Pornhub reveals India’s Porn Habits in 2017 review

India’s porn habits are under the spotlight once again as Pornhub release their 2017 Year in Review. An annual reflection on the changing, trending global and Indian searches.

While the country still regards sex as taboo, many still have a growing interest in searching for pornographic content.

Published on 9th January 2018, the report highlights some key changes compared to its previous Year in Review. It also reflects the impact of growing trends amongst Indians throughout 2017.

As expected, the United States and the United Kingdom give the highest traffic to the popular website. Back in October 2017, Pornhub revealed India has jumped one place to No. 3 on this list. The Year in Review shows it has retained its place.

But while more Indians are now visiting the website, this doesn’t translate to longer time spent on Pornhub. Average duration remains at 8:20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the smartphone continues to thrive as more are using their devices to search for porn. It witnessed a 16% rise, increasing the percentage of visitors from the country via their phones to 86%.

It appears then many find the privacy that smartphones offer more attractive in pursuing pornographic content.

Sunny Leone continues to dominate as India’s highest-searched pornstar and comes in at No. 1. This may come as little surprise, as the starlet thrilled fans with an array of sexy music videos, such as Piya Moore and Laila Main Laila.

With her popularity continuing to increase, she looks likely to continue her three-year streak of landing the top spot. Sunny also retains her spot of No. 5 on the ‘Most Searched For Pornstar’ global list. Pornhub even revealed:

“More than 126 million videos featuring Sunny were viewed over the course of the year.”

Mia Khalifa ranks at No.2, an unchanging position from 2016. However, she may have gained some new fans when rumours surfaced that she could make a debut into Indian films.

The top categories witnessed a big reshuffle as ‘MILF’ jumps to the first spot. Previously, it didn’t even rank in the Top 3. However, this category witnessed a lot of growth throughout 2017 – no wonder then it has led to a leap in the ranks.

If one looks at searches, the most popular term for 2017 was ‘Indian wife’. Indeed, many of the other commonly searched terms mentioned ‘Indian’ suggesting that the country has a great demand for local content.

In addition, it also appears in the ‘Most Viewed Categories of 2017’, witnessing huge growth as it jumps up eight places. It appears then a global audience is just as keen to see Indian porn.

Another interesting trend for 2017 is the popularity of high definition (HD) porn. On the list of Top Trending Searches, some refer to this such as ‘hd hindi video’. Considering it held no presence last year, could this trend continue to grow in 2018?

Cheerleaders have also become popular; not just in India, but worldwide. Regarding the country’s insights, the term ‘cheerleader’ appeared both a top and trending search. However, its worldwide popularity amongst both men and women means it appears at seventh place in ‘The Searches that Defined 2017’.

Taking a closer at visitors, Indian’s audience hasn’t changed much since October, with 70% of its total visitors male and 30% female. However, on a global scale, ‘Porn for Women’ became the most widely-used search term, suggesting a higher demand for female-focused content.

Sex therapist, Dr. Laurie Betto commented on this rise: “2017 seems to have been the year where women have come forward to express their desires more openly.

“From the “Me too” movement to prominent females the likes of Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley on the world stage, women are feeling more empowered and they have found their voice. This is a sign of things to come.”

This will be encouraging news for many, as the industry has been criticised for objectifying women. But by providing content that women can enjoy and could even be seen as ethical, this could mark a welcoming change in pornography.

From these intriguing insights, the demand for such content is ever on the rise. Pornhub gained a staggering 28.5 billion visits to its website in just 2017 alone.

With India now an increasingly major source of this traffic, we wonder what new trends will emerge for the year ahead.

Read more about the 2017 Year in Review report here.