THE GLOBAL INTERNET PHENOMENA REPORT JANUARY 2023

How have the past two years

changed us?
The ‘Big 6’ now led by Netflix
Video permeates,
streaming dominates
The Rise of the ‘Super App’
Mobile is reshaping app usage
Telecom reaching inflection point

SPOTLIGHTS
QUIC is here to stay
FIFA World Cup: are sports the
next frontier for streaming?
2

A word from Sandvine CEO

Lyn Cantor Apps have become extensions of Disney, TikTok and others. We even glance
ourselves, helping us navigate all at the impact HD and UHD devices may
aspects of life, whether our connections have, motivating streaming platforms to
to others, our health, our education, our create 4K plans that promise high picture
work, our happiness through escapism quality and QoE (mind you, without any
and entertainment. The average person input from the operators over whose
spends as much as 5 hours per day on networks the app traffic will travel).
mobile apps, in addition to those they
use at work or in learning, which can Additionally, we take a closer look at the
bring the total time on apps to as much meteoric rise of individual content creators
as 7 or 8 hours per day. over short-form video phenomena like
TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram
Lyn Cantor Applications are therefore becoming a Reels, and how different categories of apps,
CEO Sandvine manifestation of all that operators do to like social networking and messaging, are
build and optimize their networks. Customer trying to capitalize on that fervor to make up
satisfaction is inextricably tied to application for now-flailing engagement, as the younger
quality of experience (App QoE). This is why generation continues to move away from
we are committed to App QoE, becoming apps they view as staid and stodgy.
Sandvine, the App QoE company.
As you read through the different sections of
For the purposes of this report, we tap into the report, you’ll see what’s behind the 24%
what makes us the App QoE experts: increase in video traffic, and the 23%
advanced heuristics and machine learning to increase in overall internet traffic – despite
classify network traffic by application, as the fact people in most regions have
well as by the content within those returned to in-person socializing, learning,
applications (as you’ll see on pages 10-15). and working. We put context around those
By calculating throughput at 250ms trends on page 6, where we explain how the
intervals, we “score” App QoE through the pandemic accelerated digitization, catalyzing
lens of 10 app categories, which we stratify the momentum toward new digital behavior
on pages 12-14 and in our regional trends, and app usage.
starting on page 27.
In our Spotlights on pages 25 and 32, we take
By examining the volumetric trends within a closer look at the impact the 2022 FIFA
each category, we reveal which individual World Cup may have on streaming video, and
applications are exerting the most pressure at the growing volume of QUIC traffic
on networks. We can see that this year, in obfuscating views into traffic worldwide.
H1 2022, eight of the top-10 apps by
volume are based on video, and we further On page 22, you’ll see how the growing
identify the biggest culprits, such as penetration of smartphones worldwide, and
Netflix, YouTube (and its QUIC traffic), the higher comfort levels with consumption
 3
and creation of content over mobile devices
have had a profound impact on overall Customer satisfaction
is inextricably tied to
traffic, as well as on downstream and
upstream traffic.

Whether COVID, or large sporting events, or

natural disasters, or even war, almost every
Application Quality of
Experience (App QoE).
vicissitude life has to offer now affects fixed
and mobile networks. Because apps are so
central to who we are and what we do,
operators are expected to deliver the highest
level of App QoE. With a greater magnitude
This is why we are
of volumetric pressure on their networks,
operators try to scale with huge investments committed to App QoE,
becoming Sandvine,
in infrastructure. But continuously building
networks around network tonnage is proving
unsustainable, with profit margins already
squeezed and profitable growth difficult to
achieve. On page 20, we look at how the App QoE company
constant capital-intensive investments will
fail to keep up with unrelenting app and Lyn Cantor, CEO, Sandvine
traffic growth, and what’s being done to
foster more equitable business models.

This Report is just a taste of the in-depth

analyses we do for individual customers. We
encourage service providers that want
customized reports on their network traffic to
contact us for a one-on-one meetings with
our subject matter experts. We can help
build customized use cases for CTOs,
network planners, big data teams, market-
ing, and customer care.
4

Application QoE
App QoE [Definition]: The degree of
delight or annoyance of application users

DEFINITION
resulting from their expectations regarding
the utility/enjoyment of the application.
It includes subjective and objective quality
needs and experiences arising from the
interaction of a user with applications in
a particular context. It is based on human
factors, such as demographics and
behaviors; network factors, such as access
type, bandwidth, speed, and latency;
device factors, such as performance; and
contextual factors, such as location, time
of day, and frequency of use.

Global Internet
Sandvine’s 260+ Tier 1 and Tier 2 custom-
ers represent an installed base of more
than 2.5 billion Internet subscribers around

Phenomena Report the world. For the purposes of this 2023

Global Internet Phenomena Report, we’ve

METHODOLOGY
analyzed First Half 2022 data from 177
customers representing almost 300 million
subscribers across access types (Fixed,
Mobile, cable, and Satellite) and regions
(Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle
East, and Africa).
CONTENTS

5
In this Report

6 One Giant Leap

COVID accelerated digitization and elevated app usage.. What Now?

10 When Netflix and MAMAA Rule The Internet

The ‘Big 6’ still generate disproportionate traffic volume

14 Video Permeates, Streaming Dominates

Streaming video exerts ever-more volumetric pressure

16 The Rise of the Super App

Apps are more intricate, defined by mashups and fusions
of previously distinct content

20 Telecom is Reaching an Inflection Point

Building networks for tonnage is not sustainable (edited)

22 Mobile is the Way to Go Smartphones are reshaping app usage

25 Spotlight: QUIC Is Here to Stay – Growing in apps from YouTube,

Facebook, Apple and others

26 Regional Application Popularity Trends Americas, APAC, EMEA

32 Spotlight: FIFA World Cup – Is Sport the Next Frontier of Streaming?

34 Conclusion: So What?

36 About Sandvine Contact Us

 WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!
6

ONE
GIANT
LEAP
BLINDSIDED BY COVID IN 2020 AND 2021,
TELECOM ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE
Here, we examine the past to see what may lie ahead.
 7
No event since Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon has download, and short-form) as well as
accelerated technological advancement the way COVID-19 did encrypted traffic and operators’ growing
(and continues to do). Millions of people around the world instant- menu of OTT services and TV content.
ly changed the way they lived, worked, and learned to protect
themselves and loved ones, and to buy time for frontline workers The sudden surges of 2020 and the
and scientists early in the pandemic. moderate but steady bumps of 2021 had
a significant impact on internet traffic
For most people around the world, executives and senior managers in APAC, over fixed broadband, mobile, and WiFi
COVID drove changes to how they used Europe and North America found that networks (see “Netflix and Big MAMAA
technology. For the millions of people digital and digitally enabled products in Rule the Internet” on Page 10).
without digital access, the digital divide portfolios accelerated by as much as 7
widened between the “haves” and the years, and digitization in customer and How big were Internet traffic surges
“have-nots,” with digitization crucial supply-chain interactions and internal during COVID?
to connecting, working, and learning operations by about 3 to 4 years. Reporting by operators around the world
during not only the pandemic, but 2020 the past two years indicates that fixed
and 2021’s upheavals from social unrest, These rapid changes supported the surging broadband increases ranged from about
climate change, and even war. popularity of video streaming, enterprise 20% to 50%, and mobile increases ranged
conferencing, gaming, social media, mes- from about 15% to 35%. People and
For fixed and mobile networks, unpre- saging and chat, and other categories of businesses with reliable ISP services used
dictable traffic caused gigabyte surges. traffic we examined in our 2020 and 2021 fixed broadband for key applications and
This forced operators to rapidly engineer Global Internet Phenomena Reports. services throughout 2020 and 2021, while
what they had to better utilize preexisting those without reliable fixed broadband
capacity. To deliver pre-COVID reliability, This year, with COVID becoming more relied more heavily on mobile.
many expedited capital expenditures for endemic in many parts of the world, we
optical fiber, 5G, 5G Ultra Wideband, virtual see a change in overall traffic trends as In some regions, fixed data traffic
private networks, and mobile cell sites. people go back to work and school. increased by a greater percentage in the
first month of the pandemic than in the
For enterprises, COVID accelerated Our data show that traffic volume is 23% previous 12 months. For example, in Italy
digitization by several years. For example, higher in 2022 than it was in 2021, due to and Spain during the Spring of 2020, oper-
a McKinsey Global survey of 899 C-level significant increases in video (streaming, ators reported surges of up to 50%, with

Data Volume for Apps Before, During and “Post” COVID Source: Sandvine

COVID-19 START
900

800

700

600
VOLUME IN TB

500

400

300

200

100

0
2019 2020 2021 2022
YouTube Netflix Generic QUIC Facebook HTTP Media Stream
Disney+ TikTok Xbox Live Playstation Downloads Amazon Prime
 One Giant Leap (Cont’d)
8

average increases of about 35%-40%. circumstances. One Sandvine customer, tion interpretation of the current world situ-
Telefónica’s Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, a cable operator, deployed 18 months of ation around COVID-19, many countries are
Masmovil, and Euskaltel all reported planned capacity in four months during at a better point now than they were this
increases of about 40% in their networks’ Covid. This expansion of broadband among time last year. However, globally, we are
traffic, while BT reported a range of 35% cable cos, telcos, fiber providers, and not out of the woods. Most people around
to 60% for daytime weekday fixed broad- satellite companies is helping to support the world have returned to varying degrees
band usage. the current increases in demand for more of in-person social engagement, as well as
high-speed and high-quality services. in-person and hybrid work and learning.
Also interesting, Orange noted an
explosion of data over transatlantic links, What impact was there on ‘heavy In this year’s data, we see internet traffic
with 80% of the traffic generated by usage’ during the pandemic? steadily rising year over year, which we
French internet users going to the USA for We showed in our 2021 Global Internet explain in the next section. What we see
Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, Messenger, Phenomena Report that per-household is not so much a “lingering” of COVID-in-
and WhatsApp. usage during 2021 increased. In Q1 2022, duced behaviors, but rather permanent
we saw this heavy usage trend continue, habits people grew into, and the comfort
During the first two years of the pan- as you can see in the table “Volume Usage level developed with certain apps that
demic, there were also upstream and by Subscriber Type.” There, you see ap- have now become commonplace around
downstream pattern shifts. Vodafone, for proximately 8% of users are “excessive,” the world:
one, saw upstream increases as high as responsible for approximately 55% of the
100%, which it attributed to cloud video volume, and just over 12% are “heavy” • Online Grocery Shopping and Food
conferencing services, with downstream users responsible for more than 20% of Boxes
increases of about 44% primarily due the volume. We believe that with the • Online shopping and home delivery
mostly to streaming video. continued spike in video, gaming and other of... everything (clothing, electronics,
categories of bandwidth-intensive apps, shoes, toys, pet supplies/meds, etc.)
In North America, the increases were also per-household usage will continue to climb.
• Marketplace apps for investing online
significant. In March 2020, Verizon report-
• Health Checks and digital communica-
ed a 20% increase in Web traffic, and a In addition to significant volume increases
tions via Telehealth apps
whopping 75% increase in online gaming, during 2020 and 2021, operators also
along with a 34% increase for VPN traffic saw a shift of when “peak usage” and • Grandparents and relatives Zooming
(by May that increased to 52%), and a “congestion” took place, with usage more in for regular family check-ins
12% increase in streaming video. evenly spread out during weekdays – • Online college education still growing
resembling what had traditionally been • K-12 schools increasingly integrating
AT&T reported a similar 20% increase “weekend” or “holiday” patterns. digital apps into in-person instruction
of traffic across its core network traffic –
• Work-from-home becoming perma-
which includes business, home broadband The origins and destinations of traffic also
nent or a hybrid with enterprise apps
and wireless usage – which amounted changed with everyone at home. A report
• Government process for Drivers
to 391.8 petabytes of data traffic on an av- from the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
Licenses, Professional Licenses,
erage day. That increased 40% year-over- notes congestion that used to charac-
year to 468 petabytes by 2021. terize interconnect points and last-mile
Social Security, Employment Eligibili-
networks diminished, with a decrease ty, Passports, etc
In Japan and Asia Pacific, NTT reported a 30 in download throughput to certain cloud • Entertainment through streaming, live
to 40% increase of data usage, while South regions, perhaps because of the increased and downloaded video services
Korean operators saw increases of 13%. use of cloud services. • Growing Content Creator market
(TikTok, YouTube, YouTube Shorts,
It’s astonishing these increases took place Is our current ‘normal’ the Instagram)
within weeks, not months or years, as ‘new normal’?
• Gaming online, in the cloud, mobile
would have been the case under normal When looking at World Health Organiza-
 9
The continuation of these behaviors has
contributed to a 23% increase in traffic Old-Fashioned Voice Calls Became ‘Cool’ Again!
volume, which we cover in the next In the first two months of the pandemic, people wanted to hear their loved one’s voic-
section. In general, what was “high” es, making voice the preferred channel for keeping in touch initially. There was a
pre-COVID is “normal” now. Back-to-work 184% increase in voice call traffic, a 3x increase over pre-pandemic numbers.
and school means the consumption might
be happening at different times of the day Operators across the board reported approximately 30% to 35% increases in voice,
this year than was the case the past two with many also reporting longer durations of the calls. Verizon, for instance, reported
years, but it doesn’t mean a reduction in 800 million wireless calls per day, and a 33% increase in the duration of calls .
that consumption. It’s just happening at
different times, in different places, over Into 2022, with hybrid work models and now-engrained habits and behaviors, voice
different networks (at home, office, or continues to be more popular than it was pre-pandemic. Today, this once “obsolete”
while commuting). technology is more popular than it was pre-pandemic.

One thing that will not change is the

perception people have about the internet
as an essential part of day-to-day life
in terms of individual, local, and global
economies.

In the table below, we show that over several networks in APAC, approximately 8% of the users are responsible for 55% of volume, and
12% are “heavy” users responsible for more than 20% of volume. As heavy usage grows, it will further complicate resource planning,
service profitability, service running cost, ROI, and quality of experience for the greater whole of customers.

Volume Usage by Subscriber Type Total Usage Subscribers

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Excessive Heavy Moderate Light
10

Netflix + MAMAA (Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon,

Apple) generate 48% of growing internet traffic, but their
percentage contribution has gone down amid data surges
from new app categories and new apps.
“MAMAA” is a widely used acronym generate a substantial amount of overall
coined to represent the five large-cap internet traffic, there’s a 9% decline in
technology giants, but when talking about terms of their percentage contribution to
terabytes, gigabytes, and petabytes total internet volume. This means their
traversing the internet, we cannot exclude traffic is now couched amid an expanding
Netflix, whose 45% growth in internet number of app categories and greater
volume during H1 2022 moves it into the number of apps, which are producing more
top spot for traffic generated by an data overall. This is contributing to the
individual application in what we call the 23% increase in overall traffic volume we
“Big 6” (MAMAA + Netflix). As you’ll see in saw in our H1 2022 data, which we
the charts on the next page, the Big 6 mention in the previous section.
generated nearly 48% of internet traffic in
H1 2022. Though these companies still The role of video in this overall surge
cannot be overstated, as video from not
only the Big 6, but also up-and-comers like
Brand 2021 2022
TikTok and Disney+, is contributing a sizable
1 Google 20.99% 13.85% volume of traffic (something we explore in
2 Netflix 9.39% 13.74% the next section, “Video Permeates,
3 Facebook 15.11% 6.45% Streaming Dominates” on page 14).
4 Microsoft 3.32% 5.11%
It’s this gluttony of video that now sets
5 Apple 4.18% 4.59%
Netflix apart from MAMAA, as a video
6 Amazon 3.36% 4.24%
pure play that accounts for 13.74% of total
TOTAL 56.35% 47.98% internet volume, and for 8.78% of
 11
upstream volume, and 14.93% down- 2022, Alphabet’s Google was responsible
stream. This is how Netflix has taken the for 13.85% of Internet traffic, despite a
throne from Google’s YouTube, whose decline from what we saw this time last
percentage of total internet volume year. Google’s continued dominance is
declined in H1 2022. attributable primarily to YouTube, but also
traffic generated by a growing empire of
The power of Netflix’s streaming content platforms and services including: YouTube
has enabled the company to claw its way Shorts, Google Web Apps, Android Market,
back from its highly publicized subscriber Ad Analytics, Google Analytics, Google
losses of Q1 2022. The billions-of-dollars Cloud Storage, Google Docs, Google Drive,
Netflix invested in video content seems to Gmail, Google Maps, Google Cloud
be paying off, with titles like the Queen’s Messaging, Google Maps, YouTube TV,
Gambit, The Crown, and renewals like Waze, Fitbit, and Nest.
Squid Games helping it beat even its own
expectations. With a gain of 2.41 million Amid these vast properties, YouTube is
subscribers in Q3 of 2022, Netflix has the biggest bandwidth hog at nearly 11%.
replenished much of what it lost in Q1 YouTube remains a tour de force in the
and Q2. “creator economy,” which Forbes now
estimates is worth $100 billion, globally.
But, Google still reigns supreme! To put it in perspective, YouTube’s biggest
Even with Netflix’s substantial volumetric content creator, T-Series, earns $450
growth, it languishes in the number-two Million US Dollars (Rupees 3,590 Crore),
spot in terms of volume “by brand” (as boasting 186 million subscribers (as of
opposed to individual application). In H1 Q3 2022).
 In the Downstream chart on the next page, encrypted video content-based applica- But what about social networking
YouTube’s 11.62% is a decline from last tions, as we explore in “QUIC Is Here to as a category?
12

year during the same period, in part Stay,” on page 34. Though we see a drop in social network-
because of returns to in-person, but also ing traffic as a percentage of total traffic
because of growing interest in viewing Conspicuously, you will see Facebook volume, as short-form videos rise in
TikTok and other short-form videos. dropped from its number two position to popularity, social networking is still a
number three in the overall “Brands” chart significant contributor.
To counter the losses, Google has hitched on page 10. It’s no secret that in early
itself to the TikTok-inspired short-form 2022, Facebook’s Daily Active Users started However, there is a movement away from
video craze with YouTube Shorts, which by to decline for the first time in 18 years. social media by younger people.They are a
Q3 2022 reached 5 trillion all-time views. Other social platfoms, like Twitter, have demographic craving less depth, more
Google plans to monetize that momentum had their own share of challenges due to variety, more lightheartedness, and more
with a 45% revenue split for creators, many factors. For one, there’s the disap- personalization and engagement through
incentivizing anyone with at least 1,000 pearance of pandemic consumption habits, personalized feeds. TikTok satisfies that
subscribers and 10 million Shorts views as during COVID, Facebook saw huge desire with a “For You” feed of clips that are
over 90 days. That will raise the ante in its increases in Messenger group video calls, based on the viewer’s usage and habits.
competition with not only TikTok, but also Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and
Pinterest and Instagram Reels – all of WhatsApp – especially in places hardest Some Instagram content creators are trying
which are vying for more views and hit by lockdowns and social distancing. It’s to do more with Reels to see if video can
engagement to attract more video ads. not surprising that back to school and back bring the platform back some of its bygone
to work means less reliance on group video luster, but some digital marketing studies
We think that this aggressive jockeying for calls and messaging, and hence, a drop in blame ads and bombardment by influenc-
position in video and short-form video will that type of traffic. ers for the loss of reach.
mean Google traffic will exert significant
volumetric pressure on networks the rest of Additionally, advertisers are spending less With the writing possibly on the wall for
this year. on social platforms, recognizing that a traditional social networking, Mark
bigger percentage of younger audiences Zuckerberg is going “all in” with
We also need to note a significant portion of find rival platforms like TikTok and YouTube Metaverse and social virtual reality,
YouTube traffic is encrypted QUIC (Quick more appealing, which we cover below. investing $100 Billion in RealityLabs for the
UDP Internet Connections), which in our H1 creation of 3D virtual spaces.
2022 data is the third-biggest contributor to Another challenge has been an increasing
volume at 5.41%, an increase from 2021. desire for user privacy, as evidenced by the There’s been no shortage of criticism by
use of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency pundits, who question whether doing so
Google’s platforms aren’t the only ones policy, which empowers users to limit how now will pay off fast enough amid Meta’s
using QUIC, as we see many big platforms much of their information can be shared first-ever revenue declines in H1 2022,
using QUIC for more stable, fast, and with advertisers. and market forces like inflation driving

Global Top 10 Applications by Category

Video Games Social Messaging

1 Netflix Playstation Downloads Facebook Generic Messaging

2 YouTube Steam Twitch WhatsApp
3 Generic QUIC ROBLOX Instagram Facebook
4 HTTP Media Stream Epic Games Launcher Snapchat Discord Voice
5 Disney+ Nintendo Online Reddit Wattpad
6 Tik Tok Xbox Live TLS Wordpress Telegram
7 Amazon Prime Steam Client Pinterest Discord
8 Hulu Kayo Sports Twitter Microsoft Teams
9 Facebook Video Generic Gaming VK WeChat
10 Operator Content League of Legends LinkedIn LINE
 down ad revenues over platforms like frequent postings on Facebook Video, as
Facebook and Instagram. For now, well as Facebook video chat. It seems

13
Zuckerberg expects WhatsApp and though the popularity of instant messaging
Messenger to tide Meta over with sales and videoing friends might have been
growth, until Metaverse takes off in what popular during COVID, but is less so now.
he predicts will be the “2030s.” To make up some of its momentum,
Facebook is offering video-on-demand for
Despite the tribulations, Facebook is still Facebook users who want to stream
the dominant social network worldwide, premium content. Time will tell if these
with 2.96 billion monthly active users as of efforts will be fruitful enough to stave off
the third quarter of 2022. And Meta is its first-ever drop in the Nasdaq index and
making video a bigger component of its financial losses.
platforms to try and improve interest and
engagement. As reported by the Evolution
of Facebook Watch, 1.25 billion people visit
Facebook to watch videos every month,
and Facebook’s partnership with Ray-Ban
for smart glasses may mean more videos
and photos (rolled up into Facebook View).
As we mention in the next section, Meta is
APP TOTAL VOLUME 2022
striving to close some of the generational
Total
divide by encouraging shorter, more Application Volume
1 Netflix 13.74%
2 YouTube 10.51%
The Big 6, 2022
3 Generic QUIC 5.41%
65% 4 HTTP Media Stream 4.33%
5 Disney+ 4.20%
60%
6 Tik Tok 3.55%
7 Facebook 2.83%
55%
8 Xbox Live 2.71%
9 Playstation Downloads 2.70%
50%
10 Amazon Prime 2.67%

45%

40%
TOP APPS 2022 TOP APPS 2022

35% DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC

30% Total Total

Application Application
Volume Volume

25% 1 Netflix 14.93% 1 Netflix 8.78%

2 YouTube 11.62% 2 HTTP Media Stream 6.89%
20% 3 Generic QUIC 5.88% 3 YouTube 5.90%
4 Disney+ 4.49% 4 Generic Web Browsing 3.85%
15% 5 TikTok 3.93% 5 HTTP download 3.70%
6 HTTP Media Stream 3.72% 6 Generic QUIC 3.43%
10%
7 Playstation Downloads 2.95% 7 Generic Messaging 3.17%
8 Xbox Live 2.91% 8 Disney+ 2.98%
5%
9 Facebook 2.87% 9 Hulu 2.79%

0%
10 Amazon Prime 2.83% 10 Facebook 2.67%
Other
 Video Permeates, Streaming Dominates
14

Netflix has said it is spending $13.6 billion average viewing time, with heavier users
APP CATEGORY TOTAL VOLUME USD on content, as it is feeling the heat going as high as 80 to 90 minutes of viewing
from fast-encroaching Disney+ (4.20% of time per day)!
Total traffic); Amazon Prime, which still registers
2022 Categories Volume
in the top-10 in terms of total volume (at HTTP Media Stream – What is it and
1 Video 65.93% 2.67%); and HBO Max, which did not make why it shouldn’t be ignored?
2 Marketplace 5.83% the top-10 in terms of internet volume. If we’re going to talk about what’s hot on
3 Gaming 5.58% the Internet and generating more traffic,
4 Social Networking 5.26% Family Friendly Disney+ packs a we have to address the “HTTP Media
5 Cloud 4.98% powerful bandwidth punch Stream” category, which takes the #4 spot
6 Web Browsing 4.63% Not to be outdone in terms of spending, for top video app volume (at 4.3%). We see
Disney+ is reportedly spending $33 billion in our data that some of this traffic is adult
7 File Sharing 3.39%
on content in 2022. In H1 2022, Disney+ content, which during COVID, the
8 Messaging 2.30%
content comprised 4.20% of volume, a consumption of which increased substan-
9 VPN 1.13%
199% increase over last year. Boasting the tially. As much as one-quarter to one-third
10 Audio 0.95% “best stories in one place,” Disney+ is of online searches during the pandemic
propelling Walt Disney into the future with pertained to pornography, and consumers
Demand for video content is soaring, so Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, National in this category generally want new
most platforms are embedding and Geographic, and Disney. Building a content regularly. That demand leads to
spreading video within apps to increase reputation for family-friendly films and supply, in the form of thousands of new
views and engagement. Our data show in franchises, it has rapidly grown to 164.2 pages, daily. Compounded over tens of
first half of 2022, video accounted for a hefty million subscribers, or, 235 million millions of visitors per day, there’s a dispro-
65.93% of total volume over the Internet. subscribers if you include Hulu and ESPN+, portionate upstream jump as compared to
That’s a 24% increase over H1 2021. which are also part of Disney+. downstream, which decreased 18%. That
“Video” includes TV, video, and streaming may be due to the fact people are back to
download, but with video and other TikTok makes short-form video-sharing in-person socializing, work and school.
categories becoming more complex (see the next ‘big thing’ Other contributors to upstream traffic can
“The Rise of the Super App,” page 16), we TikTok fell one spot in the total-volume be apps like OnlyFans, TikTok and You Tube
will, in subsequent reports, have more ranking, but its decline is probably due to Shorts, all of which encourage content
granular stratification of not only the video the other-worldly increases it had during creation for engagement and monetization
category, but also gaming, video conferenc- 2021, something that we did not expect purposes. As they grow in popularity, slow
ing, and others that have significant impacts would be sustained once its subscriber base or choppy uploads of live or prerecorded
on mobile and fixed networks. – primarily younger people – went back to content become less tolerable.
school. With 3.55% of total volume, TikTok
Netflix race against Disney+ and is also dealiing more with the encroachment Can video save social networking
other streamers of competitors that took notice of TikTok’s and messaging?
Netflix’s 223 million paid subscribers are meteoric rise last year. As younger people As we mentioned in the previous section
putting a lot of pressure on networks, as increasingly consider social networking and “Netflix and MAMAA Rule the Internet,”
they watch 1 billion hours of content per messaging relics for adults, YouTube Shorts and as we confirm in the “Top Apps by
week. With increasingly popular HD plans, and Instagrams Reels are jockeying for Volume” chart, Facebook is in 7th place,
subscribers can use as much as 3GB data position in this fairly new market. So far, a drop from last year, because the
per hour, and for 4K resolution, as much as TikTok’s “For You” feeds, AR features, and generational divide is widening. Younger
7GB per hour. Multiplied across 223 million green-screen options are making it the most people are, for the most part, fleeing social
subscribers, and you get an idea of what’s to downloaded app in the world, with more networking and messaging platforms for
come in the next couple years. Check out the than 1 billion active monthly users (or should more quirky, short, algorithmically personal-
sidebar in this section, “HD and UHD Impact we say very active users with 83% of ized video content, which they get on TikTok,
on Networks.” TikTokers posting video, and 52 minutes of Instagram Reels., and YouTube Shorts.
 15
As we show in the table on the right, App
Category Total Volume, Social networking HD and UHD Impact on Networks
accounts for 5.26% of app category volume, Netflix and other streaming platforms are starting to offer “picture quality options” as
representing a 61% drop from last year. We subscribers start to buy hardware capable of Ultra High Def of 4K and even 8K now
do think part of the drop is due to a becoming available.
normalization of the extraordinary surges
that came with COVID-driven behaviors of According to Cisco’s Annual Internet Report, one Internet-enabled HD television
2020 and 2021, especially for messaging streaming for two or three hours can generate as much Internet traffic as an entire
and chat platforms like Facebook Video and household in a day. UHD bit rates will be double HD rates, and 9x greater than SD.
Facebook Video Chat. With 1.3 billion people Cisco estimates that 66% of flat-panel TV sets will be UHD in 2023, with average
still logging onto Facebook every day, Meta global fixed broadband speed going from 46 Mbps in 2022 to 110 Mbps in 2023.
may gain some ground by embedding and
spreading of video within its , as we’re sure The average 5G speed will be 575 mbps or 13x faster than the average mobile
we will see across all platforms and connection.
categories.
When considering what HD requires, it amounts to approx. 3GB/hour,
with Ultra-High Def requiring about 7GB/hour.

For mobile, SD at 480p uses 700MB/hour; HD at 2K requires 3GB/hour; and

Ultra-high Def at 4K requires 7.2GB/hour.

As people move beyond just voice calls and texting on mobile devices, with AR/VR
and UHD video becoming more popular, we expect there will be tremendous growth
in demand and traffic.

TOP 10 VIDEO APPS 2022 TOP VIDEO APPS 2022 TOP VIDEO APPS 2022

TOTAL TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Application Application Application
Volume Volume Volume
1 Netflix 13.74% 1 Netflix 8.91% 1 Netflix 14.92%
2 YouTube 10.51% 2 HTTP Media Stream 6.98% 2 YouTube 11.61%
3 Generic QUIC 5.41% 3 YouTube 5.98% 3 Generic QUIC 5.87%
4 HTTP Video Stream 4.33% 4 Generic QUIC 3.48% 4 Disney+ 4.49%
5 Disney+ 4.20% 5 Disney+ 3.02% 5 Tik Tok 3.92%
6 Tik Tok 3.55% 6 Hulu 2.83% 6 HTTP Media Stream 3.72%
7 Amazon Prime 2.67% 7 Amazon Prime 2.04% 7 Amazon Prime 2.83%
8 Hulu 2.50% 8 Tik Tok 1.99% 8 Hulu 2.44%
9 Facebook Video 1.98% 9 FaceTime 1.71% 9 Facebook Video 2.23%
10 Operator Content 1.91% 10 HBO MAX 1.64% 10 Operator Content 2.18%
10 Total Traffic Volume 50.74% 10 Total Traffic Volume 38.57% 10 Total Traffic Volume 54.20%
16

Does More ‘Simplicity’ for the User Mean More Complexity

for the Operator?

In H1 2022, we see App Complexity not only continuing, but accelerating. The
number of applications has increased, and applications have become magnitudes
more intricate, defined by mashups and fusions of previously distinct content. This
is leading to the demise of the Web Browser, as everything is becoming a Web App,
containing multiple web pages, feeds and functions – all within a single app.

Within one app, you might have video, voice, chat, and gaming content all in the same flow.
For example, Uber is not a single app but rather a series of apps, such as Uber, Uber Eats,
Uber Freight, Uber Same-Day Package Delivery, Google Maps, 3rd-party geolocation services,
GPS tracking, and payment services.

As the delivery of quality of experience becomes more of a differentiator, network operators will
have to be able to see within the app to know what parts of the content are latency sensitive,
and which are not. For example, for a gaming users, gaming quality would be prioritized over
voice and video, or someone watching a streaming video. Someone attending a Zoom would
want visual fidelity, so video packets would have the same priority as voice packets.

To take a closer look, consider the intricate blends of capabilities and content now prevalent in
messaging and Chat apps, particularly WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Weixin/WeChat
(see image “What’s in an App?” on the next page). All are becoming complex composites of
voice, video calling, videos, texts, photos, files, payments, and advertisements.
 17
As people become more comfortable with messaging and chat, both consumers and
businesses seek more frictionless digital engagement. As a result, these apps are building
functionality to enable people to seamlessly transition from simple messaging to audio and
video, when needed. This is converting once-simple “messaging apps” into sophisticated
ecosystems, within which people and businesses are engaging across many applications and
platforms – and all from one place.

One of the prime examples of this is Tencent’s WeChat, which is the #1 home screen for 1.26
billion active users across China, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, India, United States, and Indonesia.
It’s not shy about saying it wants to be a “super app” with multipurpose capabilities, building
 The Rise of the Super App (cont’d)
18

Apps no longer deal with just one type of traffic

Messaging On-demand Video

Live Streaming
Voice Call
File Sharing
Video Call
Browsing

3.5 million app-driven “miniprograms” individual and group messages so people over South Korea’s ISP networks to soar
intended to create all-encompassing can initiate multiplayer gaming through from 50 Gigabits-per-second in May 2018
experiences for individuals and businesses individual and group messages. to 1,200 Gbps by September of 2021.
alike. Just some of what it offers consumers
are messaging and calling, location sharing, Another category in which content But toward the end of 2021, Netflix had
search, QR codes, eWallet, money transfers, diversification and scaling up is taking place highly publicized subscriber losses and
and news feeds. For businesses, it offers is video conferencing and collaboration. oncoming heat from competitors like
payment services, CRM, paid blogs and Platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and
tiered content, advertising services around Webex, GoToMeeting, Skype, and Google others (see Most Popular Apps on page
targeted content, flash sales, promotions Meet have the staples of VoIP, video, chat, 26). In November 2021, the company
and giveaway campaigns, as well as and screen sharing, but also a slew of new launched Netflix Games, including a couple
partnership programs with local influencers features like virtual whiteboards, live of Stranger Things-based games intended
who run pay-per-click campaigns. transcription, clip-and-share, app market- to help customers immerse themselves in
places, customized and immersive the characters and stories of the popular
Similarly, Meta is quickly expanding what backgrounds, as well as enhanced privacy series. By combining streaming and gaming
it offers individuals and businesses through features. And if you look at how Microsoft content, the company managed to add 2.4
its Facebook Messenger, Meta for Teams allows in-app access to Office 365, million subscribers in Q1 2022.
Business, and WhatsApp platforms. you see an expansion of capabilities within
Facebook Messenger, at 100 billion Teams that others may follow. This and the previous examples illustrate
messages per day, and WhatsApp at 65 how multiple streams of content within
billion messages per day, are promoting Even the “pure” single-category app in the applications can increase engagement
seamless transitions from chat, to audio, to top 6, Netflix, is morphing into an amalgam and stickiness through more compelling
video so that businesses can improve user of different content categories. Primarily a and comprehensive user experiences.
experiences with customers that prefer streaming video platform since 2018, the While this benefits the application
online engagement to in-store interactions. rapid rise of Squid Games made Netflix a provider, it means more volume and
They are also doing more to incorporate global phenomena early on in the complexity for the network operator. It
payments and debit card transactions. And, pandemic. It accounted for 15% of the will affect how operators manage
they too are doing more to integrate world’s internet bandwidth, with an capacity, and the ease with which they
gaming and location features into exponential increase that caused traffic can see what’s happening for the sake of
 19
network optimization, revenue assurance,
regulatory compliance, troubleshooting,
customer care, and monetization. What’s in an App?
To ensure optimal performance even amid
• Video (streaming, live, download, P2P)
the groundswell of content and hence • Audio
data generated by different applications,
there’s going to be a greater need to see • Voice
the composition of the traffic and to more
• Chat (video and/or voice chat)
intelligently prioritize latency-sensitive
content within apps, like transmitting VoIP • Messaging
traffic before content or chat in a video
conferencing app. Or, choosing a network
• Location services (maps, GPS, navigation etc.)
connection with lower ping and lower • Rich messaging (message + multimedia content,
bandwidth for more urgent data. The abili-
such as pictures, audio, videos, contacts, and other
ty to recognize a live streaming event that
can tolerate delay of 20 to 120 seconds rich forms of media)
without mitigating the user experience. • Purchases and Payments (can include crypto,
With a streaming a video, users would
need a minimum of 4 Mbps to 7 Mbps for
in app/microtransactions, browser based, mobile,
standard quality, but for 4K experiences contactless)
as much as 25 Mbps.
• Encryption (symmetric, asymmetric)
The ability to rapidly assess and manage • Privacy services (Apple Private Relay)
traffic will become all the more important
when performance ties directly to safety
• Advertisements
or even life and death. For example, in the
IoT, 5 to 10 millisecond speeds will be
needed for sensors, actuators and
machine learning systems in autonomous This higher degree of application and
car and smart machine applications. network intelligence will be fueled by
sophisticated analysis and visibility into
Once autonomous, IoT, 5G and 5G slicing the what, when, where, how, and why of
are more the norm than exception, what’s affecting networks. That will drive
operators will have to find ways to improve service providers’ use cases to analyze,
the experience for the most people across optimize, and monetize what’s happening
the most applications and platforms. over their networks.
They’ll have to classify different categories
of applications and see what within each
application is mission-critical and in what
way. Is it latency, throughput, or bandwidth
that matters, and which is the optimal
“order” of the traffic to preserve the
quality of experience for the perfor-
mance-sensitive and less perfor-
mance-sensitive traffic across the most
users, devices, and access types?
20

As we showed in section 2 of this report, the “Big 6” application giants exerting

more volumetric pressure on networks than everyone else, combined (this year at
47.98% of total internet traffic). Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), Netflix,
Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are expecting to redefine user experiences, and to
do it without any input from or payment to those who own the networks on top of
which those user experiences will be fulfilled.

TELECOM IS REACHING
AN INFLECTION POINT
Their contribution is just part of what’s bottomline and sustainability. They operate
making the Internet grow so rapidly. under fairly slim net profit margins
According to statistics from Cisco Systems, (approximately 12 to 13% in 2022), with
global average Internet traffic will have extremely high expenses mitigating their
increased 3.2-fold from 2018 to 2021 (with a gross profits.
compound annual growth rate of 26%).
In 2020, CAPEX was $79.4 billion for U.S.
Various industry stats estimate that by the operators, bringing the cumulative total to
end of 2023, between 63% and 66% of the $1.9 trillion in communications CAPEX
global population will be using the Internet. since the Telecommunications Act was
As revealed during the two past years of passed in 1996.
COVID, digitization was accelerated and the
digital divide widened by the pandemic. It In 2021, telcos in Europe spent 52.5 billion
became very clear that people, businesses, euros ($59.4 billion) in 2021 for investments in
institutions, and government can rapidly networks, 5G trials, licenses, planning, and
increase their digital comfort levels, deployment. It was recently predicted by
engagement, and acumen once the Omdia that monthly ARPU combined across
technologies are there to use. As 5G, IoT, both mobile and fixed broadband will fall by
Metaverse, and AI come into their own, 4.2% from €7.48 in 2022 to €7.16 in 2027.
shared customers of telecom and big tech
will have increasingly high expectations Even with aggressive fiber rollouts, telcos
about how applications and services should can’t expect any big changes to their profit
perform, and network operators will be margins under current rules. They either
expected to do what’s necessary to fuel the have to continue building out capacity in
optimal application experience. perpetuity, or try to push back with proof
points they deliver to regulators and
THIS IS THE INFLECTION POINT. policymakers that help them secure their
With innovation, everyone will inevitably own sustainability and place in world
want more…of everything. And commensu- markets going forward.
rate with the growing demand for band-
width, throughput, and latency will be a There is still time to balance currently
flood of Internet traffic across networks. unchecked actions of those riding on top of
Today, operators throw as much CAPEX as networks by developing profit-sharing and
they can at their networks, and squeeze out ROI models that help operators reinvest in
more efficiency to the detriment of their own their networks.
 21
Regulators and policymakers in the United In the United States, there is some
States, Europe, and Asia (Singapore, South investment from the federal government
Korea, Japan, India) are reevaluating current through the Inflation Reduction Act
net-neutrality regulations in the context of (P.L.117-18) and the Infrastructure Invest-
what happened with COVID. The digital ment and Jobs Act (P.L.117-58), which
need, and digital divide, revealed how include billions-of-dollars for broadband
expected and unexpected catastrophes investment and tax breaks to push
(pandemics, weather calamities, wars) – as communications innovations.
well as day-to-day usage and special events
(sports, music, entertainment) –require In automotive, manufacturing, and
enormous resilience and adaptability. healthcare, there will be amalgamations of
video, robotics, AI, sensors, AR/VR, and
The World Economic Forum predicts more. More performance-dependent
democratization of computing with applications will exert even more pressure
high-speed Internet worldwide can unleash on operators’ networks in terms of latency,
trillions-of-dollars in economic gains and responsiveness, and speed.
tens-of-millions of jobs. Networks will be
the lifeblood of those gains, but only with The time has come for network operators and
massive broadband and wireless invest- service providers in telecom to be unshackled
ment. Those building the infrastructure have from outdated rules and regulations so that

O
to get a return on investment to make networks can keep pace with the trajectory of
continuous innovation possible, and to innovation that is coming.
ensure adaptability, performance, and
resilience going forward. As that happens, it will be imperative that
operators up their game with data quality
In 2021, the leaders of 12 telecom service and data accuracy, and more sophisticated
providers put out a joint statement about the machine learning, heuristics, and application
need for big tech to help fund network costs. content classification. As we covered in
Stating that the current situation is not section four in “Rise of the Super App,”
sustainable, Vodafone CEO Nick Read joined applications will be magnitudes more
CEO Timotheus Höttges of Deutsche demanding and complex, and a greater
Telekom (DT), former chairman and CEO of degree of application and network
Orange Stéphane Richard, Chairman and intelligence will be needed to ensure the
CEO of Telefónica José María Álvarez-Pal- best application quality of experience for the
lete and eight others. most customers of fixed and mobile
networks.
In 2022, AT&T and Verizon put out their own
statement, urging the FCC to use money
from the “broader Internet economy” to prop
up the flailing Universal Service Fund.

Currently, the European Commission and the

Body of European Regulators for Electronic
Communications (BEREC) are reviewing how
the Netflix, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft,
Apple, and Amazon use telecom operators’
bandwidth, and a consultation is open with
OfCom about current usage and future usage
with metaverse and other innovations.
 Mobile is the Way to Go
22

Smartphone usage is reshaping YouTube is the main driver of video traffic creeping into the top-10 for both total traffic
app usage and internet traffic over mobile, with 16.24% of total volume, (9th place), and downstream traffic (8th
around the world. and 17.17% of downstream. If we were to place). That is a change from last year, when
combine Facebook and Facebook Video Netflix traffic did not show up in the top 15
In 2028, all growth in mobile data traffic (which we separate in our rankings), apps for mobile traffic. This means more
will come from 5G, according to Facebook would be the #1 culprit for total people are viewing Netflix content on
Ericsson, which expects total mobile and downstream volume over mobile. As mobile, as opposed to just watching and
network traffic to reach approximately you see below, Facebook is the biggest binging at home on bigger screens.
115 EB per month by the end of 2022, “brand” when it comes to traffic, with
and to 453 EB per month by the end of Google 2nd because of its YouTube traffic. We also see that social networking ranks
2028 (that’s including fixed wireless higher for traffic volume over mobile, with
access, FWA). Application Group Total 12.16%, as compared to the global traffic
Volume
ranking, where it holds fourth place at
1 Facebook 27.82% 5.26%. A large part of that volume is
We see that time spent on mobile apps has
grown from about three hours pre-pandemic 2 Google 19.09% attributable to Facebook Video, which has
to a global average of about 5 hours per day, 3 TikTok 13.76% made a rapid rise from 8th place last year to
currently. People used their mobiles for 4 Netflix 2.41% 2nd, with 14.37% of total traffic. This
things they had not previously used them for: 5 Microsoft 1.96% popularity on mobile indicates people are
viewing longer videos, video conferencing, 6 Apple 1.51% using Facebook Video for posting and
file sharing, remote learning, delivery apps viewing videos and one-to-one video chats
7 Amazon 0.38%
(groceries, goods, etc.), gaming, and more. on their mobiles. To further drive interest in
TOTAL 66.93%
the platform, Meta announced in Q1 2022
In 1H 2022, with people on the go again, TikTok moves to 3rd in both the brands that creators could receive a 20% revenue
some COVID habits linger on, with ranking of traffic and ranking of volume by share (a share of in-stream ad revenue) for
video-watching and uploading content app. It also makes a big move in upstream eligible videos that use licensed music. This
growing as people leave their homes and do traffic from 9th place last year to 2nd this is part of a broader initiative to help
more on the move. Video traffic now year, which we cover later in this section. Facebook users monetize short-form and
accounts for a whopping 67.60% of volume. Further down in the ranking, we see Netflix longer videos, expanding eligibility to a

Global Mobile Application Category Volume Totals

TOTAL MOBILE VOLUME DOWNSTREAM VOLUME UPSTREAM VOLUME
Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Video 67.60% 1 Video 70.35% 1 Video 37.11%
2 Social Networking 12.16% 2 Social Networking 12.27% 2 Messaging 18.23%
3 Messaging 5.89% 3 Messaging 4.78% 3 Web Browsing 11.95%
4 Web Browsing 4.51% 4 Web Browsing 3.83% 4 Social Networking 10.96%
5 Marketplace 2.77% 5 Marketplace 2.86% 5 Cloud 9.81%
6 Gaming 2.41% 6 Gaming 2.43% 6 File Sharing 4.27%
7 File Sharing 1.97% 7 File Sharing 1.77% 7 VPN 3.65%
8 Cloud 1.79% 8 Cloud 1.06% 8 Gaming 2.11%
9 VPN 0.79% 9 VPN 0.53% 9 Marketplace 1.82%
10 Audio 0.11% 10 Audio 0.12% 10 Audio 0.10%
 23
greater number of content creators, and uploading content. Google Chat, Telegram, Discord, as well as
allowing creators to earn money from generic ones like WebRTC and RTP. As these
viewer contributions. Also worth mentioning is another short-form apps incorporate more audio and video
specialist, a newcomer in terms of our traffic capabilities, their volume contribution will
Another Meta property, Instagram, appears ranking: Kwai, a Chinese-originated and San increase. Right now, messaging is in 3rd
in 6th place for total volume and down- Paolo-based short-form video platform that place for mobile traffic (a contrast to its 8th
stream volume, and 7th place for upstream. is becoming very popular in Latin America. place ranking in global networks, which
With 1.21 billion active users, Instagram has Appealing to a younger base of 379 million include fixed, mobile, satellite, cable, etc).
become more popular among celebrities and active users, the platform is trying to reach a
brands that have celebrities and people potential market of 600 million people by Upstream and Downstream
promoting their products. During the World taking what it calls a more “democratic” and When looking at upstream trends, we see
Cup, Instagram got global attention when “community building” approach in the way it that TikTok has gone from 9th place last year
Lionel Messi’s photo montage of his ranks followers. to 2nd place this year, with little more than a
experience became the most-liked ever, with percentage point separating it from
57 million likes (see FIFA World Cup myCanal is yet another new name in our Facebook traffic. Downstream, TikTok traffic
spotlight on Page 32). ranking, whose “anytime, anywhere” has almost doubled from last year in the
feature of CANAL+ pay TV service allows same time period, with 14.30% of the traffic
We also want to point out that short-form people to watch movies and series on their – not far behind the leaders of YouTube and
video is represented in the top-10 for the mobiles. (Note: in the 2023 Global Internet Facebook Video at 17.17% and 15.44%,
video category, with third-place TikTok Phenomena Report, rankings will parse out respectively. Short-form video like TikTok
doubling its mobile traffic since last year, TV, streaming and download video in a more could be regarded as the new guard in terms
now with 14% of the total volume and granular way to further distinguish and of “heavy usage” that can impact operators’
about the same for downstream. Though categorize “video” traffic.) expansions, much like peer-to-peer (P2P) did
TikTok traffic decreased as a percentage of in the early 2000s.
total internet volume, it continues to drive Before examining upstream and down-
significant mobile traffic. This makes sense, stream trends, we want to touch on the Here we also see QUIC traffic holding a
since younger people are its base, and they messaging category, which includes apps prominent position, with Google, Meta,
tend to rely on mobile more for viewing and like WeChat, WhatsApp, Wattpad, Slack, Facebook, Netflix, Snapchat, Apple, and

Global Mobile Application Volume Totals

TOTAL MOBILE VOLUME DOWNSTREAM VOLUME UPSTREAM VOLUME
Total Total Total
Application Application Application
Volume Volume Volume
1 YouTube 16.24% 1 YouTube 17.17% 1 Facebook 9.15%
2 Facebook Video 14.37% 2 Facebook Video 15.44% 2 TikTok 7.68%
3 TikTok 13.76% 3 TikTok 14.30% 3 Generic Messaging 6.83%
4 Generic QUIC 9.49% 4 Generic QUIC 9.89% 4 myCanal 6.04%
5 Facebook 5.94% 5 Facebook 5.65% 5 Google 6.00%
6 Instagram 4.82% 6 Instagram 4.80% 6 YouTube 5.86%
7 HTTP Media Stream 4.09% 7 HTTP Media Stream 4.35% 7 Instagram 5.12%
8 WhatsApp 2.68% 8 Netflix 2.58% 8 Generic QUIC 5.07%
9 Netflix 2.41% 9 WhatsApp 2.48% 9 WhatsApp 4.84%
10 Snapchat 1.60% 10 Snapchat 1.62% 10 Amazon AWS 3.25%
 Mobile is the Way to Go (Cont’d)
24

other big platforms increasingly employing though global smartphone shipments fell 65%
QUIC to improve QoE metrics. As they do so, 11% in Q1 2022 and 9% in Q2. Apple also
app traffic increases, obfuscating visibility achieved a record revenue of $124 billion for 60%

for less-sophisticated analytics systems, Q1 and $97.3 billion for Q2 (9% YoY growth),
which then classify it as “unknown.” This despite supply chain issues and production 55%
makes it more difficult for network planning woes during COVID recovery.
and operations to see what’s happening in 50%
downstream and upstream traffic. Apple also boasted an all-time high in terms
of installed base, which hit 2 billion devices 45%
Devices Matter in Q3. Of those 2 billion devices, approxi-
When talking about mobile traffic and the mately 1.2 billion are iPhones. With 40%
apps driving that traffic, it’s important to saturation in its mainstay markets like Japan
understand the devices over which people and the United States, Apple did attract new 35%
are consuming or creating video, or engaging users in Europe, Middle East and Africa –
in conversations either with voice or even though there was market contraction 30%
messaging, chat, or text. Approximately 70% in all of those regions the past year.
of the global population will have mobile 25%
connectivity by 2023, with 5G devices and Some speculate Apple’s focus on making its
connections becoming possible for over 10% iPhones from series 12 on “5G compatible” 20%
of global mobile devices and connections by might drive further growth, with the iPhone
end of 2023, according to Cisco. acting as a driver to other Apple devices 15%
(i.e., Airpods, Mac, iPad, Wearables, Home
Of those devices, Android is the predomi- and Accessories, and Services). Apple may 10%
nant OS worldwide, with 3 billion active be approaching what some feel is a
Android devices, 75% market share, and “supercycle,” as supply chain issues that 5%
85% market share in Brazil, India, Indonesia, affected iPhone 14 Pro, Pro Max, and Apple
Turkey and Vietnam. Watch Ultra shipments become less of an 0%
issue going into 2023. Other

But interestingly, we see Apple is making up

some ground. It was the only smartphone
company that saw growth in H1 2022, even

Global Top 10 Mobile Applications by Category

Video Games Social Messaging

1 YouTube Playstation Downloads Facebook WhatsApp

2 Facebook Video Steam Instagram Generic Messaging
3 TikTok PUBG Snapchat Telegram
4 Generic QUIC ROBLOX VK Facebook
5 HTTP Media Stream Garena Free Fire Twitch Discord Voice
6 Netflix Epic Games Launcher Twitter Broadcast Wattpad
7 Kwai Video Media Fire Pinterest Agora.io
8 myCanal Steam Client Twitter Microsoft Teams
9 XNXX Generic Gaming GIPHY Skype
10 Disney+ MEGA Reddit Google Generic Call
Spotlight: QUIC Is Here to Stay

25
Facebook
YouTube
QUIC
Other Apps
30% QUIC Traffic Analysis
3-6% other QUIC traffic

QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) Additionally, VPNs and communication and happening on networks. That’s true overall
traffic is almost as high as TCP in today’s conferencing applications are also making with the rise in encryption(i.e., Apple iCloud
networks (though major high bandwidth more use of QUIC. Private Relay), QUIC, and HTTP/3 traffic, all
applications still continue to migrate to of which leads to a flood of “unknown” or
TLS 1.3). As you’ll see in our “total In examining data from several networks, “other” traffic, especially on networks that
volume” chart on Page 13, where we below we show a breakdown of what we see rely on more basic techniques to identify
talk about the Big-brands that dominate in terms of QUIC volumes for Google, Meta, app traffic.
internet traffic, QUIC is a prominent FaceTime, TikTok, and HBO Max.
driver of traffic volume: it holds the #3 Using increasingly sophisticated app
position in total volume, #6 position in Does video QoE have to mean a classification techniques, it is possible to
upstream traffic, and #3 in downstream. visibility tradeoff? classify “unknown” traffic to gauge what’s
The answer is “no.” The challenge for happening on networks and measure the
Indeed, privacy and security are extremely operators is that QUIC and obfuscate what’s application experiences of subscribers.
salient to both application developers and
users, and this is driving more investments
in encryption technologies like SSL v3, TLS Applications using IETF QUIC
for TCP, and QUIC for UDP traffic. YouTube 46.05%

Instagram Video 17.00%

YouTube is the biggest user of QUIC,
understandably, as Google did create QUIC Facebook 16.19%
for better performance (i.e., less packet loss,
Facebook Video 5.05%
faster Web browsing, reduced page loading
times), and YouTube is its biggest driver of Google Cloud Storage 4.23%
internet traffic volume. QUIC is used in more Google Play 2.99%
than half of all connections from its Chrome
web browser to Google servers. iCloud Private Relay 2.46%

Google 1.76%
Once IETF QUIC came into being, Facebook
used it to achieve better QoE for video FaceTime 1.48%
content-based applications and as much as TikTok 1.13%
75% of its traffic uses QUIC.
YouTube Web 0.96%
Apps from Apple, TikTok, HBO Max, Amazon HBO Max 0.71%
Prime, and others are now following suite for
more stable, fast, and encrypted connections.
Microsoft Edge (a derivative of the open-
source Chromium browser) and Firefox
support it. Safari implements the protocol,
however it is not enabled by default.
 Regional Application Popularity Trends
26

Netflix is King in Americas and content that is increasingly appealing to U.S. Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines.
APAC, but YouTube retains the and U.K. audiences, local-language content,
crown in EMEA and original films, series, and games tailored It seems that in most regions, mobile games
to different languages and countries. are growing at a faster rate than PC online
While video dominates traffic in all and console games, namely because of the
regions, don’t discount the impact As it expands, Netflix recognizes it has to value mobility/portability brings. With
gaming, marketplace, social network- extend its reach to mobile-first developing MMORPGs offering online versions, and
ing, and cloud storage services are markets in Asia & Oceania, EMEA, Latin mobile device RAM improving all the time,
having on total traffic and upstream/ America & the Caribbean, where fixed-net- people are increasingly willing to forego
downstream symmetry work penetration averages about 60%, and graphical advances and 4K resolution while
mobile about 80%. It is starting off by on the move. While PC and console gaming
The volume exerted by video over fixed and offering some free or low-cost content over aren’t going anywhere, we do believe that
mobile networks is quite obvious in our Android and iOS apps, even offering a online gaming will continue to climb, and
regional charts, as video is by far the top mobile-only plan as an experiment in India hence, traffic from mobile devices will
traffic category in all regions, with the at 250 rupees/$3.63/month. steadily increase.
Americas seeing the largest composition of
total video traffic at 73.74%, APAC at The impact of its heavy content acquisition Worldwide, mobile gaming is expected to
66.11%, and EMEA at 62.46%. As we saw and production will be more traffic over fixed advance at a CAGR of 12.3% and reach USD
in our rankings on page 13, Netflix and mobile networks around the world. 338 billion by 2030. That growth will be
dethroned YouTube as king in terms of total Whether it will be Netflix in the number-one driven not only in APAC (particularly
volume, and that trend holds true in America spot next year remains to be seen, as Disney Southeast Asia), but also Latin and South
and APAC, where Netflix comprises 22% surpassed Netflix in terms of subscribers Americas, where smartphone penetration is
and 20% of traffic, respectively. It also is with 221.1 million subscribers in Q3, high across Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and
responsible for the most downstream traffic surpassing Netflix’s 220.7 million. But Disney Mexico (geographically Central America). In
at 23% in Americas, and 22% in APAC. is still far behind in revenue, and in traffic these countries, eSports are proving to be a
volume. That could change. Time will tell. big driver of online gaming, thanks to the
In EMEA, however, it’s still YouTube that popularity of fútbol, the South American
reigns, with 18% of the total, 19% More Gaming… on the Go! Games (XII Juegos Suramericanos Asunción
downstream, 11% upstream. Netflix is in Americas and APAC are similar in that the 2022), and massively multiplayer online role
5th place for total and downstream traffic, #2 category is gaming for both total and playing games (MMORPGs). Approximately
with Facebook Video and Facebook social downstream traffic, whereas EMEA sees 274 million people play mobile games in
networking apps generating the most social networking in the 2nd spot for total Latin America, so it represents a huge
internet traffic. and downstream (with messaging 2nd for untapped market thanks to the sheer size of
upstream). APAC, however, represents the the population and the mobile-first mindset
Below is a closer look at a few key trends world’s largest gaming market. In China, for of people there.
that will drive up internet traffic: instance, there are between 685 million and
720 million gamers. In Europe, about there are 330 million
Netflix is streaming king in Americas gamers, with 201 million of them on mobile
and APAC India also is a huge gaming market, with – a figure set to rise to 218 million by 2023,
We believe Netflix traffic will continue to 507 million gamers and a market valued at with the United Kingdom and Germany
grow in volume as it expands beyond its $2.6 billion. Because of the large youth representing two of the biggest markets.
previously American-centric view into other population with disposable income, that
regions of the world. Netflix has indicated it number is expected to quadruple by 2027. In North America, there are approximately
has runway to spend as much as $50 billion 304 million mobile gamers, with the average
on content to appeal to different geogra- Other regions that have seen gaming take gameplay time at 8 hours per week. Overall
phies and cultures. Some recent examples off during and after COVID are Japan the average weekly play time has increased
include dozens of anime titles, Korean Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, 27% despite out-of-home activities
 27
Regional Category Traffic Share Total
AMERICAS CATEGORY SHARE APAC CATEGORY SHARE EMEA CATEGORY SHARE

TOTAL TRAFFIC TOTAL TRAFFIC TOTAL TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Video 73.74% 1 Video 66.11% 1 Video 62.46%
2 Gaming 5.77% 2 Gaming 7.33% 2 Social Networking 14.22%
3 Marketplace 4.19% 3 Marketplace 7.19% 3 Messaging 4.94%
4 Social Networking 3.77% 4 Cloud 5.11% 4 Web Browsing 4.38%
5 Cloud 3.52% 5 File Sharing 3.37% 5 Marketplace 4.20%
6 Web Browsing 3.34% 6 Social Networking 3.30% 6 Gaming 3.01%
7 Messaging 2.48% 7 Web Browsing 2.90% 7 File Sharing 2.59%
8 File Sharing 1.43% 8 Messaging 2.25% 8 Cloud 2.58%
9 Audio 0.92% 9 VPN 1.62% 9 VPN 1.33%
10 VPN 0.83% 10 Audio 0.80% 10 Audio 0.30%

Regional Application Traffic Share Total

AMERICAS APP SHARE APAC APP SHARE EMEA APP SHARE

TOTAL TRAFFIC TOTAL TRAFFIC TOTAL TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Netflix 22.19% 1 Netflix 20.10% 1 YouTube 18.30%
2 YouTube 15.69% 2 YouTube 10.77% 2 Facebook Video 11.68%
3 Generic QUIC 13.56% 3 Generic QUIC 10.50% 3 Facebook 10.58%
4 Disney+ 3.37% 4 Disney+ 6.22% 4 Generic QUIC 9.09%
5 Playstation Downloads 3.03% 5 Akamai CDN 4.25% 5 Netflix 5.50%
6 Amazon Prime 2.79% 6 Playstation Downloads 3.66% 6 Instagram 5.09%
7 HTTP Media Stream 2.62% 7 Xbox Live 3.59% 7 HTTP Media Stream 3.79%
8 Xbox Live 1.74% 8 Amazon Prime 2.25% 8 WhatsApp 2.80%
9 Hulu 1.57% 9 iTunes Store 1.81% 9 Android Market 1.58%
10 HbbTV 1.51% 10 HTTP Media Stream 1.69% 10 Google 1.50%
 Regional Application Popularity Trends (cont’d)
28

resuming after the first two years of COVID, also creating more content for upload to Also prominent in EMEA is traffic from
and players are contributing 16% more social media, blogging, and video sites. Meta’s Instagram for photo and video
revenue than they did in 2020. In the United sharing and WhatsApp for messaging.
States, smartphone penetration is expected Traditionally, upstream capacity wasn’t a big While these platforms have seen drops
to reach 86% by 2025 (328 million mobile concern, but now with more performance- among younger people in more developed
phones), so that fact combined with 5G will sensitive videoconferencing requiring two regions like North America and Europe (as
further drive interest. -way communications, and with more video people flock to Netflix and TikTok, for
and content being uploaded to the cloud, example), they still remain popular in areas
Marketplaces are Booming there may be more network asymmetry. where reliable broadband and internet is in
Global online sales reached 4.29 trillion in early stages.
2020, and in 2021, digital, third-party Though upstream traffic was markedly
marketplaces grew 81% with some higher during 2020 and 2021, with increases
predicting this market will reach 6.5 Trillion as high as 56% to 96%, even more subtle
dollars in sales by 2023. In our data, we see increases of 5% to 10% could impact
marketplace apps are generating more symmetrical downstream/upstream speeds.
traffic, as people find them a safe, conven- To avoid network asymmetry, operators may
ient way to shop for goods and services. have to change how they view upstream
Some popular marketplaces people access capacity and choose to add more fiber or
over iOS and Android App Stores include: virtualization and automation technologies.
Amazon, eBay, Rakuten, AliExpress, Etsy,
Alibaba, eBay, Taobao, Tmall, Groupon, Uber Social networking traffic still a top
Eats, DoorDash – to name just a few. This category in EMEA, despite drop
category is flourishing and even luxury elsewhere
brands are taking note, as with italist, In this category, Europe would be where
Farfetch, Luxify, and James Edition. Netflix traffic would be highest, especially in
four key markets Netflix targets: Belgium,
Also popular are stock market apps from Romania, Spain, and Sweden, but it’s diluted
Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Robinhood, and SoFi by traffic trends from other regions. For
appeal to neophytes and pros alike. example, the Middle East has been more
complex for Netflix (as well as Disney and
As people get more comfortable, we also other streamers) in terms of creating and
see more niche marketplaces emerging. For offering content appropriate to the norms
example, Docplanner connects patients to and regulations of various Middle Eastern
medical professionals; Upwork connects countries. And in Africa, streaming
freelancers and specialists with employers; platforms are dealing with the fact South
Startupmatcher is a Nordic marketplace for Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and other developing
connecting developers to start-ups. nations are still in the throes of building out
stable internet.
Cloud services driving increase in
upstream volume For these reasons, YouTube and Facebook
Upstream cloud traffic has increased 20% in Video remain prominent in the traffic ranking.
Americas, 23% in APAC, and 11% in EMEA, You’ll also see QUIC is high in the ranking for
perhaps because people are doing more total and downstream traffic, as QUIC goes
posting of files and media to cloud storage hand-in-hand with YouTube and Facebook
services (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, traffic because both Google and Meta are big
Media Fire, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, users of QUIC. For more on that, check out
Amazon AWS, Tencent Cloud, etc), while “QUIC is Here to Stay” page 35.
 29
Regional Category Traffic Share Downstream
AMERICAS CATEGORY SHARE APAC CATEGORY SHARE EMEA CATEGORY SHARE

DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Video 76.43% 1 Video 69.45% 1 Video 65.29%
2 Gaming 5.99% 2 Gaming 7.72% 2 Social Networking 14.76%
3 Marketplace 4.27% 3 Marketplace 7.57% 3 Marketplace 4.04%
4 Social Networking 3.83% 4 Cloud 3.37% 4 Messaging 4.01%
5 Web Browsing 2.67% 5 Social Networking 3.31% 5 Web Browsing 3.77%
6 Cloud 2.18% 6 Web Browsing 2.48% 6 Gaming 3.14%
7 Messaging 1.93% 7 File Sharing 2.35% 7 File Sharing 2.23%
8 File Sharing 1.19% 8 Messaging 1.59% 8 Cloud 1.57%
9 Audio 0.95% 9 VPN 1.32% 9 VPN 0.89%
10 VPN 0.55% 10 Audio 0.85% 10 Audio 0.31%

Regional Application Traffic Share Downstream

AMERICAS APP SHARE APAC APP SHARE EMEA APP SHARE

DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC DOWNSTREAM TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Netflix 23.48% 1 Netflix 21.72% 1 YouTube 19.22%
2 YouTube 16.57% 2 YouTube 11.51% 2 Facebook Video 12.68%
3 Generic QUIC 13.88% 3 Generic QUIC 11.02% 3 Facebook 10.71%
4 Disney+ 3.53% 4 Disney+ 6.65% 4 Generic QUIC 9.62%
5 Playstation Downloads 3.20% 5 Akamai CDN 4.56% 5 Netflix 5.71%
6 Amazon Prime 2.93% 6 Playstation Downloads 3.87% 6 Instagram 5.32%
7 HTTP Media Stream 2.79% 7 Xbox Live 3.85% 7 HTTP Media Stream 4.16%
8 Xbox Live 1.84% 8 Amazon Prime 2.42% 8 WhatsApp 2.44%
9 Hulu 1.65% 9 iTunes Store 1.93% 9 Generic Web Browsing 1.43%
10 HbbTV 1.62% 10 Steam 1.59% 10 Android Market 1.30%
 Regional Application Popularity Trends (cont’d)
30

Regional Category Traffic Share Upstream

AMERICAS CATEGORY SHARE APAC CATEGORY SHARE EMEA CATEGORY SHARE

UPSTREAM TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Video 39.96% 1 Video 31.91% 1 Video 39.65%
2 Cloud 20.39% 2 Cloud 22.97% 2 Messaging 12.40%
3 Web Browsing 11.76% 3 File Sharing 13.90% 3 Cloud 10.64%
4 Messaging 9.39% 4 Messaging 9.09% 4 Social Networking 9.93%
5 File Sharing 4.45% 5 Web Browsing 7.24% 5 Web Browsing 9.30%
6 VPN 4.39% 6 VPN 4.73% 6 Marketplace 5.47%
7 Marketplace 3.19% 7 Gaming 3.35% 7 File Sharing 5.45%
8 Gaming 3.03% 8 Marketplace 3.31% 8 VPN 4.95%
9 Social Networking 2.91% 9 Social Networking 3.16% 9 Gaming 1.96%
10 Audio 0.53% 10 Audio 0.35% 10 Audio 0.26%

Regional Application Traffic Share Upstream

AMERICAS APP SHARE APAC APP SHARE EMEA APP SHARE

UPSTREAM TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC UPSTREAM TRAFFIC

Total Total Total
Category Category Category
Volume Volume Volume
1 Generic QUIC 9.49% 1 iCloud 10.41% 1 YouTube 11.39%
2 Google 8.19% 2 Generic QUIC 5.23% 2 Facebook 9.61%
3 Amazon AWS 6.62% 3 BitTorrent transfer 4.98% 3 WhatsApp 5.59%
4 Netflix 6.17% 4 Generic Messaging 4.04% 4 Google 5.34%
5 FaceTime 5.89% 5 Netflix 3.59% 5 Generic QUIC 5.10%
6 iCloud 5.52% 6 BitTorrent KRPC 3.54% 6 Facebook Video 4.07%
7 YouTube 4.78% 7 Google 3.52% 7 Netflix 3.89%
8 Google Cloud Storage 3.26% 8 Microsoft Teams 3.41% 8 Android Market 3.73%
9 Generic Messaging 3.07% 9 YouTube 3.32% 9 Instagram 3.42%
10 WhatsApp 2.99% 10 Generic File Sharing 3.04% 10 Generic Messaging 3.09%
 31
Americas Top 10 Applications by Category
Video Games Social Messaging

1 Netflix Playstation Downloads Twitch WhatsApp

2 YouTube Steam Facebook Generic Messaging
3 Generic QUIC ROBLOX Instagram Discord Voice
4 Tik Tok Epic Games Launcher Snapchat Telegram
5 Disney+ Steam Client Reddit Wattpad
6 Amazon Prime Nintendo Online Pinterest Facebook
7 HTTP Media Stream Xbox Live TLS Twitter WeChat
8 Hulu MediaFire Baidu WeChat voice
9 HbbTV League of Legends QQ Google Generic Call
10 HBO MAX MEGA LinkedIn Discord

APAC Top 10 Applications by Category

Video Games Social Messaging

1 Netflix Playstation Downloads Twitch Generic Messaging

2 YouTube Steam Facebook Wattpad
3 Generic QUIC Epic Games Launcher Snapchat WhatsApp
4 Disney+ ROBLOX Reddit LINE
5 Akamai CDN Nintendo Online Instagram Discord Voice
6 Tik Tok Steam Client Naver Facebook
7 Amazon Prime MEGA Pinterest Telegram
8 HTTP Media Stream League of Legends Twitter Discord
9 CloudFront CDN Generic Gaming Baidu WeChat
10 Foxtel Now EA Game QQ WeChat voice

EMEA Top 10 Applications by Category

Video Games Social Messaging

1 YouTube Playstation Downloads Facebook WhatsApp

2 Tik Tok Steam Instagram Facebook
3 Facebook Video Epic Games Launcher Snapchat Telegram
4 Generic QUIC ROBLOX Twitch Generic Messaging
5 Netflix PUBG VK Discord Voice
6 HTTP Media Stream Garena Free Fire Pinterest Wattpad
7 Instagram Steam Client Twitter Broadcast Microsoft Teams
8 XNXX League of Legends Twitter Agora.io
9 Kwai Video MediaFire Reddit Skype
10 Disney+ Xbox Live TLS LinkedIn Google Generic Call
 Spotlight: FIFA World Cup – Is Sport the Next Frontier of Str
32

The epic final led by Argentina’s Lionel more digitally native audiences craving new 2018, when 3.575 billion people watched
Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappé experiences and formats for sports, the 2022 the World Cup, and 1.12 billion tuned in for
was one of the most dramatic and most FIFA World Cup in Qatar became a case France’s final with Croatia.
viewed sporting events ever, generat- study of how apps and streaming services
ing unprecedented internet traffic could bring the type of mobility, flexibility, To get an idea of what the impact of
volumes worldwide for an individual and engagement traditional TV could not. increased streaming and VoD might have
sporting event. Is it a harbinger of been, let’s look at our own data from a few
what’s to come? FIFA President Gianni Infantino had networks around the world:
predicted the World Cup in Qatar would be
Sports and sports fandom are the mod- watched by at least 5 billion people around Overall, in Figures 1 and 2, you see volumes
ern-day “tribes” through which people unite the world. That’s not hard to fathom, given more than double after the kickoff on 21
in a common purpose. Playing, viewing, the growing popularity of the sport November. In Figure 3, we show how one
debating, betting – it all feeds a human worldwide (particularly in huge markets like major operator in EMEA experienced 7x
need for excitement and solidarity. Combine India, for instance) and growing penetration normal traffic from end of November to
the passion for sports with the passion for of mobile devices and digital platforms beginning of December, when semi-final and
digital access anytime, anywhere, and worldwide. Once completed, FIFA data for final matches took place.
you’ve got a new frontier. With younger, 2022 may shatter previous records set in
Not only were there significant increases in
Figure 1: North America (NA) Trends streaming VOD and live streaming during
18,000 GB
matches, but surges of traffic within matches
16,000 GB
as digital engagement was triggered by
14,000 GB goals, yellow cards, and penalties. In Figure 4,
12,000 GB a North American Cable Operator sees traffic
steadily climb in each 10-minute increments
Bandwidth

10,000 GB

8,000 GB
of the Argentina-France final, reflective of the
excitement generated by each goal and each
6,000 GB
yellow card as the match grew more
4,000 GB
contentious, and as the urgency of the
2,000 GB situation was conveyed across digital
0 GB platforms (messaging, social networks, chat).
9 Nov 11 Nov 13 Nov 15 Nov 17 Nov 19 Nov 21 Nov
Day of Stats Time (November 2022)
TLS 1.3 Peacock Hulu Live fuboTV FOX
We saw, for example, a network on which
Twitter traffic surged from about 60 GB to
240 GB Figure 2: Europe (EU) Trends 130 GB once the World Cup starts. These
220 GB upticks in internet traffic volume are not
200 GB surprising when one considers what was
180 GB being widely reported about record-breaking
160 GB viewing on TV, VoD, and streaming platforms
140 GB country by country. In the United States, the
Bandwidth

120 GB
showdown between Argentina and France
100 GB
became the most-streamed and most-
80 GB
watched match in U.S. history, averaged
60 GB
approximately 26 million viewers across Fox
40 GB
and Telemundo (including Peacock)
20 GB
channels, a 158% increase in streaming
0 GB
4 Nov 9 Nov 14 Nov 19 Nov
since the 2018 World Cup.
Day of Stats Time (November 2022)
Twitter Broadcast fuboTV Fox Facebook Live
reaming?

33
In Japan, youth-focused streamer Abema These trends are just some of what’s driving just how much streaming and VOD viewing
procured streaming rights for all FIFA World Amazon, Apple, Walt Disney Co. (and ESPN increases by the time the Cup gets to the
Cup games in Japan, it didn’t realize each and streaming app ESPN+), as well as other Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, and how
match Japan won would spur more interest big platforms, to jockey for rights to the much more internet traffic volumes will
for the next match, growing from 10 million 2030 World Cup. It’ll be interesting to see grow by then!
to 30 million active daily viewers by the time
Japan was playing Croatia at the end of
November. To keep up, Abema engineers
reportedly had to temporarily restrict access,
which caused a flood of Twitter complaints Figure 3: EMEA Major Operator Traffic
from its younger viewers 240 GB
9 December: Big day in the tournament. Brazil
240 GB knocked out on penalties against Croatia while
Argentina beat Netherlands in a shoot-out later THE FINAL
In Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, 220 GB France v
Argentina
200 GB
viewership ranged from 14 million to almost As the tournament progresses,
180 GB traffic levels go up with excitement:
30 million, with about one-third to one-half 6-7 times normal levels
160 GB
streaming the content.
140 GB Semi
Bandwidth

Finals
120 GB
In Mexico, viewership peaked with 20.96 FIFA Tournament starts.
BW usage spikes to 300%
100 GB
million viewers, about 67.9% of the viewing
80 GB
population, watching the Mexico-Argentina
60 GB
match, which also became the largest FIFA Normal levels of Twitter traffic

40 GB
World Cup Group Stage match in Span-
20 GB
ish-language history when televised by
0 GB
Telemundo in the United States. 2 Nov 7 Nov 12 Nov 17 Nov 22 Nov 27 Nov 2 Dec 7 Dec 12 Dec 17 Dec

Figure 4: North American Operator traffic climb during FIFA World Cup Final
34

CONCLUSION:
THE ‘SO WHAT?’
Telecom is Reaching expected to do what’s necessary to fuel the markets going forward.
an Inflection Point optimal application experience.
There is still time to balance currently
As we showed in section 2 of this This is the inflection point. unchecked actions of those riding on top of
report, the “Big 6” application giants networks by developing profit-sharing and
exerting more volumetric pressure on With innovation, everyone will inevitably ROI models that help operators reinvest in
networks than everyone else, combined want more… of everything. And commensu- their networks.
(this year at 47.98% of total internet rate with the growing demand for band-
traffic). Alphabet (Google), Meta width, throughput, and latency will be a flood Regulators and policymakers in the United
(Facebook), Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and of Internet traffic across networks. Today, States, Europe, and Asia (Singapore, South
Microsoft are expecting to redefine operators throw as much CAPEX as they can Korea, Japan, India) are reevaluating current
user experiences, and to do it without at their networks, and squeeze out more net-neutrality regulations in the context of
any input from or payment to those who efficiency to the detriment of their own what happened with COVID. The digital
own the networks on top of which bottomline and sustainability. They operate need, and digital divide, revealed how
those user experiences will be fulfilled. under fairly slim net profit margins (approxi- expected and unexpected catastrophes
mately 12 to 13% in 2022), with extremely (pandemics, weather calamities, wars) – as
Their contribution is just part of what’s high expenses mitigating their gross profits. well as day-to-day usage and special events
making the Internet grow so rapidly. (sports, music, entertainment) –require
According to statistics from Cisco Systems, In 2020, CAPEX was $79.4 billion for U.S. enormous resilience and adaptability.
global average Internet traffic will have operators, bringing the cumulative total to
increased 3.2-fold from 2018 to 2021 (with a $1.9 trillion in communications CAPEX The World Economic Forum predicts
compound annual growth rate of 26%). since the Telecommunications Act was democratization of computing with
passed in 1996. high-speed Internet worldwide can unleash
Various industry stats estimate that by the trillions-of-dollars in economic gains and
end of 2023, between 63% and 66% of the In 2021, telcos in Europe spent 52.5 billion tens-of-millions of jobs. Networks will be
global population will be using the Internet. euros ($59.4 billion) in 2021 for investments in the lifeblood of those gains, but only with
As revealed during the two past years of networks, 5G trials, licenses, planning, and massive broadband and wireless invest-
COVID, digitization was accelerated and the deployment. It was recently predicted by ment. Those building the infrastructure have
digital divide widened by the pandemic. It Omdia that monthly ARPU combined across to get a return on investment to make
became very clear that people, businesses, both mobile and fixed broadband will fall by continuous innovation possible, and to
institutions, and government can rapidly 4.2% from €7.48 in 2022 to €7.16 in 2027. ensure adaptability, performance, and
increase their digital comfort levels, resilience going forward.
engagement, and acumen once the Even with aggressive fiber rollouts, telcos
technologies are there to use. As 5G, IoT, can’t expect any big changes to their profit In 2021, the leaders of 13 telecom service
Metaverse, and AI come into their own, margins under current rules. They either providers put out a joint statement about the
shared customers of telecom and big tech have to continue building out capacity in need for big tech to help fund network costs.
will have increasingly high expectations perpetuity, or try to push back with proof Stating that the current situation is not
about how applications and services should points they deliver to regulators and sustainable, Vodafone CEO Nick Read joined
perform, and network operators will be policymakers that help them secure their CEO Timotheus Höttges of Deutsche
own sustainability and place in world Telekom (DT), former chairman and CEO of
 35
Orange Stéphane Richard, Chairman and As that happens, it will be imperative that
CEO of Telefónica José María Álvarez-Pal- operators up their game with data quality
lete and eight others. and data accuracy, and more sophisticated
machine learning, heuristics, and application
In 2022, AT&T and Verizon put out their own content classification. As we covered in
statement, urging the FCC to use money section four in “Rise of the Super App,”
from the “broader Internet economy” to prop applications will be magnitudes more
up the flailing Universal Service Fund. demanding and complex, and a greater
degree of application and network
Currently, the European Commission and the intelligence will be needed to ensure the
Body of European Regulators for Electronic best application quality of experience for the
Communications (BEREC) are reviewing how most customers of fixed and mobile
the Netflix, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, networks.
Apple, and Amazon use telecom operators’
bandwidth, and a consultation is open with
OfCom about current usage and future usage
with metaverse and other innovations.

In the United States, there is some

investment from the federal government
through the Inflation Reduction Act Network operators will be expected
(P.L.117-18) and the Infrastructure Invest-
ment and Jobs Act (P.L.117-58), which to do what’s necessary to fuel the optimal
include billions-of-dollars for broadband
investment and tax breaks to push application experience
communications innovations.

In automotive, manufacturing, and

healthcare, there will be amalgamations of
video, robotics, AI, sensors, AR/VR, and
more. More performance-dependent
applications will exert even more pressure
on operators’ networks in terms of latency,
responsiveness, and speed.

The time has come for network operators and

service providers in telecom to be unshackled
from outdated rules and regulations so that
networks can keep pace with the trajectory of
innovation that is coming.
 What next? Contact Us
36

Next Steps with Sandvine Do you have requests for insights?

Now that you know what applications are We love inbound requests for data from
driving internet consumer trends, plan for our customers, prospects, industry
2023 with Sandvine. analysts, and press. Many of the topics we
cover in the Phenomena Report cross
Reach out to phenomena@sandvine.com boundaries from tech into entertainment,
if you have any questions or to meet with and we welcome inquiries where we can
our team of experts. help give clarity to the market. If you have
questions, please reach out to Sandvine at
phenomena@sandvine.com

We will also blog regularly; if you missed

some of our recent ones, check out the
Phenomena Spotlights:
https://www.sandvine.com/blog

Visit www.sandvine.com and read our

blog at www.sandvine.com/blog to
learn more about our Application and
Network Intelligence portfolio.

Resources
Come see our Resources page for a wide
range of videos, webinars, and whitepapers:
www.sandvine.com/resources
ABOUT SANDVINE
Sandvine recognizes that telecom

37
service provider brands are
inextricably tied to application
quality of experience (App QoE)
– the best measure of real-time
customer satisfaction. Whether
video, messaging, social media, or
collaboration, the application is the
subscriber’s primary interface with
the network.

To optimize App QoE to the most

customers, application and network App QoE at multiple levels uncovers the unseen
intelligence must be rooted in data
that can drive better business
outcomes. That’s why Sandvine
uses a unique combination of data

95%
management, network infrastructure, What is the application QoE:
and application solutions to • per location?
accurately identify, categorize, and • by user segment?
classify more than 95% of all internet Accuracy • per device?
traffic across all access types.
2500+ APPS • by plan?
Sandvine’s 20 years of experience
with the world’s most innovative
operators brings unparalleled
expertise to analyze, optimize and
monetize networks. Using advanced Guided Workflows
heuristics and machine-learning
What Who Where When
based App QoE scoring, we help
service providers accurately identify What is being Who is being Where is being When did
impacted? impacted? impacted? it happen?
who, what, when, and where App
Individual
QoE issues are occurring, enabling Application Locations Time of day
subscribers
operations teams to quickly resolve App Category HVAs Slices Peak hours
problems, and planning teams to App Content Category Enterprises Specific nodes Trends
precisely plan for future growth.
Specific devices
Drill down to “why?” – most likely cause with recommended next best action
From the CTO to customer care,
Sandvine’s App QoE focus will Closed-loop Automation to implement recommended next best action
improve operations and planning.
while reducing costs and improving Better data accuracy leads to better planning,
customer satisfaction. troubleshooting, and monetization
For more information visit https://www.sandvine.com
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