Sandvine’s 2021 Mobile Internet Phenomena Report reveals the recent trends in mobile internet traffic. Video streaming dominates both: downstream (48,9%) and upstream (19,4%). It might be surprising, as, during the pandemic, people spend most of their time at home and use their cable connection to work and consume media. However, the ranking of top applications on mobile networks reveals that the first three are related to video: YouTube, Facebook Video, and TikTok. Internet video is one of the most ‘QoE-sensitive’ applications with which consumers often have poor experiences, e.g., video stalling. For that reason, application-aware network optimization will benefit this type of traffic, ensuring its unique QoS requirements are satisfied.  

Further reading:

https://www.sandvine.com/hubfs/Sandvine_Redesign_2019/Downloads/2021/Phenomena/MIPR%20Q1%202021%2020210510.pdf