Sandvine observed a peak increase of about 140% in iTunes bandwidth consumption and a 35% peak increase in iTunes users across a sampling of North American-based broadband service providers’ networks after the release of iTunes 7 - the latest iTunes software that now enables users to download full feature-length films, television shows, and album cover art to their computers and iPods.

 

iTunes bandwidth consumption increases by 140% after the release of iTunes 7

iTunes users increase by 35%

On September 12th Apple announced the release of iTunes 7. The software upgrade coincided with iTunes Store making 75 full feature-length films [1] and all regular season NFL game highlights available for download [2].

Walt Disney alone sold 125,000 movie downloads worth $1 million in revenue through Apple Computer's iTunes Store during the first week of availability. (Reuters).

Apple’s first endeavor at selling videos on iTunes Store was less than a year ago when it made five TV shows available for download. Today this number has grown to 220 TV shows and iTunes Store is selling over one million videos per week. With the support of Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films in Apple’s latest video offering, Apple is just as optimistic movies will reach the million downloads milestone within the same time frame [3].

Within just a few weeks of Apple’s movie service being available, iTunes traffic had already increased by 150%. Apple’s expectation for the future success of movie downloads is a concern for service providers since it has a growing impact on their networks.

Broadband providers want to ensure their subscribers continue to receive the multimedia services they enjoy, like iTunes over the Internet. However, they need to be alerted to these new trends, so they can be proactive and ensure their networks can handle the added traffic volumes.

Using Sandvine’s intelligent broadband network solutions, service providers can identify applications on a per-subscriber basis, providing the insight and the tools required to roll out new application-specific service levels that enhance their subscribers’ quality of experience, maximize ROI on infrastructure investments, reduce customer churn, and increase revenue per customer.

Find out how much iTunes traffic is on YOUR network; contact sales@sandvine.com.

Source:

[1] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/sep/12itunes7.html
[2] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/sep/12nfl.html
[3] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/sep/12itunes7.html