Australia's Internet Evolution: Streaming Boom Transforms Online Usage Patterns

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Streaming video is taking up more of our screen time, working from home still commands the most uploads, and Australia is clawing up the worldwide broadband speed rankings.

Children may be leaving social media but broadband downloads are rising in Australia, and Queenslanders continue to use more data than users in any other state or territory.

NBN Co released details about Australia’s online behaviour on Friday, also revealing downloads were expected to dip at the end of 2025 but peak again in January.

The findings come after a year of change for internet connections in the nation, with thousands more households offered free speed upgrades and fibre to replace copper technology, as well as growing competition from satellite providers such as Starlink.

NBN Co’s chief technology officer, Guy Scott, has noted a significant surge in entertainment streaming, now accounting for 48% of all data downloaded via the National Broadband Network (NBN). This uptick is largely attributed to recent reforms that have made streaming more accessible to the public.

By 2035, the company predicts streaming video will account for 59 per cent of all NBN downloads.

Children were a major source of streaming demand as downloads were expected to peak during the school holidays, Scott said, even though adults streamed content consistently.

“When the kids are off school, the network tends to get busier — in April, July, September and January, they’re all busy times for us,” he said.

“Despite the changes, the peak usage hour remains unchanged, consistently falling between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.,” Scott observed.

By contrast, the NBN expected to see a dip in downloads on New Year’s Eve, he said, which is when its daily peak demand is lowest.

According to research by Worldpanel ComTech, streaming video services are now utilized by 76% of Australian households, indicating a robust adoption rate. Services like Paramount+, Stan Sport, and ad-supported subscriptions are particularly gaining traction as we move further into 2025.

In 2025, data uploads over the NBN increased by 12%, while downloads saw a 10% rise, reaching an average of 508 gigabytes per month. This figure is double the amount of data downloaded in 2019, highlighting the growing demand for high-speed internet services.

In the other direction, broadband uploads continued to be dominated by communications platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom during 2025, NBN Co reported, accounting for 24 per cent of traffic.

Uploads over the NBN grew by 12 per cent during 2025, while downloads jumped by 10 per cent to reach an average of 508 gigabytes a month — twice the data downloaded in 2019.

Queenslanders downloaded the most data on average for the third year in a row, followed by Western Australia and the ACT, while Tasmanians downloaded the least data.

Download speeds also increased across Australia during 2025, fuelled by the NBN’s free speed tier upgrades for 2.7 million users in September and free fibre upgrades for eligible premises from January.

About 12,000 households were moving to faster and more reliable fibre connections each week, Scott said.

“We absolutely expect to see traffic continuing to grow,” he said.

“We’ve built out the fibre network now to 3.5 million premises and we’ve got another 622,000 premises to build between now and 2030.”

Australia recently ranked 42nd in Ookla Research’s global broadband speed tests — above the United Kingdom for the first time and up from 82nd place in February.