The U.K. Independent, which recently commissioned a study through Nielsen NetRatings on Net pornography consumption in Britain, on Thursday announced its findings.
According to the Sunday edition of the Independent, more than 9 million men, almost 40 percent of the British male population, used pornographic websites last year, compared with an estimated 2 million in 2000, making Britain the fastest-growing market in the world’s adult website industry. The number of women downloading Internet porn soared 30 percent to 1.4 million.
The findings were made in what is thought to be the first definitive study of Internet pornography, according to the Independent.
Forty minutes was the average amount of time on a monthly basis that both men and women viewed online adult content. One in four men aged 25-49—around 2.5 million—had viewed online hardcore images in the past month alone.
According to the study, men tend to prefer picture-based websites, while women prefer erotic chat rooms, although they are more likely to view using porn as an act of betrayal.
While it appears to be killing off Britain’s softcore porn magazine market, which has dropped to 500,000 sales each month since 2000, many critics believe it has opened the way for the adult movie market.
British censors last week passed a total of 28 R18 movies, compared with 25 for the whole of 2000.
More than 7,250 British subscribers were identified from their credit card details, leading to 2,000 prosecutions.
The U.K. porn industry is now worth approximately 1 billion pounds sterling ($1.8 billion USD). The business is valued at 20 billion pounds sterling ($37.5 billion USD) globally.
