Internet is new TV, as online content hogs broadcast prime-time

We have heard broadcasters going berserk over prime time on television, and now that coveted slot is increasingly being hogged by Internet content. According to the latest study of global Internet traffic by Cisco, the internet is busiest between 9 pm and 11 pm around the world, with the vast majority glued on to videos.

Till about a few years ago, the second-busiest period for Internet used to be between 11 pm and 1 am, according to Arielle Sumits, a senior analyst at Cisco’s Visual Networking Index team. It has now moved to the second-busiest period for internet traffic was once between 11 pm and 1 am. It’s now moved to the 7 pm to 9 pm slot, which has traditionally been the peak viewing time for TV.

The reasons are unknown why internet’s prime time generally skews later than traditional TV’s prime time, but Sumits says that the advent on-demand videos from Netflix and Amazon are undoubtedly substituting for broadcast TV viewing.

Internet peak-hour traffic is expected to grow further and is forecasted to increase by 4.6 times in the next five years, compared with a twofold increase in average hourly internet traffic across the entire day. More than 60 percent of all internet traffic today is made up of video, according to the study. By 2020, that share will rise to nearly 80 percent.