Year in Review: P2p Statistics

There have been a number of reports throughout 2008 detailing the latest in patterns of p2p user behaviour, the extent of p2p traffic on the internet and increased user numbers of the main file sharing clients and protocols.

In November 2008 it was reported that the music industry estimates annual global losses due to file sharing at $69 billion for 2007.[1] The same report suggests that file sharing will increase around 400% over the next 5 years from 1.6 petabytes of Internet traffic per month in 2007 to an estimated 8 petabytes per month by 2012.[2]

User Behaviour
One survey conducted in the UK found that 75% of file sharers would stop sharing if they received notification from their ISP that illegal behaviour was suspected.[3] One commentator noted that this result was obvious given that most people would prefer to give up file sharing altogether than their internet connection if faced with that choice.[4] This follows on from a leaked government letter in which it was stated that the government hoped there would be an 80% drop in illegal sharing through the assistance and participation of ISPs in a letter writing and warning campaign.[5] It is estimated that 6.5 million Britons downloaded music illegally in 2007.[6]

The survey also found that those aged between 13 and 17 were most likely to file share with 58% saying that they had downloaded in breach of copyright law.[7] Of these, 61% of respondents suggested that they thought their activities on the internet were being monitored.[8] However 2 in 3 believed it was unlikely they would ever be caught.[9] For the first time in the five year history of the research more than 50% of respondents indicated that they had purchased music legally online but the greatest increase was for those in the over 35 age bracket with 40% buying music and other content legally.[10]

Another study conducted by BMR found that 80% of those who engaged in file sharing would agree to a legal p2p service.[11] Sixty three percent downloaded music illegally, on average 53 tracks per month, and 42% uploaded to others.[12] The survey was based on 773 responses.[13]

In another survey conducted by BMR and the University of Hertfordshire based on the responses of 1,158 people aged 18-24 it was found that 95% of people had engaged in some form of illegal copying at home (which included both online and offline infringement), with 58% of respondents indicating that they had copied music from a friends hard drive.[14]

The RIAA suggest that in the past two years the legal acquisition of music has dropped to 42% with an estimated 10 million people online at any one time offering 1 billion songs for sharing.[15] Similarly a survey released by the NPD group in April 2008 found that only 42% of consumers had paid for music in 2007 compared with 48% in 2006.[16]

Research by the NPD Group published in February 2008 indicated that file sharing in the United States has reached a plateau of 19% of the population however the number of files each user acquires has increased.[17]

The NPD Group also conducted a survey of 3,376 Americans aged 9 to 14 years in which it was found that 49% acquired music from iTunes, 26% used Limewire and 16% used MySpace.[18]

A survey conducted by Microsoft in the USA found that 54% of children aged between 11 and 16 years engaged in illegal sharing with only 15% of adults doing the same.[19] Of the children that file shared 60% said they did so because the legal versions were too expensive.[20]

The music industry estimates that Australians traded 1 billion songs illegally in 2007 with 2.8 million people engaged in file sharing in that period based on the survey responses of 600 people aged between 10 and 17 in NSW and Victoria in August and September 2007.[21]

Globally, the IFPI suggest that illegal downloads out number legal purchases of music 20:1.[22]

Bandwidth
While the majority of files shared on file sharing networks are music, film and television files are bandwidth intensive.[23] Over recent times file sharing usage has shifted away from music toward these other forms of culture.[24]

In October 2008 it was reported that file sharing is responsible for 22% of all downstream internet traffic and 61% of all upstream traffic.[25] The study examined 16 million broadband internet accounts from 26 cable modem and DSL service providers between 1 July 2008 and 12 September 2008.[26]

Research conducted by Sandvine suggests total file sharing bandwidth to be around 44% of all internet traffic.[27] Peer to peer accounted for 75% of all upstream traffic and 35.6% of downstream traffic.[28] Web browsing made up 27.3% of internet traffic and streaming media made up 5.9% of traffic.[29]

Another estimate provided by Anagran suggested total bandwidth to be 80% file sharing with 5% of the internet population using 80% of resources.[30]

A separate study conducted by Ipoque found that p2p traffic is shrinking and that other formats such as streaming video now account for a greater percentage of internet traffic than before.[31] This differs from region to region with Southern Europe still using 54% of all internet traffic for file sharing.[32] Similarly in Germany p2p traffic accounted for 70% of all internet traffic with 45% of this being the sharing of music.[33] In the Middle East 49% of all traffic is for file sharing, with 21% of files exchanged being music recordings.[34]

Ipoque also found that of all file sharing traffic, the majority of bandwidth is used for BitTorrent and eDonkey.[35] Direct Connect and Gnutella are another two of the larger networks currently in operation.[36] Gnutella represents less than 10% of all file sharing traffic across the globe with significant drops in usage in all markets except Australia and Canada.[37]

Despite estimates from the MPAA that universities and colleges in the United States are responsible for 44% of all file sharing in that country, a figure that was later acknowledged as being erroneous and restated as 15%, another researcher has indicated that overall on campus file sharing amounts to less than 4% of all John Doe subpoenas targeting illegal swappers.[38]

In the UK it has been determined that three Internet Service Providers account for more than 60% of illegal downloads in that country – 22.6% are signed to Carphone Warehouse, 21.6% are with Virgin Media and 21.2% are clients of BT.[39]

uTorrent
uTorrent has become the most popular client for file sharing in Europe with an install rate of 11.6%.[40] uTorrent is installed on 5.1% of PCs in the United States and world wide usage has doubled over the past 12 months.[41]

The Pirate Bay
This year has seen a dramatic increase in the number of users of The Pirate Bay. In late November it was reported that the site had 25 million peers, earlier the same month the figure had been 23 million users (12 November 2008), a week earlier there were 22 million users (7 November 2008) and at the start of the month 20 million users (3 November 2008).[42] This was a marked increase from April 2008 when just 12 million peers were accessing The Pirate Bay however it was noted at this time that the number of seeders had increase from 25% to 50% of users.[43] In January 2008 The Pirate Bay had a just 10 million peers and 1 million torrents.[44]

In May 2008 The Pirate Bay entered the top 100 of the world most visited websites, listed 2nd to Mininova at no.52 as the most popular file sharing website in the world.[45]

isoHunt
In October 2008 it was noted that isoHunt now indexes over 1.1 petabytes of information (1000 terabytes) or about 1.4 million torrents.[46]

Limewire
It is estimated that the Limewire client has been downloaded over 70 million times.[47] Recent statistics indicate that there has been some loss in popularity with 25% of its user base between December 2006 and December 2007 migrating.[48] By the end of 2007 only 17% of PCs in the United States had Limewire installed, a drop from 23.3%.[49] In Australia in 2007 27% of computers had Limewire installed, a small drop from 30.4% in 2006.[50]

A study of 1.66 million Windows PCs by the Digital Music News Research Group found that Gnutella is still the most popular file sharing network with an install rate of 36.4% of PCs world wide as of September 2007.[51]

[1] TechDirt, Music Industry Squanders $69 Billion Worth Of Free Promotions In 2007 (19 November 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081118/0409422868.shtml> at 21 November 2008; ZeroPaid, STUDY: Pirated Music on P2p Networks Valued at $69 Billion in 2007 (18 November 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9847/STUDY%3A+Pirated+Music+on+P2P+Networks+Valued+at+%2469+Billion+in+2007> at 19 November 2008
[2] ZeroPaid, STUDY: Pirated Music on P2p Networks Valued at $69 Billion in 2007 (18 November 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9847/STUDY%3A+Pirated+Music+on+P2P+Networks+Valued+at+%2469+Billion+in+2007> at 19 November 2008; ZeroPaid, P2p Traffic Expected to Grow 400% Over Next 5 Years (24 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9818/P2P+Traffic+Expected+to+Grow+400%25+Over+Next+5+Years> at 25 October 2008; ArsTechnica, Forecast: Legal P2P uses growing 10x faster than illegal ones (22 October 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081022-forecast-legal-p2p-uses-growing-10x-faster-than-illegal-ones.html> at 24 October 2008; Slyck, P2P Traffic to Grow 400% in 5 Years (21 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1784_P2P_Traffic_to_Grow_400_in_5_Years> at 22 October 2008
[3] BBC, Music fans back legal downloads (12 October 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7664088.stm> at 15 October 2008; Slyck, ISP Involvement May Stem P2P Usage in UK (13 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1780_ISP_Involvement_May_Stem_P2P_Usage_in_UK> at 15 October 2008; ArsTechnica, Survey: warnings from ISPs could slash file-swapping by 70% (3 March 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080303-survey-warnings-from-isps-could-slash-file-swapping-by-70.html> at 4 March 2008
[4] TechDirt, Useless Studies: Given The Choice Of No File Sharing Or No Internet, Guess What People Choose? (13 October 2008) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081013/0119522529.shtml> at 14 October 2008
[5] ZeroPaid, Leaked British Government Letter - P2p Will be Cut by 80% (27 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9652/Leaked+British+Government+Letter+-+P2P+Will+be+Cut+by+80%25> at 28 July 2008
[6] TimesOnline, Parents to be punished for children’s net piracy (24 July 2008) <http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4387283.ece> at 25 July 2008
[7] BBC, Music fans back legal downloads (12 October 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7664088.stm> at 15 October 2008
[8] BBC, Music fans back legal downloads (12 October 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7664088.stm> at 15 October 2008
[9] Slyck, ISP Involvement May Stem P2P Usage in UK (13 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1780_ISP_Involvement_May_Stem_P2P_Usage_in_UK> at 15 October 2008
[10] BBC, Music fans back legal downloads (12 October 2008) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7664088.stm> at 15 October 2008; Slyck, ISP Involvement May Stem P2P Usage in UK (13 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1780_ISP_Involvement_May_Stem_P2P_Usage_in_UK> at 15 October 2008
[11] ZeroPaid, Music Industry Study: 80% of UK Youth Want Legal P2p (17 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9560/Music+Industry+Study%3A+80%25+of+UK+Youth+Want+Legal+P2P> at 19 June 2008; ArsTechnica, Survey: young people happy to pay for music—on their terms (16 June 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-survey-young-adults-willing-to-pay-for-musicon-their-terms.html> at 18 June 2008; The Register, 80% want legal P2P - survey (16 June 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/16/bmr_music_survey/> at 17 June 2008
[12] ZeroPaid, Music Industry Study: 80% of UK Youth Want Legal P2p (17 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9560/Music+Industry+Study%3A+80%25+of+UK+Youth+Want+Legal+P2P> at 19 June 2008; ArsTechnica, Survey: young people happy to pay for music—on their terms (16 June 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-survey-young-adults-willing-to-pay-for-musicon-their-terms.html> at 18 June 2008; The Register, 80% want legal P2P - survey (16 June 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/16/bmr_music_survey/> at 17 June 2008
[13] ZeroPaid, Music Industry Study: 80% of UK Youth Want Legal P2p (17 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9560/Music+Industry+Study%3A+80%25+of+UK+Youth+Want+Legal+P2P> at 19 June 2008; ArsTechnica, Survey: young people happy to pay for music—on their terms (16 June 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-survey-young-adults-willing-to-pay-for-musicon-their-terms.html> at 18 June 2008; The Register, 80% want legal P2P - survey (16 June 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/16/bmr_music_survey/> at 17 June 2008
[14] ZeroPaid, New Music Piracy Study Also Measures 'Offline Copying' (8 April 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9394/New+Music+Group+Piracy+Study+Also+Measures+%27Offline+Copying%27> at 8 April 2008
[15] Slyck, RIAA Wants ISPs to Act on Piracy (6 May 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1685_RIAA_Wants_ISPs_to_Act_on_Piracy> 7 May 2008
[16] The Register, Freetards fill their boots - music survey (18 April 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/18/npd_music_survey/> at 26 April 2008
[17] The NPD Group, Consumers Acquire More Music in 2007, But Spend Less (26 February 2008) <http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_080226a.html> at 27 February 2008
[18] Slyck, P2P Downloading Still a Top Choice for Kids (30 January 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1651_P2P_Downloading_Still_a_Top_Choice_for_Kids> at 5 February 2008; ZeroPaid, STUDY: 26% of Kids Still Using Limewire (1 February 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9239/STUDY%3A+26%25+of+Kids+Still+Using+Limewire> at 4 February 2008
[19] ZeroPaid, Microsoft Piracy Study: 54% of UK Kids are File Sharers (28 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9653/Microsoft+Piracy+Study%3A+54%25+of+UK+Kids+are+File-Sharers> at 29 July 2008
[20] ZeroPaid, Microsoft Piracy Study: 54% of UK Kids are File Sharers (28 July 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9653/Microsoft+Piracy+Study%3A+54%25+of+UK+Kids+are+File-Sharers> at 29 July 2008
[21] Sydney Morning Herald, War on music piracy (17 February 2008) <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/16/1202760662778.html> at 19 February 2008
[22] The Age, 95% of music doanloads are illegal (25 January 2008) <http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/95-of-music-downloads-are-illegal/2008/01/24/1201025084723.html> at 31 January 2008; Slyck, P2P Downloads Crush iTunes/Digital Sales 20:1 (24 January 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1642_P2P_Downloads_Crush_iTunesDigital_Sales_201> at 31 January 2008; Digital Music News, IFPI Global Sales Data Reaffirms Sluggish Story (23 January 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/012308global> at 30 January 2008
[23] ZeroPaid, P2p Traffic Expected to Grow 400% Over Next 5 Years (24 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9818/P2P+Traffic+Expected+to+Grow+400%25+Over+Next+5+Years> at 25 October 2008
[24] ArsTechnica, Study: BitTorrent sees big growth, LimeWire still #1 P2P app (21 April 2008) <http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5959936174502501606> at 27 April 2008
[25] ZeroPaid, STUDY: P2p Consumes 22% of Downstream, 61% of Upstream Bandwidth (24 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9819/STUDY%3A+P2P+Consumes+22%25+of+Downstream%2C+61%25+of+Upstream+Bandwidth> at 27 October 2008
[26] ZeroPaid, STUDY: P2p Consumes 22% of Downstream, 61% of Upstream Bandwidth (24 October 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9819/STUDY%3A+P2P+Consumes+22%25+of+Downstream%2C+61%25+of+Upstream+Bandwidth> at 27 October 2008
[27] Digital Music News, How Big? P2P Traffic Gobbling 44 Percent of Total Bandwidth (24 June 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/062408p2p> at 26 June 2008; ZeroPaid, P2p Throttling Company Says 44% of Traffic is P2p (25 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9588/P2P+Throttling+Company+Says+44%25+of+Traffic+is+P2P> at 26 June 2008
[28] ZeroPaid, P2p Throttling Company Says 44% of Traffic is P2p (25 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9588/P2P+Throttling+Company+Says+44%25+of+Traffic+is+P2P> at 26 June 2008
[29] ZeroPaid, P2p Throttling Company Says 44% of Traffic is P2p (25 June 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9588/P2P+Throttling+Company+Says+44%25+of+Traffic+is+P2P> at 26 June 2008
[30] Slyck, BitTorrent, P2P Criticized by Internet Founder (26 June 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1696_BitTorrent_P2P_Criticized_by_Internet_Founder> at 27 June 2008
[31] ArsTechnica, P2P growth slowing as infringement goes deeper undercover (30 September 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-p2p-growth-slowing-as-infringement-goes-deeper-undercover.html> at 5 October 2008
[32] ArsTechnica, P2P growth slowing as infringement goes deeper undercover (30 September 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-p2p-growth-slowing-as-infringement-goes-deeper-undercover.html> at 5 October 2008
[33] Slyck, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 Represent nearly all P2P Traffic (2 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1774_BitTorrent_and_eDonkey2000_Represent_nearly_all_P2P_Traffic> at 5 October 2008
[34] Slyck, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 Represent nearly all P2P Traffic (2 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1774_BitTorrent_and_eDonkey2000_Represent_nearly_all_P2P_Traffic> at 5 October 2008
[35] Slyck, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 Represent nearly all P2P Traffic (2 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1774_BitTorrent_and_eDonkey2000_Represent_nearly_all_P2P_Traffic> at 5 October 2008
[36] Slyck, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 Represent nearly all P2P Traffic (2 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1774_BitTorrent_and_eDonkey2000_Represent_nearly_all_P2P_Traffic> at 5 October 2008
[37] Slyck, BitTorrent and eDonkey2000 Represent nearly all P2P Traffic (2 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1774_BitTorrent_and_eDonkey2000_Represent_nearly_all_P2P_Traffic> at 5 October 2008
[38] ArsTechnica, RIAA v. U: the state of P2P file sharing on campus (26 August 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/raa-v-u-on-campus.ars/2> at 28 August 2008; Digital Music News, MPAA Dramatically Errs on University Piracy Estimate (23 January 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/012308college> at 30 January 2008; The Register, MPAA admits movie piracy study is 29% full of @$#% (24 January 2007) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/24/mpaa_admits_movie_study_error/> at 30 January 2008
[39] PC Pro News, Illegal downloads: which ISP's customers are the worst? (31 July 2008) <http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/215967/illegal-downloads-which-isps-customers-are-the-worst.html> at 12 August 2008
[40] TorrentFreak, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent (26 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/> at 30 April 2008
[41] TorrentFreak, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent (26 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/> at 30 April 2008
[42] Slyck, The Pirate Bay Breaks 25 Million Users (15 November 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1797_The_Pirate_Bay_Breaks_25_Million_Users> at 16 November 2008; Slyck, BitTorrent Will Be Fine (9 November 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1794_BitTorrent_Will_Be_Fine> at 11 November 2008; ZeroPaid, The Pirate Bay Surpasses 23 Million Peers (12 November 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9841/The+Pirate+Bay+Surpasses+23+Million+Peers>at 16 November 2008; Digital Music News, Pirate Bay Keeps Plundering; 22 Million Peers Worldwide (7 November 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/110608piratebay> at 11 November 2008; Slyck, The Pirate Bay's 20 Million (3 November 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1789_The_Pirate_Bays_20_Million> at 5 November 2008
[43] TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay Smashes 12,000,000 BitTorrent Users (24 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-smashes-12000000-bittorrent-users-080424/> at 27 April 2008
[44] The Register, Pirate Bay hits ten million peers, one million torrents (28 January 2008)<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/28/pirate_bay_claims_largest_p2p/> at 30 January 2008
[45] ZeroPaid, The Pirate Bay Enters Top 100 Websites (24 May 2008) <http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9510/The+Pirate+Bay+Enters+Top+100+Websites> at 5 June 2008
[46] Slyck, isoHunt Indexes over 1 Petabyte of Information (19 October 2008) <http://www.slyck.com/story1783_isoHunt_Indexes_over_1_Petabyte_of_Information> at 21 October 2008
[47] Fortune, Lime Wire seeks legitimacy (10 October 2008) <http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/09/technology/limewire.fortune/index.htm> at 12 October 2008
[48] TorrentFreak, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent (26 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/> at 30 April 2008
[49] TorrentFreak, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent (26 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/> at 30 April 2008
[50] TorrentFreak, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent (26 April 2008) <http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/> at 30 April 2008
[51] ArsTechnica, Study: BitTorrent sees big growth, LimeWire still #1 P2P app (21 April 2008) <http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5959936174502501606> at 27 April 2008