As a Western, English-speaking country, Australia often gets lumped in with the United States or Great Britain when it comes to adult-industry traffic. Savvy marketers, however, will see that the Australian market can firmly stand on its own with a slate of highly desirable demographics. In fact, Australia is one of our company's top 10 regions for business.
Australians are often well-educated, affluent and spend one of every three minutes online. With a post-COVID booming economy, increased online spending and a healthy appetite for porn, now is the perfect time for adult entertainment companies to expand their business to the region.
Australians have the money, the internet infrastructure and enough of a penchant for porn to be premium adult consumers.
Although the population of Australia is relatively small with 25.7 million people, Aussies are ideal consumers with household incomes around $116 thousand AUD, and average net worth of $1 million AUD. With 88% of the population on the internet, that’s slightly higher than the U.S., which has 87% penetration, and mobile connections represent 80% of the population. Australians on average spend $1,100 online each year and prefer to pay with credit and debit cards.
AUSTRALIAN MARKET TRENDS
Australia is often a chart-topper in Pornhub’s traffic list as published in the site’s annual Year in Review report on porn trends, searches and traffic, usually falling somewhere in the top 10. Despite ranking 55th in world population, the Aussies came in ninth in Pornhub’s most recent report, and urban centers Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane landed among the top 20 global cities in terms of traffic to one of the world’s most popular adult sites. The top search terms coming out of Australia were “Lesbian,” “Hentai” and “MILF.”
Compared to the rest of the world, “Australian visitors are 107% more likely to view ‘Asian’ videos, 88% more into ‘Rough Sex’ and 37% more into ‘Gangbang,’” the 2019 Pornhub report states. Other Australian Insights from Pornhub include:
- Aussies spend an average of 10.3 minutes on the site
- 35% of viewers are women
- 64% of visitors are aged 25-54
- 84% of Australians accessed the site via phone or tablet
Additionally, SimilarWeb shows XVideos.com, XNXX.com, Pornhub.com and xHamster.com are the most visited adult sites in the country, demonstrating a robust market for adult video content in the region.
Aussies are also expanding their use of online dating, with close to 12% of the population using dating apps and sites and revenue from the segment projected to be $51 million by 2024 according to Statista. The online dating market boasts a $12.53 average revenue per user with an annual growth rate of 1.86% expected. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid are the top dating apps in the country.
LEGAL CLIMATE
In Australia, most forms of media (movies, games, publications) are subject to classification. Depending on content, films will be classified as G, PG, M, MA15+, R18+ or X18+. Publications are deemed Unrestricted, Category 1 or Category 2 (the latter two are restricted). If media content fails to meet the criteria for classification in either rating system, it is “Refused Classification” and deemed illegal to sell, exhibit or distribute. Depending on the rating and restriction, these forms of media are subject to state and territory laws. Specifically, they can mostly only be sold or shown in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory.
Viewing internet porn featuring consenting adults is legal, but uploading pornography, or content rated X18+ or Refused Classification, is outlawed in most areas of the country. For that reason, Australian adult production companies generally host their websites and content internationally, outside of the AU jurisdiction. Like the U.K., Australia is currently considering legislation mandating age verification for viewing adult content.
PAYMENT PROCESSING IN AUSTRALIA
Australians have the money, the internet infrastructure and enough of a penchant for porn to be premium adult consumers. The final piece of the puzzle to take full advantage of this highly desirable market is the ability to process payments in the region.
The Australian e-commerce market is $33 billion and payment cards are the preferred transaction method. With nearly 50 million credit and debit cards in circulation, Aussies averaged 560 card transactions per person last year. Visa and Mastercard have an 84% market share in the country with American Express a distant third. PayPal, ZIP and POLi, an online bank transfer system, round out the list of most popular payment methods.
Being successful in Australia depends on having the right partner for your payment processing. In Australia last year, Certus Finance saw a 41% approval rate, an overall chargeback rate of less than 1% and an average charge amount of $25 USD, though charges ranged as high as $250.
Ilya Firsov has a background in the automotive, finance and various adult industries, with experience in sales, affiliate marketing and IT projects. He is currently the head of sales for Certus Finance and responsible for marketing and branding. The ability to process for U.S., EU, as well as companies outside these common regions is paramount, so a strong background in high-risk processing is what sets a company like Certus Finance apart in Australia and around the world.
