Netflix dominates traffic as Amazon ups share

Netflix remains by far the most-used paid-for website in North America during peak hours, while Amazon Prime Instant Video is officially now the second-most used paid-for service, according to a new report.

Netflix accounts for 34.9% of downstream traffic in peak hours in North America, broadband solution intelligence firm Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report for the second half of 2014 revealed.

Amazon’s SVOD offer, Prime Instant Video, accounted for just 2.6% of downstream traffic.

However, this figures makes it the second-most used service and means it has doubled its share in the past 18 months.

HBO Go accounted for 1% of traffic, though Sandvine president and CEO Dave Caputo said this could grow when HBO launches its standalone SVOD service in 2015 in the US.

“With both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video gaining bandwidth share in North America during 2014, it will be fascinating to see how a standalone HBOGO streaming option will impact networks when it launches in 2015,” said Caputo.

Meanwhile, Netflix is already accounting for 2.5% of all traffic on a fixed network in Australasia, despite the OTT service not officially launching in Australia and New Zealand until next year.

Sandvine’s report contains findings taken from 250 communications service providers from North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Caribbean and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.