(Our sincerest apologies to readers of AVN. This article, which relies on so-called statistics from Internet Filter Review, is pure bunk, and repeats claims that are founded on dubious and unsubstantiated data provided by people whose only interest is to drum up business by inflating the amount of pornography out there as well as the percentage of children who encounter it. Had I still been the editor of AVN Online when this story was published, I can only hope I would have realized the error it was making and intervened in time. I was not, and had no idea it existed until I saw a link to it in a Ministry of Truth article published June 18, 2013. I have, it must be added, been asked to provide these data points in just about every interview I have ever done with a mainstream journalist - and there have been hundreds - but I have always refrained from repeating the same convenient numbers because I had no way to back them up. However, there have also been many occasions when the reporter absolutely insisted on a number when I was hesitant to provide one, and I admit to having BALLPARKED what I ESTIMATED it MIGHT be. Having covered online porn since 1999, my feeling is that's about all one can do. That said, I do believe that the $2.5 billion number cited here is a far cry more accurate estimate than the double-digit numbers being floated at the time. - Tom Hymes, Senior Editor, AVN. Updated June 20, 2013)
The adult Internet is now a $2.5 billion business with as many as 4.2 million adult websites and 372 million adult Web pages, according to the latest statistical reporting from Top10REVIEWS's Internet Filter Review.
Based on analyses from multiple Internet filtering programs and databases, the IFR concluded that the entire adult entertainment industry is worth about $57 billion around the world and $12 billion in the U.S. alone. That’s more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC ($6.2 billion).
Adult videos continue to be the big moneymakers at $20 billion, according to IFR, with escort services next at $11 billion, magazines at $7.5 billion, cable and pay-per-view broadcasting and the adult Internet at $2.5 billion each, and adult CD-ROMs at $1.5 billion.
The IFR analysis said that search engine requests for adult material have hit 68 million a day, or 25 percent of total search engine requests, while daily adult-oriented emails account for as much as 8 percent of all email (2.5 billion) and produce 72 million adult site visitors a year.
The analysis also said an estimated 35 percent of peer-to-peer file-swapping downloads deal with adult material, equal to about 1.5 billion adult downloads a month.
"With peer-to-peer file sharing, children can download a free triple-X-rated movie full of hardcore pornography," said Top10REVIEWs analyst Jerry Ropelato. "What's more, even if you have an Internet filter installed, most likely the filter will let this material right on through."
Among those surveyed, 20 percent of men and 13 percent of women admitted to accessing Internet porn on the job, and 10 percent of men and 17 percent of women admitted they were addicted to Internet porn.
