Netflix and YouTube make up majority of US internet traffic, new report shows

Netflix and YouTube now account for more than half of downstream internet traffic in North America, according to a report released on Monday. 

This online dominance marks the first time the two video streaming sites surpassed the 50% mark and shows a significant decline in the use of peer-to-peer services. 

Meanwhile, BitTorrent, the protocol used for peer-to-peer file sharing, is now responsible for 7.4% of daily internet traffic in North America – a 31% drop from five years ago – according to the traffic report by broadband service company Sandvine.

Netflix accounted for 31.6% of downstream traffic on fixed networks in September during "primetime" internet hours – 9pm to 12am. This is a slight drop from May 2013, when Netflix posted a 32.25% share in downstream traffic. 

Sandvine said the decline "should not be interpreted as a decline in the dominance of the service at the expense of their competitors". The company said it expects Netflix to surpass its best numbers in the near future. 

YouTube posted a slight increase from 17.11% to 18.69% in the six month period. With Netflix, the sites' held 49.4% of North America downstream traffic in March. 

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Amazon video and Hulu barely made it into the top ten, with each holding 1.6% and 1.3% of downstream traffic, respectively. 

BitTorrent still dominates upstream traffic with 36.35%, but downstream traffic represents a greater percentage of internet traffic because it is sent to the average home or office user, while upstream traffic is sent from a computer or network away from the user. 

The information was presented in Sandvine's biannual Global Internet Phenomena Report which is based on data it collects from its 250 network customers across the globe. 

It also showed that YouTube is dominant in South America, accounting for 36.82% of traffic. Netflix failed to achieve comparable success in the region, accounting for only 2.17% of downstream traffic. 

Netflix is growing in popularity in Europe, where it is responsible for more than 20% of traffic, less than two years after launching in the continent. Netflix launched in the UK and Ireland in January of 2012 and most recently in the Netherlands in September.