Another day, another porn-related post here at CG. Today, though, it’s all bad news for the industry. If the numbers hold out, free Internet porn sites like YouPorn and PornTube will destroy Big Porn—Vivid, Hustler, etc. No more high-end productions, no more contract starlets, no more class. DVD sales of porn have plummeted (Vivid used to make 80 percent of its income from DVD sales, but now it’s closer to 30; it’ll be near zero soon enough) in the face of free alternatives, be they the YouTube-like sites or illegal DVD rips.
If you have one hell of an attention span and a solid chunk of time, consider reading the whole linked article. It’s wonderfully worded—”So far, the Valley’s biggest players have tried to combat this by offering subscription sites, which give users access to a deep trove of content in exchange for a membership fee, usually paid monthly”—and it’ll give you something to talk about this Thanksgiving with your family.
Parents: So, how are things, son?
You: Terrible. Did you know the porn industry is in danger of collapse?
And so on. I guess I just found it interesting in that people always cite the porn industry as the great innovator when it comes to embracing new technology and now new tech is killing it.
Obscene Losses [Portfolio via Drudge]