With many cable and DSL providers around the world mulling how to package broadband, bandwidth usage distribution is under the microscope, particularly when it comes to over the top (OTT) consumption. According to new research from Sandvine (News - Alert), Netflix and YouTube continue to have a noticeable, global effect on networks, with mobile growth beginning to snowball. That’s taking the wind out of peer-to-peer (P2P) files-sharing, which is clearly sailing into its sunset years.

Not all Internet users are created equal, and ISPs have been trying to craft packages that take into account low- and high-use subscribers. Take, for instance, Comcast’s (News - Alert) Flexible-Data Option trial, which provides a $5 credit if a customer’s total monthly data usage is less than 5 GB per month. But understanding consumption in the first place is critical. The Global Internet Phenomena Report for the second half of 2013 shows that in North America, 1 percent of subscribers account for 39.8 percent of total upstream traffic; the comparable top 1 percent of downstream users account for 10.1 percent of downstream bytes. At the opposite end of the usage spectrum, the network’s lightest 50 percent of users account for only 6.8 percent of total monthly traffic.

Across the board, streaming video and audio is—no surprise—the largest traffic category on virtually every network. Going into 2014, Sandvine expects the emergence of longer-form video on mobile networks globally to begin to make a mark

In North America, the dominance of streaming, or real-time, entertainment is due in large part to the continued market leadership of both Netflix and YouTube, which when combined now account for more than half of the downstream traffic during peak periods. Netflix continues to be the unchallenged leader for traffic there, accounting for 31.6 percent of downstream traffic during peak periods—and it should be noted that that number was determined before Netflix made SuperHD content available to all subscribers.

In other regions, YouTube dominates on both fixed and mobile access networks, which makes it the leading source of Internet traffic in the entire world. And YouTube continues to see growth in its share, now accounting for 18.7 percent of peak downstream traffic, up 9 percent from the first half of the year.

“This growth is likely not caused by the adoption of paid channels, but instead by continued growth of smartphone and tablet use within the home (i.e. “home roaming”),” Sandvine said in its report. “While changes in share have been relatively minor, most interesting is the fact that Netflix and YouTube now combine to account for more than 50 percent of downstream traffic.”

New apps making imprints on network usage include Instagram and, interestingly, Dropbox (News - Alert). Both have emerged as top-ranked applications in many regions across the globe. And, due to the recent addition of video, Instagram is now the seventh-ranked top downstream application on mobile networks in Latin America, making it a prime candidate for inclusion in the tiered data plans that are popular in the region.

Meanwhile, all of that streaming video is taking a bite out of previously ascendant P2P file-sharing traffic. Remember when BitTorrent (News - Alert) ate up so much bandwidth that it prompted ISPs to skirt ‘Net neutrality rules? In 2003, file-sharing accounted for 60 percent of daily Internet traffic in North America; in 2008 it made up just 31 percent. Today, it accounts for less than 10 percent of total daily traffic in North America.

“File-sharing continues to disappear from many fixed access networks across the globe as real-time entertainment options that are providing subscribers a wealth of content at reasonable prices launch in new countries,” Sandvine said.

As observed in previous reports, BitTorrent specifically continues to lose share and now accounts for just 7.4 percent of traffic during peak periods.

Other data points in the report concern regional phenomena for the last half of the year: Asia-Pacific mobile networks crossed a significant threshold, with average monthly mobile usage now exceeding 1 gigabyte. This consumption is driven by streaming audio and video, which accounts for 50 percent of peak downstream traffic.

In Africa, usage on the continent is drastically different than what is observed in other regions. Real-time entertainment accounts for less than 6 percent of total traffic. In a testament to the power of mobile broadband to connect the underserved, BlackBerry (News - Alert) smartphones are the top communications method in the region.