Broadband power users stream more than 2.2TB of data per month

After its previous quarterly update on the global broadband industry revealed a long-standing trend no less than upended in the first quarter of 2023, with usage-based broadband (UBB) plans achieving and slightly exceeding parity with their flat-rate (FRB) plan counterparts for the first time, the latest version of the OpenVault broadband insights (OVBI) report has found that power users of 1TB of data vastly eclipse other users when it comes to streaming broadband and gaming consumption.

OpenVault’s report for the second quarter of 2023 contained what the network improvement services provider said was a first-of-its-kind breakdown of broadband usage by application category, revealing that power users stream more than 2.2TB of data per month, nearly six times as much as average users.

Furthermore, power users’ gaming consumption of 498GB per month was 2,271% higher than the 21GB per month from average users, who the OVBI defines as anyone consuming 400-600GB per month.

In addition to the stark streaming and gaming differences between power and average users, the OVBI report also noted that average users dedicate a significantly greater portion of their bandwidth – 20% – to social media, well ahead of both power users (9%) and light users (6%). Light users of less than 100GB per month expend 92% of their consumption on streaming and less than 1% on gaming.

The Q23 report also found that monthly average data usage was 533.8GB, up 8.8% year over year from 490.7GB in the first quarter of 2022. Year-over-year upstream data usage growth (14.8%) was greater than downstream data usage growth (8.4%) in Q2 23, when the percentage of subscribers on gigabit speed tiers more than doubled over the previous year, reaching 31.6%.

“As subscribers flock to faster and faster speed tiers, there is increasing pressure on operator networks to deliver uninterrupted and unimpaired user experiences,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO and founder of OpenVault.

“With deeper visibility into the applications that subscribers are using, operators can proactively understand and strengthen the most vulnerable areas in their networks.”

As part of its analysis of usage by participants in the Affordable Connectivity Plan, OVBI found a notable difference between fully subsidised subscribers who pay the entirety of their monthly bill with the plan’s $30 allowance, and partially subsidised subscribers who use the $30 allowance to defray part of the cost of higher-priced plans with faster speeds.

OVBI found that partially subsidised participants consumed 40.6% more data than non-ACP subscribers, while fully subsidised participants who receive slower speed tiers (50-75Mbps) consumed just 18.2% more data.