Netflix Makes BitTorrent Walk The Plank

(CBS/What's Trending) - Netflix's growth as a company is undeniable. What started out as a small venture with a small yet specific audience is quickly becoming one of the most powerful forces on the internet. Currently, Netflix boast as many subscribers as cable giant Comcast and has overtaken BitTorrent as the highest bandwidth comsumer in the United States.

To put that into perspective, a recent study from networking company Sandvine found that Netflix is credited with 30% of downstream traffic while similar video services such as YouTube and Hulu use 11% and 1% respectively. Similarly the 22.8 million subscibers that Netflix possesses rivals the 22.8 million Comcast has.

Netflix is huge; it has the power to revolutionize the way a majority of consumers watch video: legally. The rise of Netflix signifies a shift from pirating. Networks now are getting profits from their shows instead of seeing no revenue from unlicensed videos on sites like MegaVideo and Sidereel.

Users can now find old shows and movies instantly streaming online or a day or two away in the mail, along with a bevy of other titles tailormade to pique consumer interest. Pirating is a lot less convenient to consumers and offers no alternative or suggestions for future videos to stream, making Netflix's services preferable.

However, Netflix's growth might be limited by bandwidth caps, specifically Comcast's 250G cap on bandwidth usage per month . The cap could limit the speed and quality or Netflix's streaming video.

The continued growth of Netflix relies on a continued service: providing new and old titles online at a relatively low price, if it can keep doing that then it will remain on top.