By Bahle Gama
The over 4 000 Netflix subscribers in Eswatini are currently contributing to global internet traffic caused by the streaming service.
According to the 2023 Sandvine Global Internet Phenomena Report, several web applications are responsible for the world’s downstream internet traffic and Netflix accounts take the cup with the most megabytes at 14.9 per cent, followed by YouTube at 11.4 per cent.
In 2022 the streaming service reported that it had more than 230 million subscribers worldwide after predicting it would add 2.5 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2021. However, Netflix ended up losing around 117 million subscribers in the first two quarters of 2022.
Subscribers
In 2021, Netflix’s Rod Mathew expressed delight over the increase in subscribers in Eswatini and other countries in Africa stating that it was interesting to see growth in subscriptions in this part of the region.
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The report further states that as the dust settled on Netflix’s latest earnings disclosure the streaming giant brought in 7.66 million subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2022 and now tops 230.75 million globally.
On January 19, the service stated that one region stood out in the company’s closely watched filings. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) quietly became the streamer’s biggest region in terms of subscribers, overtaking the combined user figure for the United States and Canada during the second half of 2022.
As of the end of the year, Netflix had about 2.4 million more subscribers in EMEA than in North America after being roughly 310 000 behind it as of mid-year 2022.
Revenue
Toby Holleran, a research manager at Ampere Analysis stated that Netflix is still above and beyond all other subscription video players in EMEA in terms of subscription figures with almost as many subscribers as Disney+ and Amazon Combined.
“However, on a video subscription revenue perspective, Netflix’s $9.75 billion in revenue falls behind Comcast’s $11.3 billion revenue, with Netflix still standing as the second-largest group in EMEA in subscription video revenue terms,” he said.
Covid-19
The report further stated that the Covid-19 pandemic saw a particular acceleration in subscriber gains.
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EMEA reportedly experienced enormous growth over the pandemic, with up to 50 per cent over the past three years, “fuelled mostly by Western Europe lockdown.”
Other web applications reported to be contributing to the traffic include Generic Quick at 5.9 per cent, HTTP Media Stream at 3.7 per cent, PS downloads at 3 per cent, Disney + at 4.5 per cent, Facebook at 2.9 per cent, and TikTok at 3.9 per cent among others.
