Pornhub sees up to 95pc rise in traffic from India

Compared to traffic to the site from India on an average day, the growth spiked to over 55 per cent on the first day of the lockdown and March 27 recorded the peak in growth in traffic that month at 95 per cent, data released by Pornhub last week showed.

In fact, traffic to the site started increasing considerably from March 8.

However, since Pornhub and other adult entertainment portals are banned in India, the users are talking other online routes like virtual private networks (VPNs) to access such websites.

What also contributed to the massive rise in traffic is that Pornhub made its premium content free worldwide apparently to encourage people to stay at home and flatten the coronavirus curve.

"Stay home and help flatten the curve! Since COVID-19 continues to impact us all, Pornhub has decided to extend Free Pornhub Premium worldwide until April 23rd. So enjoy, stay home, and stay safe," the adult entertainment website said on March 24.

However, it will be unfair to say that only Indians showed increased interest in poronographic content during this critical time when the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading fast.

Pornhub saw a spike in traffic from other countries as well, including the US, Italy and Spain -- some of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic.

Worldwide, over 1,280,000 people have got infected by COVID-19, while more than 70,000 have already died.