File-sharing traffic gobbled 44 percent of total internet traffic in May, according to an estimate surfacing Tuesday.
The North American figure comes from Sandvine, a networking equipment and technology provider for major access providers. Outside of P2P-related traffic, other demands came from web browsing, at 27.3 percent; and streaming media, at 14.8 percent. VoIP traffic was negligible, according to the Sandvine figures.
The P2P-related data is unsurprising to networking administrators, though the figure highlights the massive appetite for media-related content online. Just last year, P2P-related traffic consumed 41 percent of total bandwidth, according to the company, and video-related content is undoubtedly boosting the percentage.
During discussions at London Calling last week, technology experts pointed to a growing demand for video-related assets. Separately, a recent study from comScore also pointed to sharp increases in video-related consumption, surprisingly from a stable, year-over-year user base.