Not even really sure how this is debatable. The shitty thing is, according to the article, most of the porn money is controlled by NON US companies even though more than half of porn viewed was created in the USA.
You shell out $11 for Netflix, $15 for movie tickets, and $25 for cheap NBA seats. But how does America’s porn obsession fuel the economy?
In 2012, respondents to an XBIZ poll estimated the industry makes about $5 billion a year. According to Alec Helmy, founder and publisher of adult-entertainment trade publication XBIZ, that figure would likely be over $6 billion if the poll ran again today in 2018.
That said, revenue estimates for the porn industry vary widely. Some believe the industry does not even make $6 billion a year, while others say it makes $10 billion, $15 billion, or even $97 billion. Because most porn firms are privately held, it’s impossible to get a completely accurate estimate, Helmy says.
“The safe estimate is to say it’s worth billions, but I don’t know exactly how many billion, and no one does,” said Dan Miller, managing editor of AVN, another trade publication covering porn.
Private companies and rampant piracy aren’t the only things that make it tough to estimate porn revenues. Different researchers use their own methodologies when considering how to classify porn or adult entertainment. Some place amateur porn, web camming, sex toys, and even strip clubs into one big bucket of sex-industry revenue, while others only consider the porn industry to be comprised of money being made by professional media and entertainment companies.
How much money does the porn industry make?The graph below shows how the low and high realistic estimates ($6 billion and $15 billion) for porn’s annual revenue stack up against other entertainment titans that drive popular culture. As you can see, the porn industry is no lightweight economically.
