Game of Thrones is the most illegally downloaded program in the world with episodes from the first four seasons being illegally downloaded more than seven million times between February and April.
Game of Thrones is the most illegally downloaded program in the world with episodes from the first four seasons being illegally downloaded more than seven million times between February and April.
Internet usage has spiked this year during what provider Spark has dubbed a "video streaming revolution".
Spark home, mobile & business chief executive Chris Quin said average monthly data use per household for Spark broadband customers has surged 29 per cent in just three months, from 42.5GB in February 2015 to 55GB in April 2015.
"New Zealand consumers are embracing a digital lifestyle like never before.
"We've believed for several years that the video streaming revolution was coming, and now the proof is here with spectacular growth this year."
The average New Zealand house is now using approximately as much data in a year as the whole of New Zealand used in a month back in the late 1990's, Quin said.
Growth rates over the last two years had been reasonably steady at around 50 per cent a year, but the last three months had seen a real acceleration, he said.
On the Spark network alone traffic volumes had grown a record 26 per cent in the last three months to the end of March, Quin said.
There is a massive lifestyle and behavioural shift going on.
More New Zealanders than ever were shifting to higher data or unlimited broadband plans and enjoying online entertainment services such as streaming video on demand (SVOD), he said.
Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock said SVOD services were having a huge impact on the way New Zealanders used the internet.
"Our figures show that peak bandwidth delivered by Lightbox has increased by over 400 percent since the beginning of January 2015.
"Lightbox has streamed the equivalent of 7.4 million hours, or 844 years, of content since launch and that number is growing by the day."
Work was already underway to fast-track planned Spark Network capacity upgrades to help facilitate the surge, Niblock said.
"We're also working closely with key industry partners such as Chorus to ensure that upgrades we make align with any upgrades they are making in order to avoid potential bottlenecks.
"With more than 90 percent of New Zealanders still reliant on the copper broadband network, its important the industry works together to stay ahead of the video streaming revolution."
