After skipping 2020, Pornhub will soon be releasing its eighth "Year in Review" feature.
As always, the roundup will contain analytics compiled by the adult website itself, with insights on their user demographics, which pages are visited the most and each country's individual viewing habits. Think of it a bit like a mature equivalent of Spotify Wrapped or Reddit's annual recap.
Pornhub's Year in Review started back in 2013 and has been published every 12 months since then, with the exception of in 2020. There are always intriguing discoveries here. For instance, in 2017 the search term "porn for women" experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity, while in 2018 there was huge demand for a gender-swapped version of Bowser from Super Mario. Bros.
Once it is released, all of the information will be compiled into a comprehensive report on the Pornhub insights page, where there will be various charts, infographics and top 10 lists for you to scrutinize.
One lasting source of fascination for many is the U.S. map, which gives you the most popular video categories for each state. With this data, you can find out what type of adult content is trending in your region and see if there are any particular parts of the country with unusual kinks.
When Is Pornhub's Year in Review 2021 Being Released?
Pornhub's Year in Review feature often debuts in the first half of December, in the lead up to the new year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017 it was a little later than that, taking place in January instead, but the last couple of roundups have all been in December.
More specifically, they have landed in either the second Tuesday or Wednesday of the month. If this is going to be a pattern going forward, then you can expect to see the 2021 feature debut on either Tuesday, December 14 or Wednesday, December 15.
Update: 12/13/2021, 1.28 p.m. ET: Pornhub has confirmed to Newsweek that the 2021 roundup will go live at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, December 14.
How Is Pornhub Year in Review Data Recorded?
According to the insights page, the data for Pornhub's Year in Review feature is pulled together by a team of the website's own researchers and statisticians. Together, they sift through billions of hits and search terms to come up with the results for each annual roundup.
There is some very specific demographic information contained within the reports. For instance, they have data on the age of users, their gender, where they live, what web browsers they are using, what operating system they are on, and even what kind of device they use to access videos.
If you were wondering how they get a hold of these analytics in the first place, it is worth consulting Pornhub's privacy policy. There's a lot of text but right near the top of the page, there is a section about the user data that the website collects.
The policy is different for unregistered users and those who have created premium accounts with Pornhub. For those in the former group, the website catalogues things like which pages they visit, their search history, their browser information, the device they are using and their time zone. In addition to this, it also collects some online identifiers, such as their IP address.
The main reason that Pornhub collates this data is so that it can tailor the adverts that visitors see on their website, by figuring out what they are most interested in. In addition to this, it's also used for analytic purposes, which is where the Year in Review feature comes into play.
In the words of the policy itself: "We use identifiers and website activity data to determine whether users of our websites are unique, or whether the same user is using the websites on multiple occasions, and to monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, demographic patterns."
A little extra information is collated from premium users, as they will have to give their payment details, set up a username with an email address and submit things like their date of birth.
Does Incognito Prevent This Data From Being Tracked?
The short answer to this question is "No."
Opening an incognito tab on a browser will prevent search history from being saved on the device in question (similar to how it can also be deleted), but it does not make it invisible to websites or internet providers.
As reported by Vice: "It is [...] possible to track the online habits of visitors over the course of a longer period of time, even when they delete their cookies and browse in incognito mode. Whenever a user views a page, a bunch of data is automatically transferred from the browser to the website.
"If enough data points are gathered, a website can create a digital fingerprint of sorts that can more comprehensively distinguish one visitor from another [...] This fingerprint can then be used to track users over time and across websites, and even to create a personalised advertising profile just for you."
In other words, turning on incognito mode does not prevent Pornhub from collecting the data specified in its privacy policy. It just doesn't work that way.
If you use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), then this will reroute your traffic to come from someone else's server and will also encrypt information. Even so, you still won't be totally anonymous as the VPN itself also tracks your activity.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
