It probably won't come as a surprise that Google is attributed with being the single greatest source of Internet traffic on Earth. The company reportedly accounts for a whopping 6% of all Internet traffic – much of which comes from its popular video sharing site YouTube. What is surprising, however, is how consolidated the Web's traffic has become.
Looking back five years, Internet traffic was distributed among tens of thousands of networks, and two years ago, 15,000 networks accounted for about 50% of traffic. Today, only 150 networks control some 50% of all online traffic according to a recent report by Arbor Networks, and as few as 30 companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Google are responsible for 30% of traffic.
Another interesting – and somewhat less scary – statistic, is that P2P traffic has dropped to 18% from a high of 40%, which mostly due to media streaming sites like Hulu and YouTube. In fact, video accounts for as much as 20% of all Web traffic. Internet traffic in general is about 52% Web-based (up 10% from 2007), with the remaining traffic coming from email and private networks.
Where do you think our beloved dispenser of pornography and advertisements will be in another two to five years?