Broadband ISP Zen Internet Saw UK Network Traffic Grow 21 Percent in 2025

Rochdale-based UK broadband ISP Zen Internet has this morning revealed that average network traffic across their service rose by 21% during 2025, with the highest peak of data usage being set on 11th November 2025 (22% above last year’s peak) – largely driven by live football streaming (this often dominated peak demand).

What distinguishes 2025 is not the existence of such peaks, but how frequently they now occur on top of sustained demand. Zen highlighted how 2025 saw a succession of new network highs with peak traffic up 3% on 2024’s highest peak in February, 9% in March, and 11.5% in April, before rising sharply again in the autumn.

As above, live sport streaming platforms continue to dominate peak demand, with Amazon (Prime Video) traffic showing significant spikes, reaching 85% above a normal average evening on 4th November – during a big football event (Liverpool vs Real Madrid). The UEFA Champions League fixtures in February, March, April, and November all coincided with new peak records, while the Lionesses’ Euros final on 27th July drove an 11% increase in total network traffic compared with the previous day.

Interestingly, video gaming and software releases were described as being “less frequent, short-term contributors” to traffic peaks in 2025. But when they occurred, they generated sharp, time-limited surges on Zen’s network. A surprise game release in April 2025 prompted a noticeable daytime and evening uplift, while beta tests and major updates later in the year also produced clear spikes.

Apple traffic stood out in September 2025, jumping 900%, consistent with a major operating system (iOS) rollout, highlighting how large-scale software distribution can briefly place significant additional demand on the network without altering the underlying baseline trend.

Zen also notes that major global news events were “less likely to create dramatic standalone spikes” than in previous years, suggesting that news consumption is now embedded within everyday internet use. However, select moments still drove measurable increases, such as the US Presidential inauguration in January and the death of Pope Francis in April, which coincided with higher-than-normal traffic to trusted public service platforms such as the BBC. But Zen provided no solid data to substantiate these statements.

John Lyons, Technology Director at Zen, said:

“What this year shows very clearly is that high demand is no longer confined to isolated moments, but is now underpinned by sustained growth. We’re seeing sustained growth in baseline usage alongside repeated record peaks, which requires us to work hard to stay ahead of our growing customer demands. As Zen turns 30, continuing to invest in capacity and resilience is critical to making sure customers experience a reliable service, particularly as demand keeps rising.”

In terms of how all this compares with the wider UK market. Ofcom recently reported that the average monthly data usage per fixed broadband connection is now 583GB (GigaBytes) across “all technologies” (up from 531GB last year), which rises to an average of 738GB for full-fibre connections (oddly this was actually down a bit from 766GB).

However, it’s worth remembering that internet providers use sophisticated Content Delivery Networks (CDN) and systems to help manage the load from big online events, which caches popular content closer in the network to end-users (i.e. improves performance without adding network strain). This in turn lowers the provider’s impact on external links and helps to keep costs down.

Demand for data is of course constantly rising and home broadband connections are forever getting faster, thus new peaks of usage are being set all the time by every ISP. As a side note, Virgin Media and O2 recently reported that they saw an 8% rise in broadband usage (down from 8.1% in 2024) and an 18% rise in mobile traffic through the year (up from 9%) – driven by growing use of AI, live sports and major game releases.