The New Reality: What We Can Learn from PornHub’s 2016 VR Porn Stats

M. Christian
2 Min Read

Adult entertainment site reveals growing interest in virtual reality.

PornHub [NSFW], one of—if not the—largest adult entertainment sites on the Internet has released stats on user preferences in its Year In Review for 2016. And they’re quite revealing, especially when it comes to the growing popularity of VR.

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Last April, PornHub helped bring virtual reality porn to mainstream audiences by launching a specific VR category on the site and giving away a massive amount of free, Google-cardboard type VR sets. How massive? Well, its own graphic is pretty clear about that: 10,000 units, and that was just the first day.

The move seems to have paid off, as the company notes that views of its virtual reality channel have grown by 302%.

Content has also expanded, which is another accomplishment. Opposed to amateur productions, a VR sex scene requires a greater amount of both skill and technology to create. According to PornHub, it has grown from 30 videos at launch time to 1,800 to date.

As for its VR’s audience, PornHub says that men outnumber women by a staggering 154%.

Of those men, it looks like virtual reality is most appealing to 25 to 34-year-olds—the so-called Millennial generation. Interestingly, the regions that show the greatest interest are in Asia, with China at the top of the list, followed by Thailand, Hong Kong, and then the Philippines.

After them, the popularity demographic gets a bit more global, with Norway and Finland coming next, but then jumping to the other side of the planet with Brazil, followed by Vietnam, and then Egypt, with Chile ending the list. Sorry, other countries like Australia and the United States: you didn’t even make the “most popular” list.

PornHub points out what a lot of industry leaders have been saying: that virtual reality—at least for the present—is definitely an up-and-coming tech.

This is especially true when it’s coupled to an always-great seller—like sex.

Image source: PornHub [NSFW]

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M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex. Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.” Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian. As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2. M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise. Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex. If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro. M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.
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