Who doesn’t like a round-up of the previous year in September?! Some might say it’s the perfect time as we gear up to the rundowns of the current year.

The last time I looked at porn trends was in 2021, shortly after Covid when people had spent a lot of time indoors, wondering how to pass the days. This time, I read Pornhub’s 2023 year in review as I devoured “Want”, Gillian Anderson’s new book about women’s sexual fantasies. I wondered if porn habits matched fantasies… and to some extent, they did.

Here’s what porn adults enjoyed in 2023.

Who’s watching the most porn – and what are they watching?

Many men like porn which is why most porn is catered to men. In the UK and US, men comprised 71% of the viewers, and women 29%. Where were these viewers based? Mainly the US, but also the Philippines… With such a huge population, the US contributed to the most amount of traffic to Pornhub. This was followed by the Philippines, France, Mexico and the UK. Australian porn users were the 13th largest source of traffic for Pornhub.

Age doesn’t seem to be much of a factor when it comes to viewing porn. Last year, the average age of visitors to Pornhub was 37 years old but most viewers (remember mode, mean and median from school maths classes?) fit into the 18-24 and 25-34 years old brackets, (27% and 26%, respectively).

And no matter your age or location, girl-on-girl remained hot with the report showing that Brits, Americans and Aussies love lesbian porn. “Lesbian” was the most-viewed category in all three countries and the most popular category amongst women.

What porn terms did people search for in 2023?

For the past three years, “hentai” has held the top spot for the most searched term. Statisticians at Pornhub think this might be because of the growing popularity of anime and some video games. After “hentai,” the next most searched terms are “milf” and “lesbian,” which usually appear in the Top 5. “Japanese” and “pinay” are the last two terms people search for the most.

1. hentai
2. milf
3. lesbian
4. Japanese
5. pinay (refers to a woman from the Philippines)

At number 6, we have “anal”, “threesome” comes in at 12, “big tits” occupies number 16, “bbc“, “blowjob” and “public” hold places 18, 19 and 20, respectively.

As AI infiltrates our daily lives more and more, it should be unsurprising that it’s also influencing our porn habits. Searches for “android” grew by +1689% and “robot” by +304% – terms like “sex robot” and “AI robot” were popular. The acronym “NPC”(standing for Non-Playable Character) was also +1541% more common this year than last. “Sex machine” saw an increase of +88%, and “dildo machine”, “milking machine”, and “penis machine” also had a greater search volume than last year.

What might 2024’s porn trends be?

As “sex robots” become increasingly realistic, AI-related search terms are likely to soar again this year. Perhaps with a greater increase from women for searches like “AI boyfriend”?

Will the UK and US elections affect people’s porn interests – “Kamala Harris”/”Kamala Harris lookalike”, “sexy Keir Starmer”…?

And with discussions about gender continuing, might trans terms proliferate?

Will Gillian Anderson’s popular book “Want” influence women’s search habits with more emphasis on porn with a storyline?

Whatever Pornhub’s 2024 year-in-review holds, I’m looking forward to it.

Photo by Karolina Kaboompics on Pexels