The first thing that strikes you about the numbers is how small the numbers are compared to landline data connections. We are literally using 100 times more data, on average, for a landline connection compared to the average cell phone. It’s obvious that people are still very cautious using their cellphone data. But the overall use of data on cellphones is rising and it is not going to take very many years of growth until the average person is bumping up against the normal 2 gigabit monthly cap on smaller cellphone plans. It’s clear in looking at these numbers that the cellular carriers have trained us not to use cellular data, but as I recently wrote, they are now trying to figure out ways to reverse that trend.
I compared the statistics from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2012 just to see how things have changed. Consider the following chart that compares average cellular downloads in the US for the two periods.
Rank 1st Half 2012 Pct 1st Half 2014 Pct
1 YouTube 27.2% YouTube 17.6%
2 HTTP 19.9% Facebook 14.0%
3 Facebook 8.7% HTTP 12.7%
4 MPEG 7.2% MPEG 8.6%
5 Pandora 5.4% SSL 6.5%
6 SSL 4.8% Google Market 5.3%
7 Google Market 3.5% Pandora 5.2%
8 Netflix 2.2% Netflix 5.1%
9 Flash Video 1.7% Instagram 3.5%
10 Windows 1.7% iTunes 3.1%
- 3% 78.5%
To put this into perspective it’s also important to look at average Internet usage per cellular customer. Consider the following numbers:
. 1st Half 2012 1st Half 2014 Pct Increase
Average Monthly Download 280 MB 404 MB 44%
Average Monthly Upload 33 MB 69 MB 109%
Aggregate Monthly Usage 313 MB 465 MB 50%
This shows that average cellphone download increased only 44% over a two year period. This is much slower than the 33% annual increase we see in landline data use. But uploads doubled over two years and maybe it’s all those selfies! Combining these two sets of statistics tells the real story. Following is the average download in megabits used by cellphone users for each of the top data applications in 2012 and 2014.
Rank 1st Half 2012 1st Half 2014
1 YouTube 76.7 MB YouTube 71.1 MB
2 HTTP 55.7 MB Facebook 56.6 MB
3 Facebook 24.4 MB HTTP 51.3 MB
4 MPEG 20.2 MB MPEG 34.7 MB
5 Pandora 15.1 MB SSL 26.3 MB
6 SSL 13.4 MB Google Market 21.4 MB
7 Google Market 9.8 MB Pandora 21.0 MB
8 Netflix 6.2 MB Netflix 20.6 MB
9 Flash Video 4.8 MB Instagram 14.1 MB
10 Windows 4.8 MB iTunes 12.5 MB
If you look at the first table you would suppose that YouTube downloads are way down. But the second table shows YouTube is down only 7% over two years. There are a few uses of cellphones that are way up. Netflix is up 235% over two years. Facebook is up 132% over two years. And Google Market is up 118% over two years. The only thing other than YouTube that is slightly down over the last two years is HTTP, or web browsing.
If you trended this two years forward then Facebook will clearly become the predominant use on cellphones, followed by Netflix. YouTube and MPEG pictures would trend to become third and fourth. It’s obvious that video overall is growing on the cellphone faster than anything else, with social networking also a significant use.
It will be interesting to see what impact is felt over time as the wireless carriers push more data usage. Both AT&T and Verizon have been pushing bigger family plans in the attempt to get people off their WiFi and back onto their 4G networks. It’s pretty obvious that, on average, people are not using a lot more data on their cellphones and continue, on the whole to be cautious. This is not to say that there are not many people who use a lot of data or that there are not already a lot of people who exceed their monthly data plans. These statistics represent the nationwide averages. Cellular companies report that data sales are way up, while these numbers show that average usage is not. One has to think that perhaps people are buying more data than they actually use.