BURBANK, Calif. — As the U.S. government shutdown continues, Pornhub researchers took a look to see if worker downtime has had any effect on porn viewership.
The standoff over the partial governnment shutdown has been running since Dec. 22.
Pornhub’s researchers noted that there was not only an increase in visits to the site, but also a distinct shift in the hours during which people are watching porn.
When compared to traffic levels prior to the shut-down, weekday visits across the U.S. were up 5.94 percent Jan. 7-11.
Pornhub’s peak traffic period across the U.S. is typically from 10 p.m. to midnight.
After the shutdown began, late-night traffic increased by up to 14 percent above average, while early morning traffic from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. had the smallest change.
“Those fluctuations are similar to other events when people tend to stay up later and sleep in when they don’t have to go to work in the morning,” researchers said. “Afternoon traffic increased by as much a 7 percent above average at 1 p.m., when people would typically be at work.
“Average visit time during the week increased by 33 seconds (from 10 minutes 37 seconds to 11 minutes 10 seconds), further indicating that some people have a bit more time on their hands. Visits from women were also up by 4.2 percent above average.
Pornhub researchers also noted the following categories showed the biggest increase in afternoon traffic during the measured time:
- Outdoor: +71 percent
- Threesome: +66 percent
- Old/young: +60 percent
- Small Tits: +57 percent
- Squirt:+54 percent
- Solo female: +53 percent
- Cuckold: +49 percent
- Trans: +37 percent