LOS ANGELES — It’s no secret that adult entertainment is a profitable business. What may be surprising is how far the Internet segment of the industry still lags behind DVD sales, according to statistics compiled by the site TopTen Reviews.
In its section on the merits of various Internet filtering software, the site — which purports to be a Consumer Reports for online products — claims DVD sales outpace website sales 8-to-1.
Following are other interesting statistics available through TopTen Reviews regarding the adult entertainment industry:
Size of the industry— worldwide: $57 billion
Size of the industry— U.S.: $12 billion
Adult videos: $20 billion
Magazines: $7.5 billion
Cable/pay per view: $2.5 billion
Internet: $2.5 billion
CD ROMS: $1.5 billion
Number of websites: 4.2 million
Adult content pages: 372 million
Daily search engine requests for adult content: 68 million (25 percent of total search engine requests)
Annual visitors to adult websites: 72 million
U.S. adults who regularly visit adult sites: 40 million
Another interesting claim is that, according to the site, U.S. adult entertainment revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC ($6.2 billion) as well as those for the three major professional sports.
However, it should be noted that TopTen Reviews does not list its methodology for measurement.
