The verdict is out. Ban or no ban, India is watching more porn than ever. In 2015, India knocked out Canada to grab the third position - after the US and Britain - in visiting one of the world’s largest adult websites Pornhub.
In its annual review of how people around the world watch porn, Pornhub found that while the US added 11 seconds to their average time spent on watching porn, India - at 9 minutes 30 seconds - recorded a higher average time with a one-minute increase in the duration of each visit.
“More and more, we are finding that our users are opting for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets when they visit Pornhub,” the website noted.
PornHub received 21.2 billion visits in 2015 - 40,000 visits every minute or 2.4 million per hour.
“In fact, visits from smartphones alone now account for 53 percent of traffic shares, up from just 45 percent last year. Only 36 percent of Pornhub traffic originates from desktop computers worldwide,” the review noted.
The most famous keyword search among Indians was “Indian, including bhabhi, aunty and teen.
“Bollywood actor Sunny Leone is the top searched porn star” in India, the review added.
“Love” remains the most commonly featured word in Pornhub comments.
“Pornhub viewers in countries like Cuba, Mongolia and Kazakhstan tend to keep their sessions short and sweet, with average visit lengths ranging from just over 5 minutes to around 6.5 minutes,” the review noted.
In 2015, “lesbian” was the most searched term on the site.
Overall, the majority of visits to the site take place between 9 pm and midnight, after which they drop off drastically between the early morning hours.
Traffic then builds back up over the course of the day, with a notable afternoon delight spike at 4 pm, then dipping again during the dinnertime hours after which it begins to climb again at 9.
“The peak in the afternoon indicates that people are likely logging on at work. [Maybe 4pm is] when they want to rest their brains perhaps and look for distractions?” psychologist and sex therapist Dr Laurie Betito was quoted as saying.
This is the pattern that is largely followed on weekdays, during which people are likely sticking to a more regimented routine.
“On the weekend however, peak hours change and vary, when users are sticking to less strict schedules during their days off from work,” the review noted.