The explosion of free (streaming) porn

[Corny]

A very interesting, article about this big part of the industry and the people behind it. Mainly focused on websites with a mostly "straight" content, but still very interesting.

It was inevitable, once YouTube launched in 2005, that someone would start a porn equivalent. Sure enough, over two months in the summer of 2006, three different sites launched that would become major adult-only tubes: PornoTube, RedTube, and YouPorn. Like YouTube, the porn tubes were flooded with free content—some of it licensed for pennies from older companies that didn’t understand the web, much of it pirated from paid sites. The tubes had a new business model: They made most of their money by keeping surfers on their sites and selling banner ads, though they also put some content behind a paywall. Porn surfers migrated en masse from the old TGPs and eight-second MGPs to free movies on tube sites that could run upwards of 30 minutes. Traffic to the affiliates and conversions to paysites both plummeted. The proliferation of cam sites (where you can video-chat with a live model), together with the waning popularity of DVDs, compounded the industry’s problems. Steven Hirsch, president of Vivid Entertainment—who five years ago was called “The Porn King” by Forbes—says his company’s online revenues are off 50 percent. Other companies report declines closer to 80 percent.

When the old porn companies complained that the tube sites were stealing their content, the tubes claimed, as YouTube did, that the “safe harbor” provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act absolved them of responsibility for “user-uploaded” content. Never mind that industry consensus was that the sites were doing the uploading themselves. (How else to explain tube sites full of content from day one?) The sites could simply deny it—or point to YouTube, which had launched using a similarly shady business model and was now owned by Google.

(Full article:
http://nymag.com/news/features/70985/index1.html )

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

yeah is allllllllllllllllllllll interestin

 

[Telstra]

free porn is so good now.

I don't know how porn sites make money.
However there are plenty of paid customers ?

 

[DJ1990]

Lolz sorry pornstars...I don't care if you get paid.
I'll make my own porno movies one day...but only as a hobby...and they will, of course, be posted on a free website.

 

[Kyanimal]

I've been wondering about that business model, and what it might be doing to the rest of the industry.

Print publishers have been facing the same sort of thing ... in a way.

Generally, their content has always been free ... well, at least for a small subscription cost, that never covered expenses, but rather proved ongoing interest to their advertisers. All along, what was really being sold were their demographics. And, THAT part is still valid.

However, what happened was advertising going more strongly with "The Net". Suddenly, the print publications, who were slow to see what was happening, found themselves desperately scrambling to get those ad bucks back.

Most of them started up their own sites as their print orders nose dived, which was not a good thing for us printers! Then "The Recession" hit, big time!

Now, things are beginning to rebound. Print has re-discovered it's unique qualities, and is now being used to drive traffic TO the Web. Advertisers, and retailers, are realizing the power behind synchronizing various media streams. However, their particular audiences are still the "bait".

So, if the porn industry could find a way to use those "freebies" to drive more business their way, or get those advertisers to deal directly with them ... Well, I'm sure they're working on it!

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

 

[Corny]

^ did you read the article? it says that they DO make a lot of money with the freebies but many use pirated material to keep their own costs low. and they strongly suspect one of the big players of paid content to also use those free websites to make additional revenue.
referrals and ads are mainly what finances JUB. but i doubt that even with a big site like JUB that there we have as much viewers as the big streaming sites ..

 

[tonyboy]

Lolz sorry pornstars...I don't care if you get paid.
I'll make my own porno movies one day...but only as a hobby...and they will, of course, be posted on a free website.

Well man, I for one, cannot wait to see your own porno movies.... I"m sure you will get lot's of hits... handsome guy that you are.

 

[Kyanimal]

^ did you read the article? ..

Actually, no. At the time, I only had the time to read the portion you quoted, and even then my own post was truncated by a "local interruption" ... read "My" Kev.

However, I have read the entire article now, and it still only reinforces what I was trying to say.

"The Net" has not only loosened traditional control of our communication channels, but has proven to be a torrential flood. ANYONE can become a publisher/broadcaster, from the comfort of their own home, with the clicks of a few buttons. Likewise, we can access anything we wish, from myriad sources, while lounging around in our skivvies, or "whatever". That convenience of access, whether providing or receiving, has turned many previous business models inside out!

The markets for content, and advertisers' desires for unique audiences, have not changed as much as the distribution channels have. And, in addition to that, the ease of that very content being pirated, as well as stealing the audience that follows it.

From "time immemorial", there has always been, and there will always be, a market for porn (thank "Goodness"!). But NOW conventional control of distribution, being able to direct the income stream, has been shattered. And, on top of that, every Tom's hairy dick has the capacity to seek an audience.

Radio didn't kill the Newspapers. TV didn't kill Radio, Newspapers, nor the Movie Industry. Cable Channels didn't kill the Broadcast Networks. But each were a tremendous challenge to the others, and now "The Web" is proving to be an awesome threat to ALL of them, plus magazines, catalogs, etc.

Any new technology has forced the previous paradigms to adjust, and re-align, in order to survive. But that very survival was also tied directly to their relevance. SO ... once the dust has settled over the New Guy in Town, and everyone begins working together, compatibly, once again, asserting their own value, new business models, income streams, will become more apparent, and be able to be worked. The trick is finding the best New Ways!

May the Best Man, or Woman, or Team, WIN! Good Luck!!

And, of course ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz