According to a recent study, it looks like Netflix Inc. is starting to beat piracy networks in North America. In the first half of 2015, Netflix has gotten so popular that its internet traffic reached 36%.
If you combine Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc. and YouTube, they make a total of 55% of internet traffic in the United States according to Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report (latest edition). Paul Vogel, Barclays analyst, weighed in on the said report and he pointed out that in North America, Netflix is still growing. This means that Netflix is apparently stealing market share from BitTorrent and other torrent sites.
It did raise concerns whether Netflix can prevail against torrent sites but in terms of internet traffic, it is the top website. However, Netflix is having problems in Latin America, where YouTube topped in terms of overall desktop bandwidth while BitTorrent was second.
As for mobile internet dynamics, here’s the internet traffic breakdown:
- Real-time entertainment – 40%
- Social media – 22%
- General web browsing – 14%
Netflix may not make it to every category but it is attracting interest. The video streaming service provider is starting to beat back popular piracy websites.