What were 2023's hottest trends? Which country watched the most porn this year? And how has Nintendo’s Mario gone from saving princesses to stirring loins?
ADVERTISEMENTAdult website Pornhub has the answers to all your questions.
This year, the company celebrates their tenth anniversary of the Year in Review Insights, an extensive breakdown of all things pornographic in which their intrepid statisticians reveal the past year’s porn viewership, as well as the hottest trends during the year of our (kinky) Lord 2023.
From technology to demographics via a deep dive into twenty countries, there’s far too much to share here with you. After all, Pornhub’s Insights team sift through data “from billions of visits to see what content defined the year,” searches which are "often influenced by pop culture and other worldwide events."
We’ve decided to focus on key cultureal areas, such as what events have impacted people's watching habits, and which characters from the world of cinema, TV and video games have been all the titilating rage this year.
And do stick around, as we’ll reveal which European country watched the most porn in 2023.
So, unclench, remember that sex is a part of every day life and need not be taboo, and feast your eyes on these curated takeaways.
2023’s Top searches and trends
The most searched terms of the year are often influenced by pop culture and other worldwide events, and many of these terms define 2023 not just on Pornhub but in mainstream media as well.
Topping this year’s most searched for term was “hentai,” a term that has seen increased popularity over the years and has held the top spot for most searched term three years in a row.
This steady growth can be attributed to a variety of different factors, identified by Pornhub’s statisticians as possibly linked to the popularity of video games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as Overwatch, Fortnite, and the global popularity of anime.
Here’s the breakdown:
As for trends, 2023 was all about mature porn. According to Pornhub, the MILF category gained +1 spot to become the 5th most viewed category worldwide and the Mature category gained +1 to become the 7th most viewed worldwide, growing in popularity by +69%.
How appropriate.
Elsewhere, size was on people’s minds in 2023. The terms “big,” “bigger” and “biggest” collectively grew by +177% worldwide.
Dr. Laurie Betito of the Sexual Wellness Center commented: “It is human nature to be curious about the extraordinary. When it comes to sex it is no different. We are all voyeurs to some degree and we want to see the extremes - what we generally don’t have access to in real life.”
Rounding off the top trends of the year were ‘"android” and “robot”, showing that technology has infiltrated not only people’s daily habits with the likes of ChatGPT, but also their porn interests; searches containing “uniform” grew by +243% worldwide; and worldwide, “therapy” searches grew throughout the year, up +344% since 2022, and was a top trending search in some western countries like Canada (+566%) and Australia (+541%).
Dr. Betito stated: “I find it interesting that ‘therapy’ is a porn search word. More and more people, thankfully, are seeking help for mental health and sexual issues, which is great. However, at the same time, fantasies involving a patient/therapist relationship turned sexual is quite common, probably because it is taboo and involves a power differential. In real life, clients can experience feelings for a therapist (transference) because of the nature of the relationship (the client shares very intimate details of their life and feels safe), and this can turn into fantasies of a sexual nature. The forbidden nature of the relationship also may fuel this fantasy.”
Movies & video games
The cultural impact of movies and their characters factor into the porn people are searching. According to Pornhub, “viewers love to see the element of fantasy, not strictly nudity.”
It may not surprise you to find out that Star Wars was the most searched for this year, followed by Harley Quinn, Game of Thrones, Avatar, and Harry Potter.
ADVERTISEMENTHere’s the breakdown:
As for video games, much like 2022, Fortnite continued to be the most searched for video game. Overwatch came in second this year, and the third most searched video game was Minecraft, which... is apparently not so niche!
The Legend of Zelda saw a substantial boost this year, because of the release of Tears of the Kingdom. Other games with substantial search increases include Super Mario, God of War, and The Witcher. Because Henry Cavill is hunky. Deny it if you can.
Pornhub’s statisticians also looked to see what video game characters were the most popular. Fortnite and Overwatch also topped the list, with Chun Li from Fortnite being the most searched for video game character this year by far. Well done to Mario for doing so well, but then again the plumber kink is a regular occurance in porn...
Events that changed traffic
Live events around the world contribute to substantial changes in traffic on porn sites, as many people adjust their porn viewing to accommodate these events.
ADVERTISEMENTThis year, events like Super Bowl 57, the coronation of King Charles III, Eurovision, UEFA Champions League, Apple Event and Sanremo Festival, impacted world traffic.
Make of those what you will.
Top countries by traffic
Pornhub handily broke down the top countries by traffic, with the US predictably taking the lead. Following the US in the Top 5 globally were the Philippines, France, Mexico, and the UK.
So, France is living up to its raunchy reputation as the Top European country by traffic. Elsewhere in the EU, Germany came seventh, Italy eighth and Spain eleventh.
For a complete breakdown of countries, demographics and age groups - and many other categories - head over to Pornhub’s 2023 Year in Review.
ADVERTISEMENT
