Netflix video 'king' of US Internet traffic: study

Films and television shows streamed online by Netflix amount to nearly 30 percent of the content racing downstream on the US Internet during peak periods, according to a study released Tuesday.

"Netflix is now the undisputed bandwidth king of the Internet in North America," Canadian networking gear company Sandvine concluded in a Global Internet Phenomena Report.

"Subscribers have clearly embraced the Netflix streaming service, fundamentally altering the Internet landscape," the firm continued in its findings.

"Furthermore, the success of Netflix's expansion into Canada suggests that it is not a phenomenon localized to the United States."

Netflix expanded from the United States to Canada in September with the addition of a streaming online movie rental service in that country. Subscribers pay monthly fees to watch films or television show episodes.

In its most recent earnings figures, Netflix claimed to have 23.6 million subscribers, 800,000 of which were in Canada.

The bulk of Netflix shows were watched using videogame consoles or personal computers, according to Sandvine.

(c) 2011 AFP