There are very few things that cause Pornhub users to drop their porn viewing as quickly as they drop their pants. Holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving have a major impact on traffic to our site, and as we’ve discovered before, televised sports events like Hockey and Football will also draw attention away from porn – if only for a brief time.
With the puck and pigskin fans already covered, our Pornhub Statisticians turned their attention to the game of Basketball just in time to cover the 2014 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat.
2014 NBA Finals
The 5 game series ended on June 15, 2014 with San Antonio beating out Miami 104-87. Because the same teams had played in the 2013 finals (but with Miami coming out victorious), we were able to compare the traffic changes year by year.
Across the United States, there was a noticeable traffic change during each game. During game one we recorded a 1% traffic drop across the country, which increased with each game as interest in the series grew. By game 5, traffic across the United States had dropped 4.5% as fans everywhere were tuning in.
Over the entire 5 game series, traffic was of course down the most in San Antonio and Miami. They started off nearly equal at a 16% traffic drop (averaged over the length of the game). With San Antonio one game ahead, more fans from Miami tuned into game 2 to cheer on their team – which seemed to have paid off. By game 3 the odds of winning were even again, and so was the traffic drop at around 11% in both cities.
San Antonio won game 3, so with spirits high going into game 4, we saw a huge 23% traffic drop in that city versus only 10% in Miami. Knowing that game 5 could end the series, traffic drops once again equaled out in the last game, slightly higher in Miami as they watched their championship dreams shattered.
If we look at the hourly traffic in game 5, the fans in San Antonio were clearly excited by their chances, so they had no problem spending a little time with Pornhub before the game started. Miami clearly wasn’t in the mood, so Pornhub traffic there was already down 10% versus the usual daily averages. By mid-game traffic was down nearly 25% in San Antonio, but only 15% in Miami.
Below we can see that state-wide traffic also followed their respective teams in much the same way, as well as fans from across the United States.
Fans from both teams had gradually returned to Pornhub by the end of the game, and then it gets really interesting. Post-game traffic to Pornhub went up 20% above the time of day norms in Miami, but an incredible 60% increase in San Antonio.
This contrasts the results we recorded during the Superbowl, when the defeated city of Denver saw an increase in Pornhub traffic, while Seattle was too busy celebrating their win.
It seems this is a trend with Basketball fans, since the same thing happened in 2013 when Miami’s fans celebrated their win with higher than normal visits to Pornhub. You can see the hour-by-hour results from 2013 NBA Finals in the next section.
2013 NBA Finals
When taking an hour-by-hour look at the 2013 NBA Finals, the States of Texas and Florida were more likely to give up porn to cheer on their home teams than was the United States in general. Florida’s traffic to Pornhub was higher just before the game stared, but then dropped off more steeply early in the game. By 10pm both states were neck and neck.
By further localizing our data, it’s quite clear that both the cities of San Antonio and Miami were depriving themselves of porn for the length of the game. This lines up with TV rating results from Nielsen, who recorded the highest NBA ratings ever in those cities with a 44.2 share in Miami and 46.4 in San Antonio.
At around 10:30pm, with the game drawing to a close and the championship team being named, we were here to welcome you all back! Post-game traffic to Pornhub once again peaked more-so in the winning city of Miami than it did in loosing San Antonio.
NCAA Tournament – Final 4 and Championship Game
We thought it would be fun to branch out beyond the NBA and take a look at the NCAA March Madness Tournament. Watching the way the fans storm the court after victories in this tournament, we could only hope that fans stormed their way back to Pornhub after the games too.
The numbers throughout the tournament showed that Vegas was taking a ton of money, as Nevada was one of the top states interested in the games more than porn. Either way, sports and porn both have their pay-offs.
The states that had teams in the final 4 matchups and championship all showed large drops in traffic to Pornhub. Mississippi’s interest remained high throughout the tournament, even after being eliminated earlier on. Traffic drops across the entire United States demonstrated the nation’s interest in this tournament.
Stay tuned for more Insights soon to come!