The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially kicked off in Italy, drawing viewers from around the globe to cheer on their favorite athletes and events. As the world comes together to celebrate the thrill of winter sports, we can’t help but notice that the Olympic excitement often spills over onto Pornhub.
With each new competition and headline moment, fans find creative ways to keep the energy going long after the medals are awarded.
Olympic Search Terms in Italy
Compared to the previous month, searches around the Olympics and sports saw a major increase. “winter olympics” saw the biggest increase of +5452%. “olympic village” saw an increase of +4361%. And “gold medal” saw an increase of +3803%.
After that, searches got more unique. “speed skating” was top of mind, with searches increasing +2442%. “nude olympics” had an increase of +2077%, “gym leggings” saw an increase of +1771%, and “velor tracksuit” had an increase of +1656%.
Opening Ceremony Traffic
Beginning in the afternoon, traffic to Pornhub in Italy, and around the world, began to drop. By 20h, when the opening ceremony started, traffic had dropped so its lowest point compared to an average day. In Italy, traffic dropped –12%, whereas worldwide traffic dropped –8%.
By 21h, Italy and worldwide traffic had started returning to Pornhub, with only –3% of a drop. By 22h, worldwide traffic was back up +1%, Italian traffic was still down –1%.
By midnight, it was back up to its highest point of the day, with worldwide traffic sitting at +9% and Italian traffic at +7%.
Opening Ceremony Traffic in Milan and Cortina
Breaking the opening ceremony traffic down between Milan and Cortina, our statisticians found some slight differences.
Traffic in Cortina dropped 5% more (-18%) at the start of the opening ceremonies than it did in Milan (-13%).
In the middle of the ceremony, traffic was down in both cities at –5%.
By 22h, traffic in Cortina dropped further, reaching –9%, whereas traffic in Milan remained only –3% below average.
By midnight, Cortina reached an increase of +9% above average traffic, and by 1h, Milan reached a high of +11%.
Our statisticians took it one step further and looked at how the percentage change in the host cities traffic compared to the traffic change across the rest of Italy.
At 14h, Milan’s traffic skyrocketed to an incredible +814% above the national average, likely fueled by the influx of athletes, visitors, and press around the city.
Cortina saw its own spike immediately after the ceremony, with traffic jumping +527% higher than the rest of Italy.
We hope you enjoyed the Winter Olympics 2026 Insights! Stay tuned for upcoming reports where we’ll dive even deeper into the data, trends, and cultural changes shaping what people search for.