Sandvine's recently released Global Internet Phenomena report gives cold, hard evidence to something that Internet users have probably known all along: video and music streaming take up 70 percent of broadband traffic.

Accordng to the research, policy, and consulting firm's report, the advent of streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime (as well as the origina, YouTube), have contributed to doubling the rate of Internet usage solely dedicated to streaming within the last five years, from 35 percent in 2010.

In addition to this, Hulu and Amazon, which are relatively recent entrants into the video streaming market compared with other sites, are responsible for roughly 6 percent of traffic.

Another old hand that pops up in this statistical makeup? The peer-to-peer file-sharing platform BitTorrent, which takes up 2.67 percent of fixed access broadband.

Sandvine also reports that 41 percent of mobile traffic is taken up by video/audio streaming accounts such as Vine, Snapchat, and other social media platforms. Facebook is one of the largest contenders, accounting for 15.96 percent of mobile downstream, making it the reigning preferred choice for social streaming, followed by Snapchat and Pandora Radio. 

So why is this information useful? It indicates what services, apps, and social media platforms are trending—and in doing so, it helps companies understand what products or interfaces their users prefer, which in turn helps them come up with products that adhere to these guidelines, and pave the way for evolution in streaming, and the Internet as a whole.

Via: Recode.net

Photo: Televisione Streaming | Flickr