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Pornhub Global Traffic Spike Highest in Russia as Sex Shops in the Black Amid Coronavirus Crisis

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The world’s biggest adult content website, Pornhub recently extended its Premium service worldwide as increasingly more governments are urging people to stay home in a bid to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adult website Pornhub announced on Wednesday that Russian internet users were responsible for its biggest spike in traffic over the past month.

The jump in Russia’s Pornhub traffic for 24 March was triple the global average at 57.1 per cent, while the website’s percent change on average had not previously reached double digits throughout the past month.

​The data suggested by the platform’s study seemed to confirm the similarly large numbers cited by BBC Russia, as it referred to online retail stores boasting of a surge in sales of sex toys and condoms. The outlet cited an owner of a sex shop as confirming that the coronavirus crisis was fuelling demand.

“I can say for sure that sex shops are in the black during crises… Because, like Netflix, they provide a sense of happiness, especially in a social distancing situation,” said Alexander Denisenko, who owns Potselui sex shop in Siberia.

Global traffic on the world’s biggest porn site was up 18.5 percent on 24 March, after it made its premium content free to visitors for a month amid the coronavirus pandemic and the self-isolation protocols it has triggered worldwide.

In other countries, surges were similarly manifest on 24 March, as Hong Kong saw the next-highest traffic spike at 42.5 percent, followed by Portugal’s 36.5 percent.

In Spain and Mexico, the surge was close to 30 percent, while Pornhub traffic in the US and Canada shot up 17.8 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Pornhub’s statisticians began publishing daily data on traffic spikes worldwide as well as region-specific information after receiving a request to do so from Forbes.

The platform is typically visited by around 120 million users per day, and to observe how current traffic measures up to the average, statisticians have been comparing recent numbers to those registered in early February.

The global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has generated lockdowns and quarantines around the world, with millions of people forced to self-isolate at home.

As governments were urging people to comply with the request to stay home, the world’s biggest porn site rose to the challenge and offered some welcome relief under the slogan “flatten the curve”, in reference to a term relating to reduction of new coronavirus infection cases.

​Accordingly, the website, which is owned by the Canadian company MindGeek, extended its Premium service worldwide in an offer that grants free access to ad-free, high-definition adult content.

Pornhub first began offering free Premium in Italy on 12 March, after the country entered a lockdown in response to surging coronavirus cases.

The site expanded its offer to similarly-affected France and Spain on 16 March.

“It's important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time,” Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said at the time in a statement.

Free Premium support will be available through 23 April, added the site.

Pornhub also donated 50,000 surgical masks to health workers in New York City area , while vowing to donate part of its proceeds to sex workers' relief funds and European charities.

Countries on Lockdown

European countries like Italy, Spain, and France have all declared nationwide lockdowns of late, requiring people to stay indoors in an effort to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

© REUTERS / POOLFrench President Emmanuel Macron wears a face mask during his visit to the military field hospital outside the Emile Muller Hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France March 25, 2020, during a strict lockdown in France to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Pornhub Global Traffic Spike Highest in Russia as Sex Shops in the Black Amid Coronavirus Crisis - Sputnik International
French President Emmanuel Macron wears a face mask during his visit to the military field hospital outside the Emile Muller Hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France March 25, 2020, during a strict lockdown in France to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Italy has been the worst-hit, with more than 80,500 confirmed cases and over 8,500 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center as of 26 March.

The virus has infected more than 57,000 people and killed over 4,000 in Spain; France is currently reporting more than 29,500 cases and 1,600 deaths.

Russia’s authorities have recently introduced a spate of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to deal with the economic fallout, as the country has about 840 confirmed cases of the virus.

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