Adult Industry: Where Are We Heading?

[Dravyk]

Time for some serious business ...

What's on the horizon? In terms of danger? In terms of technology or innovation?

Dangers: Acacia, potentially other "patent parasites", 2257, Gonzales, VISA, Christian Right controlling major banking? Something else from left field?

Trends: More solo girl sites? Paysite review sites? Is VOD working? When will mobile/cellular start making headway? Porn blogs?

What's dead? Does anyone do toplists anymore? Use POTDs? Links lists? TGPs? How about banner exchanges? Webrings? Free hosting?

What's just around the corner? How about in a year? Five years?

[SykkBoy]

More consolidation and inhouse generation.

I can't discuss everything we're doing, but at APM, we're working on more inhouse traffic generation and keeping things more within our control.

The challenges seem to be coming in fast and furious, but those who can adapt and survive will grow even bigger and those who can't will wind down or sell out.

For awhile now I've predicted a change in the current affiliate model and it's finally a little closer to reality. Why continue to pay so much per signup on shrinking margins when you could outsource or bring inhouse most of the traffic generation and save $$$ doing it?

I see VOD continuing to grow and as broadband increases, it should get even bigger. The webcam market is huge, but there is still growth to be had. While it's easier than ever to find free porn these days, from pics to video clips, the interaction derived from live shows isn't so readily available.

*Good* paysite review sites have decent traffic. The key is they need a solid base of surfers who trust them enough to bother trusting the reviews. The downside of review sites is the retention isn't as good overall (especially in the wider niches).

[Red]

Good questions Dravyk.

I think free hosts are all but dead, except for the sponsors who offer affiliate free hosting. TGP's and link lists really don't accept them and I think anyone who takes even a modicum of time to learn something about the business, realizes they are a waste.


I still see some webrings for mainstream sites, but not adult.

[Nickatilynx]

I'm heading to mainstream LOL

[Newton]

Everything is about the sharing of information, blogs, search engines, rss, feeds and more .. Control the information and you have the world at your feet.

Personally speaking mobiles is the future .. ipods flash in the pan much like furbies .. mobile tv is coming and already in a lot of countries .. webcams / dating on the move with mobiles and tablets .. mobile advertising with banners / mgps ..

Ringtones and softcore pics .. welcome to 3-4 years ago .. mms / 3g / wifi / iptv is the way forward.

[James_Hotmovies]

In house traffic generation should always be a portion of a companies traffic, but affiliate marketing can be awesome. I don't see people throwing out affiliate marketing, maybe changing models a little. Rev Share as opposed to large payouts. Fraud detection is a lot of work, on a revshare program fraud isn't a problem. How man webmasters out there have had their accounts shut down for sending too many purchases? I know I've had a few. With a rev-share you can send as many as you want.

Also, with cam sites I think everyone should find an honest company that does rev share. You can end up with one person that brings in hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars a month.

Convergence is coming. TV, Internet, phone all on the same device. VOD is the future (I'm biased of course, but if I didn't believe in VOD I would be doing something else).
Live sites are awesome and will always do well.

I could go on and on, but I've probably already lost 95% of the eyeballs.

[James_Hotmovies]

Also, Mobile has the largest room for growth. It's going to be huge.

But realistically mobile will be another way to access the internet. All of our sites will work on any device. Those that can layout better will keep the public longer.

[Newton]

I also think that vod is the future for all devices especially mobiles .. huge market and plenty of room to move around in that industry and set the standards ..

[DrGuile]

Nnw

[Dravyk]

Good stuff! (Except for Dr. Guile's of course.)

Ok, come on you weenies! Stop holding back!

Ant, JR, Colin, the rest of you, let's hear your thoughts! You're smart, experienced, share it!

[selena]

~leans in thread to listen and learn~

[sudden]

Call me silly, but I thought most everyone had already left for mainstream.

If we're stuck on the adult industry subject, I'm sure that consolidation is
going to keep on coming - surfers are demanding more and will keep demanding more for as long as innovation is possible (which wont stop). The startup costs for new businesses have been and are going up, and they'll only keep going up.

There's always opportunities for people who are smart and have new ideas however, but there stakes for coming up with the next 'new idea' is also going up.

[Nickatilynx]

Everything I've read above reflects my own opinion.

Sure the most profitable use of cameras in the early days was porn.
VCRs? = porn

Begining of internet marketing.The easiest and biggest return was on porn traffic.

Now it isn't.
I've never really considered myself an internet porner.

I've always considered I was a marketer /entrepreneur

I wrote an article in 97 saying that basically if I could earn slightly more money sending traffic to a golf club seller as I could to Hotteenbitches.com , I'd be sending to The golf club manufaturer.

And effectively...these days thats what I am doing.

And frankly , despite what the peanut gallery on gfy may think , I and I know others privately of the "old school" are making way way more net /net / net now than I did in the so called golden days of internet porn.

[sarettah]

WELL WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOIN'
BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'VE BEEN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE KNOWIN'
BUT WE CAN'T SAY WHAT WE'VE SEEN
AND WE'RE NOT LITTLE CHILDREN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT
AND THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN
GIVE US TIME TO WORK IT OUT

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

Feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go

We're on a ride to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

Maybe you wonder where you are
I don't care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there

We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere

There's a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
and it's all right, baby, it's all right

And it's very far away
But it's growing day by day
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

Would you like to come along
and you could help me sing this song?
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

They can tell you what to do
But they'll make a fool of you
And it's all right, baby, it's all right
[x2]

We're on a road to nowhere


(Talking Heads)

[JR]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Good stuff! (Except for Dr. Guile's of course.)

Ok, come on you weenies! Stop holding back!

Ant, JR, Colin, the rest of you, let's hear your thoughts! You're smart, experienced, share it!

the future? who knows.
my guesses,

more reliance in house traffic

high quality and exclusive content will become more of a standard

businesses/sites will increasingly be ran as professional businesses and sites, relying more on increasing customer value, customer satisfaction, retention and profit per customer rather than solely on traffic volume and joins per day. keeping customers is always more cost effective than finding new ones... in every business.