Will Netflix Eventually Help Neutralize BitTorrent and P2P Video Sharing?

By David Tobia
November 9, 2012

Digital video piracy has declined because of the availability of streaming video services, especially Netflix, suggests Business Insider. While streaming services as a whole have contributed to the decline of piracy, Netflix controls 33 percent of North American peak traffic (according to a new report from Sandvine).
“The real alternative to Netflix is BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing protocol through which users upload and download copies of movies and TV shows,” explains the article. “Because it’s a technology for file sharing rather than a centralized service or piece of software, BitTorrent has proven very hard for movie studios to shut down.”
But BitTorrent traffic has declined to 12 percent of traffic in North America, in part because of Netflix’s low monthly prices and expansive offerings. Netflix is also less complex and downloads more quickly than BitTorrent.
BitTorrent traffic currently comprises 16 percent in Europe — and 36 percent in Asia, where video services are not as available.
Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo predicts that by 2015 peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic will dip lower than 10 percent of network use.
“It’s not a given that BitTorrent use indicates illegal downloading of a video file — some game developers use it to distribute legal copies of their software, for example — but it is heavily used for video downloads,” writes Business Insider.

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