Thanksgiving 2022: When the US Logged Off for Dinner
Thanksgiving Day 2022 in the US brought with it a familiar pattern: a noticeable pause in Internet activity as families sat down for their holiday meal. Data from Cloudflare Radar shows that traffic dipped by 13% between 21:00 and 22:00 UTC, which corresponds to the early afternoon and evening hours when most Americans are gathered around the table. This decline was most pronounced between 21:00 and 22:00 UTC, a window that translates to roughly 16:00 to 17:00 EST on the East Coast and 13:00 to 14:00 PST on the West Coast.
The effect was short-lived, however. By 01:00 EST (22:00 PST), traffic had already rebounded to 15% above the levels seen the previous day. As Black Friday morning got underway, the surge continued, with traffic running about 16% higher at 09:00 EST (06:00 PST) compared to the prior week.
Traffic Peaks Before the Feast
The week leading up to Thanksgiving showed a clear build-up in activity. Late on the night before the holiday, between roughly 01:00 and 03:00 EST, traffic was 15% higher than the same period a week earlier. This pre-holiday rush aligns with the broader "Black Friday Week" trend, where consumers begin their shopping early.
Looking at the full month, traffic has grown steadily throughout November. Tuesday, November 22, 2022, stood out as the single busiest day, with traffic 13% higher than it was on Tuesday, November 1. Conversely, Thanksgiving Day itself was the quietest day of the past two weeks, registering 10% less traffic than the same day the prior week.
The human element of this trend is underscored by the fact that bot traffic did not follow the same pattern. In fact, bot activity was actually higher in the week before Thanksgiving than during the holiday week itself. Meanwhile, mobile devices played a much bigger role on Thanksgiving Day. While mobile devices typically account for an average of 48% of US Internet traffic over a four-week period, that figure jumped to 55% on Thanksgiving Day itself — the highest mobile share of the entire month. At its peak, between 10:00 and 16:00 EST, mobile predominance was up to 9% higher than the previous week.
E-commerce DNS: A Thanksgiving Dip, Then a Rise
DNS query trends for e-commerce domains provide a more granular look at shopping behavior. Aggregating data from Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 resolver, there was a clear dip in e-commerce DNS traffic on Thanksgiving Day between 15:00 and 17:00 EST. At the trough, around 17:00 EST, DNS traffic was 13% lower than the previous week.
That dip was an anomaly in an otherwise upward trajectory. Using a seven-day rolling average, e-commerce DNS traffic grew about 5% from November 13 to November 22, a clear acceleration following a slump in early November. The days generating the most interest so far have been November 14, 21, and 22.
Last year, Cyber Monday proved to be the biggest online shopping day in terms of DNS queries. Whether that holds true for 2022 remains to be seen, and we'll have more data next week to assess the full picture.
Japan's Labor Thanksgiving: A Different Traffic Story
Across the Pacific, Japan observed its own Thanksgiving holiday on Wednesday, November 23. Unlike the US, where traffic dropped during the dinner hour, Japan's Labor Thanksgiving Day saw a notable increase in Internet activity. This is likely due to the numerous events and celebrations held throughout the country during the day.
The peak in traffic occurred around 01:00 UTC, which is 10:00 AM local time, when Internet traffic was a striking 60% higher than the same time the previous week. Traffic remained elevated throughout the rest of the holiday.
For ongoing analysis of these trends, including how Internet traffic shifts during events like the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Cloudflare Radar continues to provide real-time data and insights.
