Sandvine observed a peak increase of about 117% in bandwidth consumption attributed to iTunes and a 72% peak increase in iTunes users across a sampling of North American-based broadband service providers’ networks over the holiday season.

iTunes peak bandwidth consumption increased by 117% on Christmas Day

iTunes users increased by 72%

The substantial increase is the result of stellar Christmas sales for the iPod and iTunes gift cards. This comes on the heels of the September launch of iTunes 7, the latest iTunes software that enables users to download films, shows, and album cover art to their computers and iPods. The launch of iTunes 7 also caused a large surge in iTunes hosts and bandwidth consumption, as reported by Sandvine.

From November 19 to December 23, iPods comprised 57.3 percent of all players sold at a panel of electronics stores in the U.S. (these stores did not include Apple’s own retail outlets).¹

As a result of the iPod’s strong sales, traffic to the iTunes site rose a staggering 1,222% on Christmas day, compared with the previous Monday.² More tellingly, traffic to the site saw a 413% increase compared to Christmas day 2005.³ This surge in traffic caused many users to experience slow performance, among other problems, when accessing the site on Christmas day.

The steady flow of traffic to the iTunes site not only put added pressure on the site’s servers; broadband service providers also experienced network congestion as a result of the increase in bandwidth consumption.

Broadband providers want to ensure their subscribers continue to receive the multimedia services they enjoy, like iTunes over the Internet. However, they need to be alerted to these new trends, so they can be proactive and ensure their networks can handle the added traffic volumes.

Using Sandvine’s intelligent broadband network solutions, service providers can identify applications on a per-subscriber basis, providing the insight and the tools required to roll out new application-specific service levels that enhance their subscribers’ quality of experience, maximize ROI on infrastructure investments, reduce customer churn, and increase revenue per customer.

Find out how much iTunes traffic is on YOUR network; contact sales@sandvine.com.

Apple, iPod, and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple.

Download PDF of this trend analysis [here]

Sources:

1 Mac NewsWorld
2 MacMinute
3 MacMinute