Netflix launched in the UK just over two years ago with quite a fanfare. In that time we've seen Netflix traffic grow at an incredible rate. Netflix now battles it out with YouTube for most usage on our network. This isn't surprising when you see that one in ten households have signed up to Netflix. That’s more than 3 million UK households now subscribed to Netflix and puts it far ahead of their rival, Amazon. That means roughly 1.5 million households have signed up in the last year according to recent analysis. Although the price of Netflix has recently increased, from £5.99 to £6.99, we’ve continued to see an increase in the use of Netflix across our network.
Netflix vs YouTube
Netflix and YouTube both use large amounts of bandwidth across our network, although their usage patterns differ. The shape of the graph means we can make some assumptions on who is watching and when. The graph below shows that Netflix peaks higher than YouTube and is watched later in the evening, whereas YouTube contributes more overall traffic without the significant peak. You can see that YouTube starts ramping up its usage during breakfast time, most likely when people are getting ready to go to work and school. Whereas Netflix spikes much higher in the evening, most likely once the children have gone to bed. 
What are we doing for future growth?
The end of summer into the start of autumn are a busy time for an ISP. The new Premier League football season is starting, new episodes of popular TV shows starting such as Doctor Who and big software updates like the upcoming iOS8 from Apple. Combine this together with the nights starting to draw in it means that people are doing more online. With this in mind we're continually increasing the bandwidth on our network and have added a significant amount recently. Don't forget that Christmas isn't far away either, and whilst most pople won't be buying 4k Ultra-HD TVs this year, there is always a jump in sales of consoles, tablets and similar devices. This gives more ways for everyone to enjoy the content, and there are plenty more Netflix originals like the new House of Cards season to ensure that streaming continues to rise.