Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The answer to this question includes a combination of social be
haviors, economic forces, and technology. For better or worse, sites
featuring pornography, violence, and sexual themes are remarkably
popular. Although relatively few people (that I know, at least) ad
mit that they frequent these Web sites, considerable evidence indi
cates these sites are quite popular. Although we could speculate on
the nature of the audience, some statistics help clarify both the mag
nitude of this audience and something about its makeup.
According to Jupiter Media Metrix, approximately 40.6 mil
lion people in the United States, 36% of all Internet users, vis
ited an adult content site in February 2002. This is greater
than the total visitors to online auction sites, such as eBay, in
the same period, as reported in Yahoo! Finance.
A report by the National Research Council estimates that
there were between 2 million and 8 million official sub
scribers to pornography Web sites in 2002.
Curiously, SexTracker reports that 70% of all Internet porn traf
fic occurs during the 9to5 workday. Also, various sources re
port results by eMarketer.com indicating that employees earning
$75,000 to $100,000 annually are twice as likely to download
pornography at work as those earning less than $35,000.
Further, a significant number of these visitors are willing to pay
for viewing, products, and the like. Altogether, adult Web sites gen
erate millions of dollars in revenue annually, and this amount has
been increasing steadily. Here are some further statistics:
Jupiter Media Metrix estimates that online pornography rev
enues in the United States will grow from $230 million in
2001 to $400 million by 2006. (Source: eMarketer)
The report by the National Research Council cited earlier es
timates that subscribers to pornography Web sites paid be
tween $40 and $100 a year, for a total of approximately
$200 million in 2002.
With so much money involved, companies and individuals who
maintain these Web sites have a strong incentive to promote their
sites and to entice the general public to visit their sites rather than
