Thanksgiving’s Fingerprint in Cloudflare’s Traffic Data
Thanksgiving in the United States is as much a disruption to the country’s normal Internet rhythms as it is to family dinner schedules. Data from Cloudflare Radar around the holiday (November 25, 2021) shows the day shaped not only how many people were online, but when they connected and which devices they used.
An Afternoon Off From Shopping
For the week as a whole, e-commerce traffic was strong — likely driven by Black Friday preparation and promotional deals. But Thanksgiving itself stood out as an exception, with a notable dip in online shopping activity, particularly around the extended lunchtime period. After a busy Monday through Wednesday, the shopping rush visibly paused on the holiday.
Peak Traffic Shifts Around Dinner Time
The clearest sign of Thanksgiving was not just less traffic, but a shift in when daily peak usage occurred. Over the previous several days, the busiest Internet moments had arrived at about 02:00 UTC — translated to 21:00 EST (18:00 PST). On Thanksgiving, that peak slid roughly an hour later, hitting around 03:00 UTC, or 22:00 EST (19:00 PST).
From a broader view, the holiday dip lined up with typical dinner hours for most of the country. Survey data suggests many families gather for the meal in the early-to-mid afternoon, with a strong preference for times between 13:00 and 15:00 — although 16:00 is another widely cited anchor. Whatever the exact dining schedule, traffic between 21:00 and 01:00 UTC (16:00–20:00 EST, 13:00–17:00 PST) fell well below the average of preceding days at those hours.
A Stronger Week Overall
Compared to the prior four weeks, the last seven days in the United States saw a measurable rise in total Internet traffic — not surprising during a peak retail stretch. Within the last 30 days, the most prominent spike came late in the evening of Monday, November 22, occurring around 02:00 UTC on November 23. The following two evenings (Tuesday, November 23, and Wednesday, November 24) produced the second and third highest traffic levels of the month, respectively.
Mobile Usage Takes a Leap
One clear behavioral tell on Thanksgiving Day is the device mix. While mobile had accounted for roughly 46% of US Internet traffic over the past month — and 49% over the trailing week — that share jumped on November 25. Mobile’s portion expanded to 54% of national traffic, an 8% increase over the usual baseline, and a rise of about 6% when compared against the same period from the prior week.
That uptick is especially notable when set against longer-term patterns. For context, back in October, Cloudflare observed that mobile devices were behind only 42% of US Internet traffic.
Reading the Holiday Signals
Cloudflare Radar, launched publicly in September 2020, is built on the premise that Internet usage reveals consistent patterns shaped by daily habits and major events. Since the pandemic shifted how many people spend their time and connect at home, those patterns have continued to surface in the data — including seasonal moments like the return to school, changing weather or nationwide holidays.
Thanksgiving’s effects are visible in multiple signals at once: the volume of traffic, the time of its peak, the share of mobile devices and the preference for e-commerce versus other types of sites. Together, they show how a single day can be somewhat invisible in the activity at scale yet leave a clear footprint across the metrics.
