What Keeps You Up All Night Surfing The Internet?
It's 11 p.m. Do you know where your neighbors are? Chances are they're online. According to a study, North Americans have been staying up late to do their Internet surfing this summer, so late that the peak usage for the whole day has been at 11 p.m. Eastern time.
That appears to be a shift from previous years, when most Internet activity was in the daytime.
The new study by Internet security firm Arbor Networks found that people using the Internet at work and school produce a smaller traffic peak around 4 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays.
Internet activity then declines as people head home.
At 8 p.m. Eastern, U.S. and Canadian home Internet traffic starts spiking, and stays surprisingly strong past midnight, Arbor found.
At 2 a.m. Eastern, overall traffic is as high as it is at 9 a.m., when people are logging in at work.
Of course, 11 p.m. Eastern time is 8 p.m. on the West Coast.
But the Eastern and Central time zones account for three-quarters of the U.S. population, so it's clear there's lot of late-night traffic.
It also seems that North Americans are staying up much later on the Internet than Europeans. Their traffic peaks when it's 9 p.m. in Western and Central Europe, and then drops sharply.
So what is it that keeps us up at night?
Internet video, including YouTube and pornography, appears to be a big part of the answer, according to Arbor's Craig Labovitz.
Video usage peaks at midnight Eastern, later than any other traffic.
Gaming is another big evening activity, but one that's most intense between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern, coinciding with TV's prime time for most Americans.
Arbor gathers data from Internet service providers that account for about half of North American traffic. The study looked at 10 weekdays in July.
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More Depressing news for the Traditional roadcast TV Nets. I think last season 2008-09 was the first in which I failed to follow and watch one network show for the whole season,(canceling Boston Legal had a lot to do with that)
Television is essentially dead, I watch almost everything online or DVR a few select shows like True Blood.
The peak times listed correspond with out own experience it seems everyone I know is online late into the wee hours!
Dewayne–
You are on to something. Boston Legal was a quality drama, like a weekly mini movie series. Network TV used to be very good at this. Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr had a successful 10 year run for example.
On NBC, the closest thing to quality drama is Law and Order and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. On CBS CSI (original) and CSI, Miami were both decent in their first two seasons then quickly devolved into melodramas. So far, I will watch CSI, New York but not nearly as often. The plot lines are too damned predictable. Frankly, for the crime shows, the writers really ought to have the dectives and criminologists fail to crack a case occasionally which is a more realistic portrayal.
My point is Network TV used to do a good job of giving the audience great dramas which good lead actors and supporting character actors. Now most of these are showcases for Vogue model wannabees and guys so into their physiques that both come across as insincere and narcisstic plastic people no one has an interest in. Then, that great brainstorm some boardroom bozo conjured–reality TV. I couldn’t careless about the Big Brother house or its housemates or Survivor or American Idol, featuring lots of superiorly smug Simon Cowell, a guy that most of America would like to see punched in the nose by a contestant he devastates with his “criticism.”
Personally, the networks need to concentrate on getting real actors, good writers, skilled directors, and knowledgeable producers. May be then Network TV will back a real, viable, competitive comeback with viewers.