9 Bandwidth Facts from Mary Meeker's 2015 Internet Trends Report

If you are a stats nerd in our industry then one of the annual events you likely look forward to is Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report.  The one-time Wall Street analyst and now venture capitalist at KPCB has been publishing her mammoth annual trends report for 20 years now and it's always packed full of charts and stats. 

But at 197 slides and covering all aspects of the Internet, it can be a lot to consume.

So here are nine facts we've pulled from her 2015 that focus specifically on bandwidth and Internet consumption:

1.) Global Consumer Internet Traffic grew 21% in 2014.  That compares to 24% in 2013 and 31% in 2012.  Mobile traffic is still driving growth, with a 69% increase in global mobile data traffic in 2014 compared to 81% in 2013 and 70% in 2012. (slide 13)

2.) Video is still growing as a share of total Internet traffic.  Video made up 64% of total Internet traffic in 2014, compared to 62% in 2013 and 57% in 2012. (slide 13)

3.) There are now 2.8 billion Internet users worldwide. That's 39% of the global population. There are 5.2 billion mobile phone users worldwide (73% of population) with 40% of those being smartphone users. (slide 4-5)

4.) Smartphone penetration is growing dramatically in developing countries.  In fact the number of smartphone users in the top 15 developing countries increased 29% overall in 2014. (slide 196)

5.) The population of Internet users in the world's largest developed countries is reaching saturation.  In fact, China only saw a 7% increase in Internet user population in 2014, while the U.S. population increased 2%. (slide 193)

6.) Internet use in developing countries is growing strongly. For developing nations, Internet population growth is much stronger, with countries like India, Kenya and Ukraine leading the way. (slide 194)

7.) Facebook is becoming a huge platform for video. Facebook users now watch 4 billion videos per day, a 4-fold increase from just six months ago. A full 75% of those views are on mobile devices. (slide 60)

8.) India may be at at an Internet penetration growth inflection point. India added 63 million Internet users in 2014, 37% year-over-year, and is now the 3rd largest market in the world. (slides 165-166).

9.) Mobile is a significant platform for Internet access in developing countries.  In fact 65% of total internet traffic in India is from mobile devices. (slide 169)