Netflix and YouTube account for over half of America’s Internet usage
Netflix and YouTube between them account for more than half of American traffic on the Internet, according to data from broadband company Sandvine, totalling 50.31 percent of peaktime downstream usage.
The numbers need to be viewed with a certain amount of caution, measuring data transmission rather than number of people watching. For example, Netflix sits well above YouTube not because it attracts more eyes, but because people watch longer, higher-quality videos on Netflix.
By this measure, companies would also be penalised for more efficient data-transmission protocols – squeezing more video into the same amount of data, so it’s possible that Amazon Video and Hulu are a little more than the also-rans they appear here – but with those kinds of numbers, the overall picture is clear.
YouTube’s share may further increase this month when offline viewing is introduced.
