WebProNews

For the first time in four years, HTTP (Web) traffic has overtaken peer-to-peer (P2P) applications in bandwidth consumption, according to data released by Ellacoya Networks. YouTube takes the biggest chunk of all of them.

Based on usage data from about a million North American broadband subscribers, the study showed that streaming video and audio downloads have spiked HTTP bandwidth usage to 46 percent of all traffic on the network.

P2P applications now amount for 37 percent of the total traffic.

“The popularity of browser-based video such as YouTube is having a significant impact not only on overall bandwidth consumption but also on the distribution of application traffic on the network,” said Fred Sammartino, vice president of marketing and product management at Ellacoya.

“The way people use the Internet is changing rapidly - from browsing to real-time streaming. We expect to see new applications over the next year that will accelerate this trend.”

Within HTTP, traditional webpage downloads like text and images represent 45 percent of all Web traffic. Streaming videos pulls in 36 percent and audio just 5 percent.

All by itself, YouTube comprises 20 percent of all HTTP traffic, or nearly 10 percent of all traffic on the Net. Let's repeat that: one site takes up 10 percent of the bandwidth on the entire Net.

As for other types, Newsgroups take up nine percent; non-HTTP video streaming grabs 3 percent; gaming 2 percent; and VoIP 1 percent.