Today’s women are buying more porn than ever, and it is probably not the porn you think.

If you work in the adult industry, consumer preferences and demographics are frequent topics of discussion. Who is watching? What are they watching? How long are they watching? Let’s take a deeper look to see who is buying and what they are buying in 2020.

 

What do people watch? We have about 20 years’ worth of articles you can peruse here  that answer that question. “Who is watching?” is just as interesting as what they are watching. We’ve found men and women exhibit different viewing behavior and content affinities across demographic age groups.

Though it is something of a given that the bulk of the audience for porn is male, the popularity of porn among women has been growing exponentially in recent years. Current data trends show that at any given time 30% or more of the consumers on our sites are women. This is up from about 20% from five years ago. *This data is gleaned from Google Analytics which has proven to be the most reliable source of consumer demographic data.

 

What do we know about the demographics of paying consumers of porn?
Younger adults, regardless of gender, are more likely to be found on a free site. It makes sense that college age adults are curious, still discovering what turns them on and are hesitant to spend their money.
Beyond free sites, budget membership sites under $20 a month are a popular option among the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups. The behavior of male and female consumers looks very similar in these age groups. This data reinforces the theory that younger demographics, having less discretionary funds available, are more likely to be looking to stretch the value of the dollars they spend.

We start to see more substantial sales from men and women in the 25-34 and 35-44 age group and often on mobile devices. With women skewing slightly younger and men skewing slightly older. The consumers in these age groups are transitioning from free and budget subscription sites to more premium sites.

In the 45-54, 55-64, and 65+ we see most of the porn buying consumers on premium adult sites. They know what they want, the newest, highest quality and most diverse content selection.

The porn viewing habits of men and women of all ages are more similar than they are different, but there are some changes taking place. Several years ago, we noticed more women buying male/male gay content. While female/female and male/female porn is still popular with this demographic, it is not growing at the same rate as appetites for male/male content among our female viewers.

Women viewing gay male porn has increased from 16% in 2015 to 35% in 2020. This is a massive uptick, and we are not seeing any other group trend so dramatically. The female audience for this content is primarily 45+ age group. Younger female consumers aged 25+ are gravitating toward male/female and female/female content. Additionally, women are buying more porn across the board and watching for slightly longer periods of time than men do.

 

 

What are women watching exactly?
Women watching male/female porn and female/female porn are looking at the newest movies, lots of scenes from European producers and a substantial amount of lesbian content. This content is some of the most beautiful content made today. High resolution video and perfect human forms are a winning combination. Also popular are fetish and taboo story driven scenes. Scenes like this draw the audience in and entice them with complex sexual situations that entice feelings of suspense, among others. The older/younger age play content, and interracial content receive high marks as well. Maybe surprisingly, anal shows up frequently.
Women watching male/male porn are also seeking out the newly released scenes, muscular European twinks are the most popular. Amateur guys-next-door and rugged Daddy types are frequently peaking interest, as are scenes involving Interracial sex. We are not sure what fantasy drives the ladies watching this content, but we know that there are no women in these scenes.

 

 

What do we know about Men?
The content taste of men watching male/female and female/female porn has been consistent with Anal, Lesbian, and Taboo being some of the more popular content categories recently, though their position may change slightly from one quarter to the next. MILF , Threeway, and POV have also been very popular as of late.

Men watching male/male porn is very predictable and consistent with European, Muscle, and Twink content being the forever favorite. Daddy and Interracial content would be in the honorable mention positions. Men and women are both turned on by the same male/male content. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but everyone looking at this content agrees it is hot.

Do not be fooled into thinking the age of men watching porn is coming to an end. Male viewership numbers are holding strong, but the number of women watching is on the upswing.

 

Going back to the late 1990s the consensus in our offices and probably across many companies of that era was that probably 10% of a porn sites audience were women. This was a gut estimate based on limited solid data. Fast forward to 2015 and the best data we had suggested it was more like 15%. Today in 2020 the best data indicates that number is around 30% and growing quickly. Has the female audience really grown this much through the years or has data collection on consumers improved? The answer is probably both.

Porn has achieved mainstream acceptance faster than we would have thought possible back in the 1990s. Additionally, we all know the information about consumers collected through companies like Google has certainly increased. We are always striving to improve understanding both inside and outside of the adult industry. In the meantime, enjoy what makes you happy and stay safe.