WATERLOO – While Netflix continues to slowly increase its domination of North American fixed networks, Facebook and Google now control over 60% of total mobile traffic in Latin America, according to data from Sandvine.
In its latest Global Internet Phenomena Report: Latin America & North America report, Sandvine found that Netflix now accounts for 38.5% of downstream traffic in the peak evening hours, and predicted that its recent decision to encrypt their service will result in the majority of Internet traffic in Latin America and North America being encrypted in 2016.
Other highlights from the report include:
– BitTorrent continues to see a decline in fixed access bandwidth share, and now accounts for only 6.3% of total traffic in North America, and 8.5% in Latin America;
– During the season five premiere of Game of Thrones, HBO's two streaming properties (HBOGO and HBONOW) accounted for 4.1% of traffic on one U.S. fixed network: an increase of over 300% of their average levels; and
– The release of ‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Ascendance DLC’ caused a significant spike in bandwidth usage on its release date, and accounted for 12% of traffic on one North American fixed network.
"Network traffic in the Americas seems to be getting increasingly concentrated," said Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo, in the report’s news release. "Netflix continues to rise as a percent of North American fixed network traffic. In Latin America, when you add up the properties of Facebook and Google, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google Play, etc., these two Internet giants control over 60% of mobile network traffic. Corporate decisions by these major players, like Netflix's recent decision to encrypt their streams or Facebook's decision to auto-play videos uploaded to its site, can instantly and dramatically impact subscribers and all Internet access networks."
The report is based on data from a selection of Sandvine's 250-plus communications service provider customers spanning North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Caribbean and Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Data is gathered over a one-month period and is completely subscriber-anonymous.
