News

When Pornhub launched in 2007, it was the first website to make porn widely available to watch online. Many adult performers lauded the website for allowing them to earn money on their own terms, without having to negotiate with studios. 

But with great porn comes great responsibility, and in the 16 years since the site was founded, Pornhub has become criticized for carelessness, including allegations that the site hosted nonconsensual uploads documenting real acts of violence and child sexual abuse. Those claims are detailed in the documentary Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, and have attracted the ire of sex work abolitionist organizations, some of which are disguised as groups opposing sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Pressure from these groups has led to a wave of censorship of sex workers on the internet, which takes away their ability to earn money on a safe and secure platform.

Money Shot follows performers,...

Pictures: Netflix

Welcome to another look back at the biggest hits of 2023. Today, we’ll look through the documentaries and docu-series that picked up the most points in the Netflix top 10s throughout the year.

This list is compiled with data from FlixPatrol, which tracks the daily top 10s in over 90 countries globally. Their data provides a daily snapshot of what’s trending in the TV and movie list by providing points to each title that features. Although we love their data, it’s neither perfect nor an exact measurement of viewership. Netflix does provide its own data on this front, but it doesn’t allow us to paint a big picture of what was watched most in 2023 as it stands.

Because documentaries feature in the movie lists and docu-series feature in the TV list, we’ll split them separately. We’ll have a look at the documentaries and docu-series to do best globally first,...

In too many thrillers to count, the key scene, and the most suspenseful one, arrives when the hero or heroine, investigating a chemical spill or a murder or what have you, sits down at the computer and deep dives into a web search, the information-age detective work culminating in that inevitable “Aha!” moment of discovery. So here’s where the darkness leads.

There’s a sequence like that in “Another Body,” a groundbreaking, creepy, fascinating, and important documentary about a phenomenon that’s only going to grow in significance: the deepfaking of pornography. That means: the lifting of images of real people off the web, whose faces are then digitally grafted onto pornographic footage to create a fraudulent porn file that looks as real as reality. Boogie nights? Try steal-your-body-and-soul nights.

In “Another Body,” the central figure is Taylor Klein, a 22-year-old graduate student in engineering who this happened to.

“The Night Agent” might not be pulling “Wednesday” numbers, but the new thriller series had a very strong first week on Netflix.

The Shawn Ryan-created thriller topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 English TV series list in its first week of availability, with 168.71 million hours viewed. That’s the most for Week 1 of a new Netflix series, English-language or otherwise, since “Wednesday.” And we’re only counting four days of viewing, as “The Night Agent” debuted on a Thursday; Sunday night is Netflix’s weekly cutoff.

Beyond new debuts, “The Night Agent’s” start was the single best week for a show since Season 2 of “Ginny & Georgia” premiered to 180 hours viewed. Last week marked the third-biggest week for the debut of a Netflix show since the streamer started publicizing the Top 10 lists.

“Wednesday,” of course, still ranks at No. 1 in terms of new-series debuts, after it opened to a...

The Night Agent snuck its way to the top of Netflix’s English-language TV charts for the week of March 20.

The series, created by Shawn Ryan and based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, debuted on March 23, raking in 168.7M hours viewed in its first few days on the streamer. According to Netflix, that is the third-best premiere week of viewing across Season 1 TV for any Netflix Original. It also appeared in the Top 10 in 93 countries.

Love Is Blind Season 4 also debuted its first five episodes this week, bringing in 25.52M hours viewed. That brought it to No. 4 on the list. Episodes 6-8 drop on March 31, followed by episodes 9-11 on April 7 and the final episode on April 14. Waco: American Apocalypse was also a newcomer on the list this week with 21.5M hours viewed (No. 5).

Shadow and Bone Season 2 held onto its second place spot on...

Move over, Netflix: Two streamers joined the viewership leaderboard for the first time in the latest ranking, marking a welcome diversification of the outlets for most-streamed shows.

The third-season premiere of the feel-good comedy-drama “Ted Lasso” launched Apple TV+ to No. 3, while the real-life crime movie “Boston Strangler” starring Kiera Knightley gave Hulu a boost to No. 6 on the Wrap Report for March 15-21.

Audiences clearly got the “believe” message in the Jason Sudeikis-fronted series as it enters what might be its final season. The premiere episode scoring the highest audience numbers for any Apple TV+ original series in the past year, according to the latest numbers tracking the most watched programs across linear TV and streaming, according to viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households drawn from over 25 million connected TVs, balanced to the U.S. Census. AFC Richmond fans in the U.

Hulu enjoyed its best showing of 2023 on Whip Media’s movie ranker, thanks to “Boston Strangler,” which grabbed the bronze medal for the past weekend after its Friday debut, according to viewership data from TV Time, its TV and movie tracking app with more than 25 million global registered users.

“Boston Strangler” stars Keira Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin, the reporter who doggedly pursued the titular 1960s serial killer alongside fellow investigative reporter Jean Cole (played by Carrie Coon). And it delivered an immediate impact for Hulu on Whip Media’s movie ranker, which looks at the 10 most-streamed movies of the past weekend.

The movie also left a strong impression on critics, with most complimenting Knightley and Coon for making the crime drama a worthwhile watch. “Though not quite perfect, ‘Boston Strangler,’ the latest from writer-director Matt Ruskin (“Crown Heights”), makes an admirable addition to its often exploitative genre,” Lena Wilson wrote in her review for TheWrap.

“We’ve got a massive variety of a global audience – it wouldn’t make sense to cookie-cut.”

“Cookie-cut” true crime documentaries don’t “make sense” for the global audience, according to Kate Townsend, original documentary vice president at Netflix.

Speaking at a Cph:Dox panel titled ‘Space For Variety’ on March 21, Townsend pushed back against a perception that Netflix prioritises the true crime genre in its non-fiction programming.

“Everyone here, we’re aware we’ve got positions of responsibility,” said Townsend of the panel, which also included Emma Hindley, lead commissioner at BBC Storyville; Hanka Kastelicova, vice president and executive producer of documentaries at HBO,...

Netflix has released its weekly Top 10 global streaming charts for the week of March 13, which includes both original productions and other films and series airing on the streamer across the globe.

Idris Elba‘s “Luther: The Fallen Sun” remained atop the charts of English-language films with another 69.5 million hours viewed. That comes to 62 million views over the film’s first two weeks on the streamer, dividing the 135.5 million hours viewed by the film’s 2.2-hour runtime. The movie remained in the Top 10 for 93 countries and was #1 in a good amount of them, showing the global appeal of Elba’s character.

Vanessa Jopp‘s dramedy “Faraway” was once again in second place with 14.8 million hours viewed, while Netflix’s animated film “The Magician’s Elephant,” based on Kate Dicamillo‘s novel, entered the charts in third place with 13.7 million hours viewed, both of those in the Top 10 for 70+ countries. Meanwhile, maybe it...

You Season 4 continues its reign over the Netflix Top 10, despite the debut of Shadow and Bone Season 2 last week.

The fantasy series hit the streamer’s English-language TV chart at No. 2 for the week of March 13-19, tallying 50.4M hours viewed in the days since its March 16 debut. It struggles to hold a flame to the 64.1M hours viewed that You Season 4 drew during that week.

Related Story ‘Fall’ Sequel In The Works After Vertigo-Inducing Thriller Becomes Surprise Netflix Hit Related Story 'Gears Of War' Netflix Movie Sets Jon Spaihts As Screenwriter Related Story 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Premiere Scores 870K U.S. Households, Up 59% From Season 2 Premiere, Samba TV Says

It’s worth noting that the final five episodes of You Season 4 dropped the week prior, meaning that they had an entire week’s worth of viewing to account for while Shadow and Bone Season 2 only had four days.

This week in home viewing, the whale topped a bear. “Cocaine Bear” ($19.99) came out on PVOD after its third weekend — standard timing for Universal. Since it was still strong in theaters, home availability would usually guarantee across-the-board #1 rankings at iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.

But surprise — A24 lowered the price of “The Whale” to $4.99 just before Brendan Fraser’s Best Actor win. The film soared to the top at iTunes and Google Play right after the Oscars.

Both sites rank by transaction, which benefits any lower-cost rental. However, Darren Aronofsky’s film is also #2 at Vudu, which counts by revenue. (Vudu has “Cocaine Bear” at #1).

Meantime, Oscar juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — available on streaming as well as theaters — stayed strong at $19.99. That price may have discouraged some buyers, but it still placed fourth or fifth on all charts.

“A Man Called Otto” (Sony), with its price reduced to $5.99, continued its strong chart showing.

Love Is Blind season four, Murder Mystery 2, Rob Lowe starrer Unstable and docuseries Waco: American Apocalypse and Emergency: NYC are among the much-anticipated projects hitting Netflix this month.

Dating show Love Is Blind returns on March 24, featuring a new group of singles looking to make a connection based on something other than looks.

Later in the month, the streamer drops Rob and John Owen Lowe’s Unstable, a scripted comedy inspired by the playful dynamic between the real-life father and son. In the series, co-created by Santa Clarita Diet creator Victor Fresco, the elder Lowe plays successful biotech entrepreneur Ellis Dragon who is struggling after the death of his wife. John Owen Lowe plays his introverted son, Jackson, who seems to be the only one who can save his dad.

And Netflix closes out the month with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery 2. The sequel finds Aniston...

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is a documentary directed by Suzanne Hillinger.

A few years ago, the site was accused of promoting illegal (and very hardcore) content, this documentary tells us the story about how this site became the number one content distribution platform… for grown-ups.

About the Documentary

Mindgeek is a company based in Montreal, Canada and is the owner of PornHub, among other secondary sites.

It originally came to life as a YouTube channel where users could share whatever videos they wanted to, including, of course, specifically adult content.

Back in 2008, PornHub took over the market, becoming something like the PirateBay of adult content, except you didn’t even have to download it. You simply hit play and a world of entertainment ensued. When Fabian Thylmann bought the company, he made sure that the site was at the top of search results and – precisely because of the searches...

There’s something for everyone this month on Netflix, including the streamer’s first-ever live-streamed global event: Chris Rock’s comedy special “Selective Outrage.”

The last time the comedian was on a stage of this scale, he was slapped in the face by Will Smith. You’ll have to tune in at 7 pm Pm Pt/10 pm Et on Saturday, March 4 to find out if he addresses the Oscars incident!

On the drama front, the second half of “You” Season 4, starring Penn Badgley, returns March 9. Fans of political intrigue will want to tune into “The Night Agent.” Former child star Gabriel Basso stars as a vigilant FBI agent who answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House. Idris Elbra returns as disgraced London detective John Luther in “Luther: The Fallen Son” on March 10. And of course, we can’t forget the steamy series “Sex/Life,...

Netflix’s upcoming documentary “Money Shot” tells the story of one of the world’s most-visited websites — Pornhub.

Featuring interviews with sex workers, activists and ex-employees of the porn giant, the film, premiering March 15, “offers a deep dive into the successes and scandals of Pornhub,” per Netflix.

More specifically, “Money Shot” chronicles how Pornhub fundamentally changed adult entertainment, allowing erotic content to reach a massive audience and turning pornography into a multi-billion dollar industry. The doc explores the allegations of non-consensual material and trafficking on the site, and Pornhub’s subsequent crackdown on its own content.

“Knowingly profiting from sex trafficking is what we believe they are liable for,” says one interview subject in the trailer. Adds another subject: “The more I explored, the more aghast I became. I found too many cases of kids whose worst moments were preserved in amber.”

As activist organizations fought against Pornhub to protect victims of sex trafficking,...

Netflix will get a little less Sfw on March 15th, 2023. The streamer has set a premiere date for Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, an upcoming documentary about the popular, yet controversial sex video website. Update: Watch the newly released trailer below.

Pornhub was founded in 2007 and subsequently changed the course of the adult entertainment industry — for better and for worse. Though the billion-dollar website proved extremely lucrative and allowed content creators to reach an astronomically large audience, it’s also received a spike in backlash from users, including allegations of non-consensual material and sex trafficking.

That controversy came to a head in February 2021 when Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek was hit with a civil class action lawsuit that accused the website of hosting explicit videos of victims of child sex trafficking. To make matters worse, MindGeek has also been critiqued for its monopoly over the porn industry, as they own...

It seems like just last month Netflix was releasing the long-awaited fourth season of its stalker drama You. And that’s because it was just last month that Netflix released You Season 4! Now, with its list of new releases for March 2023, Netflix is finishing off what it started with You Season 4 Part 2.

The five episodes that make up You Season 4 Part 2 will premiere on March 9. The ending of Part 1 left things off on quite the cliffhanger so soon we will get to see how Joe (Penn Badgley) reacts to the reveal of the other serial killer in his orbit. Netflix is premiering a fresh season of another one of its TV hits this month as well with Shadow and Bone Season 2 premiering on March 16.

The biggest TV new in March 2023 might actually come in the form of a movie though. Idris Elba will reprise his iconic British TV role as...

Emmy nominee Razan Ghalayini has joined Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions as vice president of non-fiction development.

The executive will be responsible for managing Jigsaw’s non-fiction slate of projects and will drive sales efforts alongside scripted and audio divisions.

“I am thrilled to welcome Razan to Jigsaw. I have long been an admirer of her work. And I am in awe of her infectious enthusiasm and her ability to find, develop and produce stories that are powerful, vitally relevant to our present moment and hugely entertaining,” said Gibney, president of Jigsaw.

Prior to joining the team, Ghalayini served as a co-executive producer of “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” where she directed and produced over 70 segments across 10 countries. Before late night, she co-produced feature documentaries including the HBO film “Homegrown: The Counter-Terror Dilemma” and “We Are the Giant,” about the activists leading the Arab Spring. Additionally, she directed “Entrapped,” a...