Netflix Gobbles Up A Huge Amount Of The Internets Bandwidth

Netflix Gobbles Up A Huge Amount Of The Internets Bandwidth’

When you consider the internet as a whole, you might have often considered exactly how much of it is used for what. There is the obvious thought towards adult entertainment. We certainly hear fairly regularly just how much of that is out there on the web. In terms of actual bandwidth though, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Netflix accounts for a significantly large portion.

In a report via TheStar though, the actual amount might make you raise your eyebrows a little.

What Shall We Watch Tonight?

Research company Sandvine has conducted a traffic experiment to see what uses the most resources on the internet. In it, it was found that people watching Netflix accounts for around 15% of the total bandwidth traffic. That’s not, incidentally just in the UK, Europe or America, that’s across the world!

General streaming/video (be it Twitch or video adverts) took 2nd place with around 12% while YouTube came in 3rd with around an 11% bandwidth usage.

Surprising… Not Surprising…

While it is, of course, mildly interesting to see that just Netflix and YouTube take around a quarter of the entires internet bandwidth use, I must admit I was surprised to see Netflix higher than YouTube. That being said, Netflix is, without a doubt one of the worlds biggest TV/movie subscription-based services. In addition, while YouTube might see more overall traffic, Netflix generally streams at much higher resolutions. Particularly for those who have opted in for the 4K package.

Is it important? Not really. If nothing else though it’ll give you something insightful to mention to your friends the next time you try and find a movie to watch!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!