How Does The Porn Industry Make Money

Below are a sample of porn stats. Each statistic or quote has been carefully researched and referenced with the original source in ourPorn Stats PDF document. In this way, this compilation of stats, quotes, and figures do not act as a last word on the subject, but as a first word, providing a good starting place for your own research.

Stats on the Porn Industry

"It seems so obvious: If we invent a machine, the first thing we are going to do—after making a profit—is use it to watch porn." – Damon Brown, Author of Playboy's Greatest Covers

It's projected that virtual reality (VR) porn should be a $1 billion business by the year 2025. That's third behind an expected $1.4 billion virtual reality video game market and $1.23 billion VR NFL-related content.

VR Business

Pornographers are hoping VR porn will boost porn website revenues that have been mostly stagnant from 2010 to 2015. In that time, adult content increased roughly 0.3% to $3.3 billion.

In 2006, estimated revenues for sex-related entertainment businesses were just under $13 billion in the US. These estimates included video sales and rentals, Internet sales, cable, pay-per-view, phone sex, exotic dance clubs magazines, and novelty stores.

28,258 users are watching pornography every second.

$3,075.64 is spent on porn every second on the Internet.

88% of scenes in porn films contain acts of physical aggression, and 49% of scenes contain verbal aggression.

79% of porn performers have used marijuana, and 50% have used ecstasy.

1 in 5 mobile searches are for pornography.

"Amateurs come across better on screen. Our customers feel that. Especially by women you can see it. They still feel strong pain." – Carlo Scalisi, Owner of 21 Sexury Video

There are higher percentages of subscriptions to porn sites in zip codes that…

Are more urban than rural.
Have experienced an increase in higher than average household income.
Have a great density of young people (age 15-24).
Have a higher proportion of people with undergraduate degrees.
Have higher measures of social capital (i.e. more people who donate blood, engage in volunteer activities, or participate in community projects).

Stats on How People Perceive Porn

90% of teens and 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral when they talk about porn with their friends.

90% of teens
Teens

96% of young adults
Young Adults

Just 55% of adults 25 and older believe porn is wrong.

55% of adults

Teens and young adults 13-24 believe not recycling is worse than viewing pornography.

Recycling and pornography

Only 43% of teens believe porn is bad for society, compared to 31% of young adults 18-24, 51% of Millennials, 44% Gen-Xers, and 59% of Boomers.

43% of teens

31% of young adults

51% of Millennials

44% of Gen-Xers

59% of Boomers

Porn in the Church Stats

1 in 5 youth pastors and 1 in 7 senior pastors use porn on a regular basis and currently struggling. That's more than 50,000 U.S. church leaders.

1 in 5 Youth Pastors

1 in 7 Senior Pastors

43% of senior pastors and youth pastors say they have struggled with pornography in the past.

64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month.

43% of pastors

Only 7% of pastors report their church has a ministry program for those struggling with porn.

Teens and Porn Stats

A 2018 study revealed:

Nearly 27% of teens receive sexts.
Around 15% are sending them.

57% of teens search out porn at least monthly.

51% of male students and 32% of female students first viewed porn before their teenage years.

The first exposure to pornography among men is 12 years old, on average.

71% of teens hide online behavior from their parents.

A 2016 study on Canadian adolescents showed that 45.3% admitted to problems in erectile dysfunction.

"The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what porn offers, they cannot expect to hold a guy. The young men talk about what it is like to grow up learning about sex from porn, and how it is not helpful to them in trying to figure out how to be with a real woman…For the first time in human history, the images' power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn."

– Naomi Wolf

Pornography and Marriage Stats

"I have also seen in my clinical experience that pornography damages the sexual performance of the viewers. Pornography viewers tend to have problems with premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Having spent so much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace, they seem to find it difficult to have sex with a real human being. Pornography is raising their expectation and demand for types and amounts of sexual experiences; at the same time it is reducing their ability to experience sex."

– Dr. MaryAnne Layden

68% of divorce cases involved one party meeting a new lover over the Internet.

56% involved one party having "an obsessive interest in pornographic websites."

70% of wives of sex addicts could be diagnosed with PTSD.

Prolonged exposure to pornography leads to:

Diminished trust between intimate couples.
Belief that promiscuity is the natural state.
Lack of attraction to family and child-raising.

A 2014 study found that compulsive pornography users "had greater impairments of sexual arousal and erectile difficulties in intimate relationships but not with sexually explicit materials."