On Aug. 21, Americans witnessed the a total eclipse that last occurred nearly 100 years ago. The solar phenomenon also got US viewers to do the impossible—they looked away from their laptops, TVs, and smartphones and gazed up at the sky. As the moon passed between the Earth and the sun, Netflix saw a 10% drop in US viewership.
And Pornhub, the largest pornography site on the internet, said its US traffic “plummeted to some of the lowest levels we’ve seen in years.” From 1-2pm ET on Monday, when the eclipse was near or at its peak in many parts of the country, traffic was down 54% from an average day in the US state of Wyoming, for example, where Pornhub saw the steepest declines. There were also sharp drops in traffic in Nebraska (-42%), Idaho (-40%), and Oregon (-39%) during that time.
But not even a rare celestial event could get many viewers in Arizona to deviate from their normal routine. Traffic to Pornhub fell 3% there.