Sandvine, a network policy company known for their deep research and insight into internet trends, recently released the 2016 Global Internet Phenomena Report. Among the many revealing broadband stats was one number that crystalizes just how significantly streaming content has changed how we use the internet. According to Sandvine, 71 percent of all evening internet traffic in North America is streaming audio or video content. This means that from a data volume perspective, Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, YouTube, and dozens of other popular streaming media sites are responsible for the vast bulk of what the internet is used for after the work day is over. This is expected to leap to 80 percent by 2020.
Other notable stats from the 2016 Global Internet Phenomena Report were that Amazon Video has become the third most used downstream application, up from number eight just a year ago, and that cloud storage sites like Dropbox and iCloud are the largest sources of upstream traffic.
