YouTube top source of mobile traffic: Sandvine

Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube makes up just over 35 per cent of worldwide mobile data traffic, making it the biggest download draw on phones by a wide-margin, according to Sandvine Corp.’s Mobile Phenomena Report released Monday. “YouTube is still the dominant video streaming application consumed on mobile,” the report said. “The sheer volume of YouTube consumed on the mobile internet even dwarfs the lead that Netflix has globally overall. There has been some shift in certain regions to Facebook Video, but YouTube is still #1.” Netflix Inc., which Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report said makes up 15 per cent of total volume of download traffic across the entire internet, ranks much lower in this report at 8th on the list, or 2.44 per cent. That said, it notes Netflix has grown “quite a bit” over the past few years on mobile and is “gaining more users on mobile networks that want to binge while on the move.” “In general, Netflix’s long-form video is not something people do on mobile, as they use their peak hour binging on large screens. However, fixed mobile substitution service plan offerings, as we are likely to see with early 5G deployments, will have far more Netflix usage. In regions where Netflix is highly ranked, the plans are more likely to be unlimited, and the primary connection for the user to the internet.” Facebook Inc. properties such as Instagram, Facebook and Messenger all landed on the top 10 list of download contributors. Facebook itself was second behind YouTube, at 8.37 per cent, followed by Snap Inc.’s Snapchat -- which was the top contributor to global upload volume at 10.44 per cent -- and then Instagram, before finally reaching general web browsing. In North America, Instagram came second to YouTube, but the biggest difference is that consumers use standalone mobile web browsers a lot more than in other regions. Those accounted for 11 per cent overall download traffic in North America, or the third biggest downstream draw. The report ranks applications’ mobile network usage based on traffic share, with data sampled from Sandvine’s base of mobile operators worldwide using its network management services, making up some 2.5 billion subscribers. It does not, though, include significant data from China or India.

YouTube top source of mobile traffic: Sandvine

Brief | February 18, 2019

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YouTube top source of mobile traffic: Sandvine

Brief | February 18, 2019

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