“the producer or director demanded the nudity and sex scenes”
This has the ring of truth to it. Where is there any evidence the public demands it. I think that is BS.
I’ve seen posters on FR praising the sex on cable-tv programs. However, whether there is a genuine economic advantage for movies and tv to show sex and nudity, I don’t know. Given how easy it is to see naked people on the internet, I suspect that a program does not gain viewers by having nudity/sex: otherwise interested viewers would watch anyway. On the other hand, they could lose viewers who don’t want to see it.
On the third hand, however, the demographics of the various audiences - age, income, etc. - might still result in higher ad rates for “Game of Thrones” with nudity rather than without.
The only evidence for a public demand comes in the form of unsupervised teenagers and young adults at the Cineplex who will always opt for the R rated movies.