Microsoft isn't always forthcoming with its market share analytics, which forces intrepid bloggers and analysts like myself to utilize other metrics to gain insights into how the ecosystem is doing. We can use things like Statista, analysts like Newzoo, or even Steam player concurrency charts. However, there's an even more potent way to track year-over-year user habits. At least, potentially...
Adult entertainment juggernaut Pornhub recently shared its 2024 insights. Pornhub is surprisingly transparent about its users, revealing how behavior has changed on its notoriously popular website over the past year.
To that end, we can glean some insights into how Microsoft Edge, Windows 11, and even Xbox itself has performed over there across the past year. For Microsoft, you could say that its performance was, perhaps, inconsistent.
First up, we have Microsoft Edge on the desktop. Microsoft Edge has improved leaps and bounds since its premature arrival. It hasn't quite managed to break into the mainstream yet, despite being the "default" browser on Windows. Still, it saw a decent 12% boost year-over-year, edging out an overall 13% of the desktop browser market share.
Microsoft was however far more dominant on desktop, where it greedily lapped up a whopping 71.7% market share. However there were some signs that Linux might be getting ready to truly penetrate the market, with a fairly impressive 41% year-over-year boost. I have to wonder how much of that leap is at least, in part, the Steam Deck's responsibility.
However, to put it into perspective, some 70% of all traffic to Pornhub comes across from mobile devices. It seems that users feel more comfortable engaging in private time from their one-handed phones or tablets. We have to wonder what Windows Phone's share of that pie might be like, had it not finished prematurely. Mac and Chrome OS both saw year-over-year declines, although Apple still fought valiantly for its 20.3% share of the spread.
While Microsoft continues to perform well on desktop, Xbox's market share shrivelled on game consoles, sandwiched between PS5 and PS4. For game consoles, Xbox now represents a paltry 4.9% of the traffic to Pornhub, down 70% year-over-year which coincides with declining Xbox hardware sales too. Assuming that Microsoft's claims that it has more Xbox console users than ever is actually true, you'd have to also then assume that its share of naughty private time users would also increase on average, right?
Still, Xbox isn't as picky over who it gets into bed with these days. Its multiplatform characters from franchises like Minecraft and Overwatch still dominate search terms at least. The Microsoft-owned Fallout franchise also saw a huge surge into the "most-searched" characters list, doubtless due to the hit TV show. Fortnite, Genshin Impact, and ... uh... Pokemon still dominate the charts there, though. Perhaps the sex appeal Super Hans in upcoming Xbox game Fable can help change Microsoft's fortunes.
Still, part of me wondered if the fact that Xbox updated its browser to its cloud-connected, privacy-eschewing Microsoft Edge might be turning users off.
So, 100% for science, I tested Pornhub's performance on Xbox Series X with Microsoft Edge. The first versions of Edge on Xbox were particularly awful for embedded video, but the latest iteration doesn't suffer from such performance issues. Truth be told, I doubt there's that many users actually engaging in adult content this way, considering console use doesn't even register on Pornhub's "per device" insights list. Desktop itself only has 7% after all, with tablets at 2%. Still, it's a very important statistic worth writing about at midnight on a Wednesday evening.
By far and away the most popular platform to browse Pornhub is Android-based devices, which has furthered its lead in 2024 to claim 65% of the 90% share of the mobile usage pie that accounts for all of Pornhub's penetration.
Microsoft erected a respectable effort in 2024
Microsoft made some minor gains on Pornhub this year on Windows, but it seems Xbox didn't have the stamina to maintain its previous market share. In years past, Xbox was the premier console upon which to engage in console coitus. PlayStation topped up its numbers pretty hard, though, putting Xbox on the bottom rung. Perhaps Xbox Game Pass is simply driving Xbox users to play with a different joystick. It's also clear PlayStation has been far better at touching the right buttons this generation, but consoles are really for play, not foreplay.
I'm curious as to what might be turning off users on Apple's devices, though, which seem to be giving its users cold feet. Although you have to give a round of applause to Android, which remains humanity's most popular platform for freaky alone times.
The site over at Pornhub.com/insights has a bunch of charts for your perusal, describing the various habits of the world's most self-appreciating users, and the impact certain global events have had on traffic too.
