Globally, the average broadband connection generates some 11.4 gigabytes of Internet traffic per month–roughly the equivalent of 3,000 text emails, 100 MP3 files or 360 text-only ebooks per connection per day, according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Usage study, which includes anonymous and current traffic data from a group of more than 20 broadband service providers around the world.
More than 1/3 of average global broadband connections per month support video, social networking and collaboration applications, according to research by Cisco released Oct. 21.
On the consumption side, the average broadband connection consumes about 4.3 gigabytes of visual networking applications traffic–video, social networking and collaboration– per month. On a per day-per connection basis, this equates to approximately 20.5 short-form Internet video–streamed online, embedded in a Web page or as viewed as video communications, according to Cisco’s findings.
Uniquely positioned to obtain current traffic data, Cisco also found that the top 1% of global subscribers generated more than 20% of all traffic. The top 10% generated more than 60% of total traffic.
Internet “prime time” extends roughly from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in contrast to broadcast TV’s “prime time”, generally from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time in countries around the world. 25% of total Internet traffic is generated during the “prime time” period.
