Sandvine 2022 Wide RGB 100px
Sandvine 2022 Stack RGB
  • Service Providers
    • Overview
    • Solutions
      • Use Cases
      • Insights Workflows
      • 5G
      • Mobile
      • Fixed
      • Cable
      • Satellite
      • Interconnect and Hub
      • Cloud
    • Products
      • AppLogic
      • ANI Portal
      • 5G Service Intelligence Engine
      • Analytics
      • Data Plane
      • Control Plane
      • Platforms
  • Government
    • Digital Witness
  • Enterprise
    • Overview
    • Solutions
      • Use Cases
      • Public Sector
      • Education
      • Finance
      • Retail
      • Manufacturing
      • Transportation & Hospitality
    • Products
      • Intelligent Traffic Manager
  • Customer Success
    • About Customer Support
    • Education & Training
    • Downloads
  • Partners
    • Go To Market Partner Program
    • Partner Portal
  • Company
    • About Sandvine
    • Executive Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Responsibility
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
    • Press and Media Enquiries
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Internet Phenomena
    • Use Cases
    • Whitepapers
    • Datasheets
    • Technology Briefs
    • Case Studies
    • Blogs
  • News & Events
    • Blog
    • Press Releases
    • In The News
    • Global Internet Phenomena
    • Events
    • Podcast
    • Subscribe
  • More
    • Fall Back
US Flag Icon Japanese Flag Icon
  • Service Providers
    • Overview
    • Solutions
      • Use Cases
      • Insights Workflows
      • 5G
      • Mobile
      • Fixed
      • Cable
      • Satellite
      • Interconnect and Hub
      • Cloud
    • Products
      • AppLogic
      • ANI Portal
      • 5G Service Intelligence Engine
      • Analytics
      • Data Plane
      • Control Plane
      • Platforms
  • Government
    • Digital Witness
  • Enterprise
    • Overview
    • Solutions
      • Use Cases
      • Public Sector
      • Education
      • Finance
      • Retail
      • Manufacturing
      • Transportation & Hospitality
    • Products
      • Intelligent Traffic Manager
  • Customer Success
    • About Customer Support
    • Education & Training
    • Downloads
  • Partners
    • Go To Market Partner Program
    • Partner Portal
  • Company
    • About Sandvine
    • Executive Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Responsibility
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
    • Press and Media Enquiries
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Internet Phenomena
    • Use Cases
    • Whitepapers
    • Datasheets
    • Technology Briefs
    • Case Studies
    • Blogs
  • News & Events
    • Blog
    • Press Releases
    • In The News
    • Global Internet Phenomena
    • Events
    • Podcast
    • Subscribe
  • More
    • Fall Back
    blog_banner

    Blog | Sandvine

    Click Here Click Here

    person_computer_2

    Piracy Revived: File sharing is again over 30% of worldwide upstream bandwidth consumption

    Cam Cullen, VP of Government Solutions
    By Cam Cullen, VP of Government Solutions

    September 5, 2019
    Back to listing
    Recommended
    Sandvine’s Commitment on Earth Day and Beyond
    Read More
    Recommended
    The Yin and Yang of Telecom and Big Tech
    Read More
    Recommended
    How the 2022 FIFA World Cup Forever Changed..
    Read More
    Recommended
    MWC23 Meetings Revealed Real-World Anxiety Among..
    Read More

    Last year, I wrote a blog on the increase in file sharing on networks, and it was a tad controversial. There were a few challenges from various angles on this specific statistic that came from reasonable places. First, there had been a lapse in the Phenomena Reports for almost two years and, second, we were now drawing from a vastly different data set than previous editions. I also made a prediction that file sharing would continue to grow for a few reasons, and I was anxious to see if my predictions held water (I tend to be conservative in my predictions, but this one felt right).

    Here is what I said in 2018 when file sharing was 22% of the upstream bandwidth consumption:

    There are several possibilities for why file sharing is changing and increasing in EMEA and APAC:

    • More sources than ever are producing "exclusive" content available on a single streaming or broadcast service – think Game of Thrones for HBO, House of Cards for Netflix, The Handmaid's Tale for Hulu, or Jack Ryan for Amazon. To get access to all of these services, it gets very expensive for a consumer, so they subscribe to one or two and pirate the rest.
    • Many of these exclusive series are US-based, and do not have good distribution internationally, so people download it because they have no access to the content.
    • Game of Thrones is so popular that, unless it premieres at the exact same time worldwide, people will download it the moment it's available from anywhere. Since these numbers were taken in June for this edition, there were no Game of Thrones episodes coming out, so consider these numbers depressed from peak!

    If you analyze the points above, not only do they still hold true, the conditions have worsened. Video providers are even more fragmented (that is tomorrow's blog!) and Game Of Thrones completed the final season aired. The result:

    File Sharing is over 30% of upstream traffic

    In EMEA, file sharing was a stunning 44.26% of upstream volume.

    Not only is upstream traffic growing with file sharing but the downstream also has grown, with growth from 2.84% to 4.24% and BitTorrent appearing in the top 10 in the downstream for EMEA and APAC. In fact: 

     

    BitTorrent upstream and downstream percentages

    The data for this year is conclusive — same methodology, similar (if slightly larger) data set worldwide. The reasons for the growth might be put forward as a result of the unicorn event of the final season of Game of Thrones (which I agree was a factor), but even if you smoothed out Game of Thrones, the growth would have been significant.

    Netflix aggregated content and made piracy reduce worldwide. With the ongoing fragmentation of the video market, and increase in attractive original content, piracy is on the rise again. File sharing is one method that is regaining popularity (we will discuss others), and we expect to see this continue.

    If you missed any of our other blogs, here are a few of the can't miss ones I recommend:

    Game of Thrones Final Season 

    Brands that dominate the Internet

    Streaming Video Cometh

    Feeling Twitch(y)?

    Download the report now!

    Download the Report


    Topics: File Sharing, Piracy

    About the Author

    Cam is the Vice President of Government Solutions. He is an avid follower of Global Internet Phenomena and network trends. He also loves football (the real kind played with a round ball) as well as an active blogger for Sandvine on a wide range of technology and business issues. Areas of expertise: internet trends, virtualization, analytics, network optimization, enterprise services

    LinkedIn Icon Twitter Icon

    Sandvine 2022 Stack Solid White 335px
    About Sandvine Careers Contact
    Privacy Policy Legal Information Support
    Subscribe
    Accessibility
    +1 519 880 2600
    LinkedIn Icon
    YouTube Icon
    Twitter Icon
    Facebook Icon
    Instagram Icon
    Glassdoor Icon
    LinkedIn Icon
    YouTube Icon
    Twitter Icon
    Facebook Icon
    Instagram Icon
    Glassdoor Icon