Russian internet users represented the world’s biggest increase in traffic to Pornhub over the past month as the coronavirus crisis has deepened, the adult website said in a study Wednesday.
The large numbers coincide with BBC Russia’s report documenting a surge in condom and adult sex toy purchases from online retailers this month.
“I can say for sure that sex shops are in the black during crises,” Alexander Denisenko, the owner of Siberia’s Potselui sex shop, told the news website Thursday.
“Because, like Netflix, they provide a sense of happiness, especially in a social distancing situation,” Denisenko was quoted as saying.
Pornhub’s worldwide traffic spiked by 18.5% on March 24, when it made its premium content free to visitors for a month to encourage self-isolation amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Russia’s Pornhub traffic for March 24 was triple the global average at 57.1%. Its percent change over an average traffic period had never reached double digits on any other day in the past month.
Hong Kong saw the next-highest traffic surge at 42.5% on March 24, followed by Portugal’s 36.5%, and Spain’s and Mexico’s 30%.
The website’s traffic surge in the United States and Canada jumped by 17.8% and 16% respectively.