Half of adults in UK watched porn during pandemic, says Ofcom
Half the adult population of the UK watched online pornography during the pandemic, according to a projection by Ofcom which lays bare the activities of the 26 million individuals who view adult material.
By far the most popular pornography site was PornHub, which was visited by 50% of all males and 16% of all females in the UK in September 2020 – giving the site a far larger audience than mainstream television channels such as Sky One, ITV4 and BBC News.
The figures rise substantially among younger age groups, with a third of young women and three-quarters of young men visiting PornHub in the four weeks covered by the research. Ofcom also quoted PornHub’s own claims that the average UK visitor spent 10 minutes and 20 seconds on the site – an attention time that would be envied by many mainstream outlets.
The figures were contained in Ofcom’s annual report on the country’s online media consumption habits, which has traditionally focused on mainstream sites such as Facebook and YouTube. But this year the regulator decided to broaden its research to include pornography because many adult sites are likely to come under Ofcom’s responsibilities as part of forthcoming plans to regulate video-sharing platforms and oversee online safety.
