Does Netflix Replace P2P File Sharing?

   
Ryan Singel (picture) Staff Writer for Wired.com, checks if the recent surge in Netflix streaming video traffic replaces the older way of sharing files "There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence and some logic behind the idea — why take a legal risk and wait hours for a movie to download if you can watch it instantly?"

See "Is Netflix Reducing Illicit File Sharing? Depends on Which Stats You Believe" - here.

The article shows statistics from Sandvine and Arbor, who present two ways on interpreting the data they collect (see also "Netflix: "Cord cutting became cord mending" - here):

• According to Arbor Network’s chief scientist Craig Labovitz- "P2P has fallen to a single-digit percentage of North American network traffic (8 percent) down from highs above 30 percent in 2007 .. I think Netflix, iTunes and Direct Download all play a role in the diminishing P2P traffic volumes"
   
• Sandvine says that - "it still saw “impressive” growth in P2P traffic in 2009-2010, even as Netflix traffic grew at an astounding rate .. From 2009 to 2010, Real-Time Entertainment grew to represent 42.7 percent (up from 29.5 percent) of total internet traffic in the evening .. In that same time, P2P File sharing also grew, from 15.1 percent to 19.2 percent. So, from 2009 to 2010 at least, P2P still grew at an impressive rate".

So - video is growing at all fronts, I guess - and an easy to use, affordable priced, good quality services take a bigger portion of the growing pie.

Visit the article to see what Ryan thinks.