The long awaited Sochi Olympics are officially underway! In this edition we will be hard at work to show which countries are more excited by the Olympic Opening ceremonies than they are by the world’s number 1 adult website (at least temporarily). As we saw in 2010 and 2012, the host countries log off of Pornhub to watch the start of their Olympic journey. This time around, Russia recorded a 15% drop while all eyes were on Sochi, compared to a 17% drop in Canada for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and a massive 27% drop in the UK for the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
In the hours leading up to the opening ceremonies, the host Russians felt the pressure as the eyes of the world were about to be on their homeland. The anxiety the host nation was feeling really came to light as the population was seen flocking to Pornhub in droves ahead of the opening ceremonies.
As the ceremonies approached, people in Russia seemed to make their way to wherever they’d watch the Olympic caldron being lit. Between 8am and 10am eastern time, a slight dip was noticed, but by 11am – the start of the festivities, we were seeing a 14.8% drop in traffic. Comparatively, during the 2010 opening ceremonies in Vancouver, Canadian traffic to Pornhub dropped by 17.6%.
While there was a ton of excitement leading up, Russians didn’t stick around for the entire opening ceremony with Pornhub’s traffic from the region steeply spiking up just after 1pm.
The Japanese also seemed very interested in the games. There were large dips in traffic from the land of the rising sun, beginning around 8am, with the biggest drop taking place as the opening ceremonies began. The Japanese however did not stick around as long as the Russians, with a small spike in traffic to Pornhub first being seen between 11am – 12:30pm and then a very large spike between 12:30pm and 2pm.
In the United Kingdom, there was a constant dip to Pornhub traffic beginning at 6am all the way until 11am, when the revelries began. The Brits didn’t enjoy the show too long though, only being able to stay away from their favorite porn site for a small period of time. From the noon hour on, there was a steady spike in the traffic we saw from the UK to Pornhub.
Finally, the changes in Canada & the United States were very small – part of this can be attributed to the ceremonies commencing at 11am on a workday. That said, when broken down hourly we did notice Canada flexing their Canadian spirit a little more than the United States, and tuning in to the games. When looking at the worldwide numbers, the biggest drop in traffic came between the start of the opening ceremonies, right up until the parade of nations ended around 12:30pm. From that point on, it seems the world was content to get the games underway.
Stay tuned for more Olympic Insights as Pornhub follows the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi!