Sky Broadband UK Reports Big Drop in Internet Usage over Jubilee Weekend

Sky Broadband (BSkyB) claims that internet data usage across its network of 3,863,000 home broadband ISP customers fell by a fifth over the long Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend as end-users swapped their computers for the nearest TV or took trips away from home.

Sky reports that web traffic was at its lowest on Sunday, when data usage fell by 15-20% below normal for a “wet Sunday” and remained “very low” on the Monday as the celebrations continued. But traffic returned to normal on Tuesday (up by 20% on Monday’s figure) as people returned home and stayed indoors during poor weather conditions.

Lyssa McGowan, Director of Communications Products at Sky, said:

“Like the surge in electricity demand as the nation put the kettle on during half-time of the Champions League Final, internet usage has become a barometer of the country’s activities.

In spite of the weather, millions of people either tuned into their television or braved the rain to attend street parties. It will be fascinating to see what impact the summer’s sporting events will have on web and app usage.”

Meanwhile the longer-term trend of accelerating data consumption looks set to continue unabated. Sky noted that usage on its fixed line broadband network was up by 80% during May 2012 compared with the same month last year.

It would be interesting to know if Mobile Broadband usage increased to compensate for the decline in fixed line consumption, as has been known to happen.