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Limelight Study Looks at What Content People Are Downloading

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What are people downloading and how are they doing it? A report from the CDN Limelight looks at the often overlooked topic. Surprisingly, phones are now the devices most people turn to when downloading content, just beating out personal computers. Tablets and video game consoles come next. Movies and TV shows were the most popular type of content for daily downloading, followed by music and apps.

Limelight asked when we're doing all this downloading, and found that the evening hours—between 6PM and midnight—are the most popular. The overnight hours—from midnight to 6AM—are the least popular.

While people download a lot of content, they're often unsatisfied with the experience. Over a quarter say that the most frustrating part of downloading content is the time it takes. That's followed by interruptions, and the download not working. Slightly less than a quarter of respondents said they don't find downloading frustrating. When there's a problem, users most often blame their internet service providers.

"Consumers have more video content choices than ever before, with the ability to access video from any internet connected device—particularly tablets and smartphones, which are always within reach. If the download process becomes slow, the user moves on to the next thing," says Dan Carney, vice president of operations at Limelight. "Our research confirmed that content must be readily available across devices, in any location, or you risk losing customers."

The survey was created in February 2016, questioning 1,136 people in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Download the full The State of Digital Downloads report for free (no registration required).

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