Netflix Retains Broadband Crown

When it comes to online video in North America, it’s Netflix’s world, and you’re all just streaming in it.

That’s according to the latest data from bandwidthmanagement firm Sandvine, which found that Netflix traffic gobbles up 32.39% of aggregate traffic (downstream and upstream) on North American fixed broadband networks during peak periods.

Although Netflix continues to dominate, particularly in the downstream direction, one over-the-top player that’s starting to rise in the ranks is Amazon Video. It represented 2.58% of downstream traffic, more than doubling its share in the past 18 months and establishing itself as the second-leading paid over-the-top video service in the region, according to Sandvine.

Another service worth keeping tabs on is HBO. The programmer’s authenticated TV Everywhere service, HBO GO, accounted for just 1% of downstream traffic in North America.

That figure for HBO GO, Sandvine noted, will serve as a benchmark of sorts heading into 2015 as HBO prepares to launch a standalone streaming service.

While Netflix rules North American wireline traffic, the picture is a bit different on the mobile side of the spectrum. YouTube traffic chews up about 19.75% of downstream traffic on mobile access networks, followed closely by Facebook’s 19.05%.

Sandvine’s latest study — Global Internet Phenomena Report 2H 2014 — based its findings on anonymous data tabulated from the company’s 250-plus customers around the world over the course of a month.