Virgin Media Users Used an Extra 2.8GB of Data Per Day in 2020

Cable TV and broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has today revealed that their customers downloaded an extra 2.8GB (GigaBytes) of data per day on average in 2020, and between them, burnt their way through 26,530 PetaBytes (26,530 Million GigaBytes) of data. Yep, it’s been a busy year for internet services, thanks in no small part of COVID-19.

Before we summarise the cable operator’s other findings, it’s important to remember that demand for data is constantly rising and so new peaks of usage are being set all the time by every ISP (usage typically grows by 30%+ each year) but, every once in a while, it’s interesting to look at the impact of particular periods or events.

Virgin notes that data use on their network has been “consistently high throughout 2020“, while the combination of a second national lockdown, the launch of two next-generation games consoles (Xbox Series X/S and PS5) and the return of rugby with the Autumn Nations Cup meant the operator saw its “busiest month of broadband traffic on record” in November 2020.

During November, customers downloaded an average of 17.3GB per day. The “busiest day ever” (so far) then occurred on Tuesday 10th November, when a total of 108PB of data was consumed across their network, linked to the launch of the Xbox Series X/S consoles and games including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Similarly, when it came to upload traffic, Virgin Media’s network also saw data use jump up by 64% across the year, driven by people working from home, connecting with loved ones on video calls and so forth.

Jeff Dodds, CEO of Virgin Media, said:

“After an extraordinary year we’ve seen unprecedented demand for our services across the board; whether that’s broadband traffic, binge-worthy box sets or people picking up the phone to check in with friends and family.

The unexpected shift towards working, living, learning and socialising from home drove record-breaking traffic on our network and we provided a lifeline in lockdown.

Staying connected, informed, and entertained is more important than ever, and despite the additional demand and challenges we’ve faced this year, our network has played a key role in keeping the country connected to the things and people that matter most.”

Crucially, none of this appears to have dented VM’s network performance in any particularly noticeable way (outside of the usual line faults and localised congestion issues that always crop-up), although they did suffer from a couple of well documented but short-lived major service outages during the first lockdown.

Summary of VM’s Other Statistics for 2020

— Households spent an extra 21+ hours watching TV each month, with news channels seeing the biggest increase (the viewing share of news channels increased by 56% compared to 2019).

— Documentaries and factual TV shows also soared in popularity in 2020, with viewership up by 23% in lockdown, and 12% year on year.

— Streaming and on-demand viewing time leapt by 26%. April and May in particular were record-breaking months for boxsets, with nearly twice as many views when compared to 2019 (up 90%).

— Mobile phone calls were 28% longer than last year as the nation stayed connected from afar, with calls lasting nearly twice as long (up 87%) during the early part of the first national lockdown.

— The time spent on landline calls increased by 21% compared to 2019.

— The number of texts exchanged increased by 72% during the second half of March.

— Despite more time spent at home, mobile data (mobile broadband) usage shot up by nearly a quarter (23%), with the biggest amount of data used on 11th December.