A well-known online service represents the largest share of downstream Internet traffic in North America, with 31.62% of all activity attributable to Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter, citing a report from Canadian Internet monitoring firm Sandvine.

YouTube is in second place, responsible for 18.69% of all downstream traffic in the region. Video streaming accounts for more than 53% of all downstream traffic, the report adds.

"The top two Internet streaming sites now represent more than half of all downstream traffic," the story says. "On the other hand, BitTorrent’s downstream traffic (which is primarily illegal file sharing) continues to decline sharply, now at just 4 percent of the total. It still is the most important source of upstream traffic (i.e., from people’s homes to other computers) at 36.35 percent, primarily because individuals are sharing files."

The aggregate total — combining downstream and upstream — shows Netflix on top with 28.18%, followed by YouTube with 16.78%.