The adult entertainment industry, once thought to be nearly completely recession-proof, is struggling against many of the same kinds of problems that “traditional” online entertainment faces. Just like many people are “obtaining” mainstream music and movies without purchasing them through “legitimate” channels, so too are people “obtaining” adult entertainment. The content producers — big names like Vivid, Digital Playground, Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network, and more — are struggling to find ways to protect their protect as well as their revenue streams. With a recent increase in the number of so-called “tube sites”, it’s easier than ever for the consumer to watch free pornography.
Tube sites are basically YouTube knock-offs, but instead of hosting clips from anime cartoons, crazy Japanese game shows, and idiots, the tube sites host videos of men and women engaging in various consensual activities, and often exchanging bodily fluids. Many such sites permit users to upload their own videos, though it’s a safe bet that not too many amorous amateurs are sharing their private lives with the Internet at large. Instead, most of the uploaded clips come from ripped DVDs, and downloads from other sites.
Some tube sites are fly-by-night operations, looking to make some quick cash by slapping various advertisements around other people’s content. Other tube sites are operated as portals for the professional porn companies: like what you see, young man? A subscription to our site(s) gets you all that and much, much more!
According to web tracking company Alexa.com, several tube sites are in the top 100 of all web sites around the world. Major porn company sites, on the other hand, rank way, way down on that list. It’s no wonder that the porn companies are worried about how to stay afloat in these dark times when their big-budget productions are being uploaded willy-nilly to tube sites. It should be no surprise that the porn companies have full-time employees to search for copyright infringement, and generate up to 700 DMCA takedown notices per month. That’s a very reactive approach, though, and costs money.
Pornography, once one of the most innovative of all online industries, seems to be settling down to suffer the same fate as the rest of the online entertainment world. Now might be a good time to explore that killer porn business plan you’ve been mulling over all these years.
Via Forbes.