WATERLOO – YouTube is the world’s largest source of mobile video traffic, according to the latest global Internet traffic report by Sandvine.
The Global Internet Phenomena Report: 1H 2012 is based on data from a selection of Sandvine's 200-plus customers across North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Caribbean and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
According to the report, with the sole exception of North America’s fixed access networks – where Netflix is dominant – YouTube is the largest single source of real-time entertainment traffic, accounting for more Internet traffic than any other service due to an appeal that crosses regions, access technologies and devices.
Other major findings from the report include:
– YouTube accounts for as much as 25% of network data and no less than 12% in every region examined;
– In North America, video and audio streaming make up more than half of mobile data traffic, led by YouTube, Pandora and Netflix;
– Instant messaging applications like WhatsApp continue to enjoy widespread adoption while eating into SMS revenue. For example, on an Asian mobile network serving one million subscribers, an average of 7.6 million WhatsApp messages were sent per day;
– Mobile device usage on fixed networks: home roaming accounts for 9% of total fixed traffic on North America's household networks;
– Audio and video streaming will exceed 60% of North America's mobile data by late 2014; and
– Click-to-cloud smart phone photo back-up and synchronization will emerge as a significant source of traffic worldwide.
