwidth. However, comparing Netflix’s Internet traffic to that of Amazon Instant Video or even Hulu, it is not even close. Amazon Instant Video accounts for 1.61 percent of Internet traffic and Hulu accounts for just 1.29 percent. While these are still big numbers considering the scale of the Internet, it comes nowhere close to the dominating 31.62 percent that Netflix takes.
The next step for Netflix is to bring in more customers and keep its current users happy. One of the biggest problems people have with Netflix is the fact that it takes them a long time to get new movies and TV shows sometimes. To fix this, Netflix has been working on providing its own original series. Shows such as “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black” have proven to be successful. This is something that Netflix is going to have to do more of if it plans to stay the No. 1 streaming company.
It is hard to judge just how successful these Netflix originals have been. For example, this report showed that the launch of these Netflix originals did not move the traffic needle for Netflix. That being said, it takes a lot to increase Netflix’s already impressive flow of Internet traffic. The report also pointed out that these new series are not really looking to increase traffic because they are designed to keep current subscribers happy.
It is also interesting to point out that file sharing now accounts for less than 10 percent of global Internet traffic. This is interesting since it accounted for more than 60 percent just 10 years ago. The crackdown on sharing music and movies has been extremely effective. Expect to see this number drop even more moving forward.