Netflix is the number one source of Internet traffic in North America, and game consoles have a lot to do with that.
A new report released by Sandvine Incorporated indicates Netflix accounts for 29.7% of “all downstream traffic during peak period” in North America which, suffice it to say, is a tremendous amount. Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii combine to account for 66.26% of total Netflix usage. PS3 leads the way at 30.57%, Xbox 360 is number two at 24.94%, and Wii comes in at number four (behind PC) with 10.75%. Using these figures, we can see that Netflix streaming on consoles accounts for about 19.68% of downstream peak traffic.
By contrast, HTTP accounts for 18.36% of traffic and YouTube accounts for 11.04% of downstream traffic, which would likely be much higher if YouTube’s video quality was as high as Netflix’s. Including total Internet traffic, not just downstream, Netflix still leads the way at 24.71%, followed by BitTorrent at 17.23% (which dominates upstream traffic at 52.01%).
