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Legal content is winning over piracy, at least according to Sandvine's latest Global Internet Phenomena report.
While Netflix continues to dominate both peak upstream and downstream traffic, the fastest growing bandwidth consumer was actually Amazon Video, one of Netflix's biggest rivals.
Moreover, BitTorrent usage continues to decline as a percentage of total web traffic, with legal sources such as Netflix, YouTube and even iTunes all having greater downstream peak traffic than the download method synonymous with piracy.
Netflix's share of total peak traffic actually declined compared to the same report from 2015, down to 32.72% from 33.81%. This may be due to rivals increasing their market share, or may be due to the new bandwidth saving technologies now employed by Netflix.
Amazon Video's share of total traffic rose from 1.82% in 2015 to 3.96% in 2016, a significant rise for a service that's now available as a standalone product for the first time - it is now the third most popular video platform, behind Netflix and YouTube.
The report noted that as Hulu and HBO have more seasonal content (based on when new seasons of hit shows start and finish), the reported data for these services are subject to these seasonal changes.
Also new to the top 10 in the latest report is 'Xbox One Game Downloads', now the 9th most popular traffic source in peak times, rising above Facebook.
While Netflix continues to dominate both peak upstream and downstream traffic, the fastest growing bandwidth consumer was actually Amazon Video, one of Netflix's biggest rivals.
Moreover, BitTorrent usage continues to decline as a percentage of total web traffic, with legal sources such as Netflix, YouTube and even iTunes all having greater downstream peak traffic than the download method synonymous with piracy.
Netflix's share of total peak traffic actually declined compared to the same report from 2015, down to 32.72% from 33.81%. This may be due to rivals increasing their market share, or may be due to the new bandwidth saving technologies now employed by Netflix.
Amazon Video's share of total traffic rose from 1.82% in 2015 to 3.96% in 2016, a significant rise for a service that's now available as a standalone product for the first time - it is now the third most popular video platform, behind Netflix and YouTube.
The report noted that as Hulu and HBO have more seasonal content (based on when new seasons of hit shows start and finish), the reported data for these services are subject to these seasonal changes.
Also new to the top 10 in the latest report is 'Xbox One Game Downloads', now the 9th most popular traffic source in peak times, rising above Facebook.