Broadband ISP Zen Internet Sees 21% Rise in Data Traffic During 2022

UK ISP Zen Internet has put out a short and very simplified summary of broadband traffic across their network during 2022, which among other things reveals that sporting (streaming) and gaming (software) releases contributed to a general 21% increase in “peak” internet traffic in 2022 vs 2021.

The figure of 21% was actually hit on Wednesday 14th December at 20:30, coinciding with the end of the France versus Morocco World Cup semi-final football match. The second highest peak was recorded on Wednesday 19th October between 20:00 and 22:00 when the ‘Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ game became available to download, with a peak 17% higher than 2021’s.

Football remained a fan favourite last year, with the Women’s Euro Final on 31st July seeing a whopping 17.4 million people watching on the BBC, but this actually prompted a 7.46% dip in Zen’s internet traffic, possibly brought about by people tuning into terrestrial TV to watch the Lionesses bring it home for England.

Zen’s other top forms of online entertainment in 2022:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Streaming) – its release date on 2nd September prompted a spike on Amazon Prime video – up 38% on Zen’s average internet activity across this platform.

2. Glastonbury Festival – the highest spike to the BBC over the weekend was recorded on the final day, Sunday 26th June at 8pm – this was up 48% on Zen’s average BBC traffic experienced on a regular Sunday as many likely streamed the line-up on BBC iPlayer from home

3. FIFA World Cup – Key matches drove surges in internet activity, including:

· 21st November (England vs Iran) – huge traffic peak between 12 and 3pm during the match, nearly double the typical traffic around the same time on a normal weekday

· 29th November (England vs Wales) – traffic peak between 7pm and 9pm, up 9% on average traffic for a normal weekday in November

· 15th December (France vs Morocco) – last year’s overall biggest peak on Zen’s network was experienced during the tournament’s semi-final, up 21% on 2021’s highest peak

· 18th December (Argentina vs France) – Zen experienced a visible increase in traffic between 3pm and 7pm up 26% on average traffic for a normal Sunday in December

4. Peaky Blinders – its release on 27th February 2022 on BBC iPlayer prompted a 52% peak when compared to average Zen traffic on the BBC

Zen also gives some feedback on other areas too, such as usage of “trustworthy news outlets”, where they recorded a peak to the BBC last year of almost 20% more than the highest peak of 2021, experienced on 14th February. The announcement of Rishi Sunak’s succession to Prime Minister on the 24th October also prompting a spike of 36% on average consumption.

The bank holiday weekend for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee between 2nd and 5th June saw dips in internet traffic down 10% on average consumption, perhaps an indication of people out socialising in the sunshine as they enjoyed the double bank holiday weekend. Similarly, the announcement of the Queen’s passing on Thursday 8th September saw another temporary dip to 39% lower than average internet usage between 18:30 – 19:30 on the BBC, coinciding with households tuning into terrestrial TV as the news broke.

Other top news moments of 2022 on Zen’s BBC traffic include ongoing developments on the war between Russia and Ukraine. On 27th April, this prompted Zen’s first spike of 2022, up 17% on average consumption in April. The first two days of COP27 also resulted in peaks of 36% and 30% higher traffic than September’s average on BBC between 6th and 7th November respectively.