An estimated 1.5 billion people around the world tuned in to watch Spain vs Argentina in the World Cup Finals on Sunday, July 19, 2026. With a 1-0 win, Spain took home the cup. Congratulations to Spain on the win!
Our statisticians love to see how an event of this magnitude impacts traffic to Pornhub. So, they pulled the data, and here’s what they found.
Worldwide Traffic Changes
Half an hour before kickoff, worldwide traffic started slowly dropping. At 15:02h, the time of kickoff, traffic dropped by –14% below average. By 15:20h, it dropped further, to –22%.
The halftime show started at 15:50h, with headliners featuring Madonna, Justin Bieber, Shakira, and BTS. The interest in the performers was evidently not the focus of World Cup fans, as traffic to the site came hurrying back. By 15:58h, worldwide traffic to Pornhub was only down –2% on average. It suggests World Cup fans aren’t as interested in the halftime show as much as Superbowl fans do.
The second half started at 16:05h and traffic was already dropping to the site. By around 17:10h, worldwide traffic to the site had reached its second lowest point of the day, -31%. After Spain scored at 15:57h, traffic to the site reached its lowest point, -33% around 17:58h.
Almost immediately, hordes of people were coming back to Pornhub. At approximately 18:22h, traffic was above average, by around +8.5%.
Spain Vs Argentina Traffic Changes
The home countries of the playing teams were invested more in the game than the overall worldwide traffic.
Argentina appeared to be more eager to watch the game, with traffic in the country starting to drop hours before Spain traffic. At 1pm EDT, traffic was down –19% below Sunday average in Argentina while traffic was only down –8% in Spain. Argentina’s traffic remained lower than Spain throughout most of the game, until Spain scored, when the tables turned. By 5pm EDT, traffic in Spain was down –77% below average, while traffic in Argentina was down –74%.
At 6pm EDT, traffic remained below average. Argentina’s traffic was down –38%, while Spain’s traffic was down –62%, no doubt due to celebrations in the country.
By 7pm EDT, Argentina’s traffic was +16% above average, while Spain was still down –4%.
By 8pm EDT, they leveled out a bit, with Argentina’s traffic at +26% and Spain at +24%.
From there, Argentina’s numbers started going back down to average, with people in the country packing it in and getting ready for bed.
The story was a little different in Spain. In celebration mode, the traffic continued to rise, reaching a peak of +37% at 11pm EDT.
United States Traffic Changes
From 10am EDT onward, traffic remained below average in the United States. By 2pm, it started dropping a little more, down to –16% compared to an average Sunday — a little below the worldwide average of –23%.
During the halftime show, more people took a break to visit their favorite site, with numbers getting a little closer to average. In the United States, traffic was –14% and worldwide traffic was –18%.
By 5pm, United States traffic reached its lowest level of the day, at –21%. Worldwide, it reached –29%.
At 7pm, United States traffic reached its highest point, +10% above average. In comparison, worldwide traffic was +20% above average.
Italian Traffic Changes
Italian traffic remained relatively average until 1pm EDT. By 3pm EDT, Italian traffic was down –26%, jumping up briefly to –22% during the halftime show, and then dropping to its lowest point of –32% at 5pm EDT.
Within the hour between 5pm and 6pm EDT, 40% of traffic immediately came back, with Italian traffic reaching +12% by 6pm.
At 7pm EDT, Italian traffic was at its highest point of the day, +32%. Following that, the numbers slowly went back down to average.
Soccer Related Searches
In addition to the changes in traffic, people were taking the World Cup spirit to Pornhub with them. Trending search terms during the weeks of events included “world cup” at +57,156% on June 19, “soccer” at +869% on July 6, and “football” at +632% on June 26 and +380% on July 9.
And that’s all for our World Cup Finals 2026 Insights!