Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent
Written by Ernesto on April 26, 2008New data on the ever changing P2P landscape shows that the number of uTorrent users worldwide has more than doubled compared to last year. The BitTorrent client is most popular in Europe - with an install rate of 11.6% - and least popular in the United States, where 5.1% of the PCs have uTorrent installed.
The data presented here are based on a sample of over a million PCs (Windows only), and were gathered by PC Pitstop.
A few months we already reported that uTorrent overtook Azureus’ position as the most installed BitTorrent application, and this trend continues. LimeWire’s popularity on the other hand is declining worldwide. Nonetheless, it is still by far the most installed filesharing application.
LimeWire going down, uTorrent on the rise
From December 2006 to December 2007 LimeWire lost approximately 25% of its user base. By the end of 2007, 17% of all PCs in the United States had LimeWire installed, compared to 23.3% last year. Similar drops occurred in Europe, Latin America, and the rest of the world. The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%, only a slight decrease compared to the 30.4% in 2006.
The uTorrent user base on the other hand is rapidly growing. uTorrent installs more than doubled in nearly every part of the world in the last 12 months. The BitTorrent client is most popular in Europe (11.6%), as can be seen from the graph below.
As a result of uTorrent’s growth, other BitTorrent clients such as Azureus and BitComet are going downhill. Azureus and BitComet now have an average install rate of 1.4% and 1.7% respectively.
Regional Differences
The regional differences in popularity of p2p applications are also worth mentioning. The data show that uTorrent is far more popular in Europe (11.6%) than in the United States (5.1%). Limewire on the other hand is well-liked among Aussies (27.0%) and Canadians (27.2%), but has less followers in Latin America.
Emule is still very popular in Latin America, where 16% of the PCs have the application installed compared to only 1% in the United States and 3% in Europe.
Home vs. Business PCs
Unsurprisingly, P2P applications are more frequently installed on home computers versus PCs at the workplace. Nevertheless, almost one out of five PCs at work (18%) have at least one P2P application installed. For home computer this is little over 1 in three (36%)
P2P Market share 2008
We also compiled a pie chart of the market share of the different P2P applications as of January 1st 2008. Please note that the data is a bit skewed since most of the data comes from participants who were based in the United States. LimeWire is without a doubt the winner here.
Finally, we want to make it clear though that install rates do not equal usage. The fact that someone installed a P2P client does not mean that they actually use it.
Based on the amount of traffic that is generated by each P2P application, uTorrent would be the absolute winner.
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Next: Pivotal Canadian BitTorrent Showdown Looming
102 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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I’ve installed both LimeWire and uTorrent ^^
But eh… LimeWire is for the fourteen year old girl who heard a nice song on the radio or from a friend, and they have no idea that when they download they should not close LimeWire so they stop sharing.
On the other hand, uTorrent is for the real pirates who knows how to seed. So it’s only natural that uTorrent generates more traffic than LimeWire.
So I’m kinda a middle-thing between fourteen year old girl (even though I’m male) and a real pirate I guess.
No contest, utorrent wins. It’s like comparing apples and orangutans.
Limewire is over.
[quote comment="360578"]No contest, utorrent wins. It’s like comparing apples and orangutans.
Limewire is over.[/quote]
WIN
As #1 stated, Teens who know little or enough about the internet to get homework help, setup a myspace page and chat on msn/yim/aim will use Limewire as it’s a simple application.
uTorrent is for the person (late teens and upwards) who has discovered torrents and again, it’s a simple application, tiny and not a resource hog.
As the popularity of downloading whole albums, films and software increases as does the need for a decent torrent application. Which explains the stats for uTorrent.
@#2 hes right there are no comparisons because bittorrent is for sharing full albums and large files and limewire is for just single songs
Personally I almost only use uTorrent because everything I’ve needed so far has been on there. However, it happens that I want some rare pieces of music in a non-international language, like Swedish. That ain’t so easy to get seeders for on torrents, while much simpler to find on limewire. Basically, don’t limit yourselves for the sake of limiting, people!
i can’t believe people still use limewire.
well i can… it’s normally kids who install it to download 128kbps transcodes of radio shit, and to use as a “torrent client” to get stuff of TPB.
it’s a way into piracy though, they’ll soon get pissed off with the shit quality and install utorrent, but will probably leave limewire on their machine. this is probably why limewire has a big market share.
i mean i’ve still got emule on my machine, i only use it in emergencies, if there’s something that i can’t find on any torrent site or anything i’ll check out emule.
uTorrent FTW!
“The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%”
How can you say this, when the graph right next to that text shows Canada at 27.2%…
I run Azureus still, why? Oh I dunno…I have the resources to spare it runs fine plus it has a trillion options and now that I have everything so precisely configured it runs perfect. But if I go somewhere for awhile with a powerful connection then I bring utorrent with.
[quote comment="360646"]“The most loyal LimeWire users come from Australia, where the install rate is 27%”
How can you say this, when the graph right next to that text shows Canada at 27.2%…[/quote]
The way I read it, they were referring to the fact that it maintained more of its userbase in Australia than Canada.
#7 Idem for me.
I’m using µtorrent on a daily basis and eMule for rare files.
I have been using utorrent (bitcomet before that ) some time now and wouldn’t trade it for anything. As for limewire, if I really need a song I’ll either use symella (limewire for symbian os) or use the power of the googles. I learned my lesson of having limewire installed on my computer; my dumbass roommate would download shit with it not knowing what it was. Apparently she doesn’t understand why a song can’t be 512kb. I prefer the full album anyway. If the band/artist makes an album for people to listen why not do as they ask and download the whole thing.
I mean, I don’t go to wal-mart and rip open a pack of (insert item here) and take the amount I need.
Ha ha !
True !
True : the chart is 27.2% for Canada !
i use utorrent cos theres no install, just the .exe , ive got some mates to use it aswell cos its just so simple!!!
im a total leecher tho so i dont use it to seed.
Australians do not havea s much bandwidth to spare as alot of other countries, and most of the filesharers are 14 year old girls :P
So they download their NUMBA ONE KEWL HITSS! off teh limegays.
Limewire is so full of fakes and malware its no good…..u torrent ftw
slsk for music
People, utorrent is owned by BitTorrent Inc… Remember??
And BitTorrent Inc is in bed with the MPAA. They also closed the utorrent source code.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the only client you should be using for PIRACY is one not owned by a company that works with an anti-piracy organization.
Your bit torrent client should be open and objective (or better yet, on our side)
Azureus. It doesn’t use as much memory as you’ve been led to believe.
oh lawl, here come the azureus fanboys.
[quote comment="360734"]People, utorrent is owned by BitTorrent Inc… Remember??
And BitTorrent Inc is in bed with the MPAA. They also closed the utorrent source code.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the only client you should be using for PIRACY is one not owned by a company that works with an anti-piracy organization.
Your bit torrent client should be open and objective (or better yet, on our side)
Azureus. It doesn’t use as much memory as you’ve been led to believe.[/quote]
It’s never been proven that uTorrent “calls home” to BitTorrent, Inc. or any of that. Even in the newest betas.
That’s all quite interesting and unexpected. I see there’s enormous potential for bittorrent expansion. What can u get with Limewire except a few top 10 singles and a load of trojan viruses? I know there’s a few other things, but I’m sure bittorrent has far more availability.
You CAN have both, so why not get uTorrent as well as I encourage all to do? Plus it’s very small and not a system hog. What the torrent world needs is more of everything, including seeders (sharers) and u can choose to continue sharing even after downloading, or not. It’s up to u and nobody monitors u or spies on u.
Nobody has been sued for using bit torrent or uTorrent have they? There’s nothing in uTorrent even remotely connected with DRM/copy protection/RIAA/MPAA etc. It’s developers have made sure of that and have not defected yet. If they did there’d be a BIG stink and nobody would update their software anymore. There’s a lot of clever programmers who always keep a close eye on it. It doesn’t rely on a Web site to work.
[quote comment="360653"]#7 Idem for me.
I’m using µtorrent on a daily basis and eMule for rare files.[/quote]
What kind of rare files? Music? Can u give examples?
#1: The “real pirates” wear tri-corner hats and say ARRRRR. You’re an elitist, friend. The idea here is to change the industry for EVERYONE!
#18: Since when was uTorrent ever open source? I recall this being a consideration to me when I switched to it LONG before it was bought by BitTorrent.
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