13 laid off at Kink.com

[RawAlex]

Here is where I get a little confused.

Porn is (in it's natural state) a fairly decent margin business. There are any number of ways to market the content, there is a willing buying public, and except for hairstyles and clothes worn, the stuff just about never goes out of style. Little is lost "on the shelf", as least in the short term. The content does the whole "long tail" thing, as is proven with the relative success of some of the classic porn sites out there these days.

Further, porn is marketed in so many ways: Direct to buyer, reseller, lease (PPV), broadcast (DTV), rentals, online, cell phones, magazines, etc, and plenty of other methods in between. It has been in the past and continues to be one of the few businesses that has a decent margin defined if it is done half way right.

Yet, there are plenty of people out there determined to turn it into a no margin business. Overpaying the talent, buying (or renting) extravagant locations, offices, and equipment, etc. Tube sites are just another way that some people are willing to take a 25% margin business and turn it into a 2.5% margin business instantly. Literally, idiots trading dollars for quarters.

From what I can see standing outside, it would appear that Kink has put a little too much money into their location and their profile, and not enough into actually marketing their products. Webmasters in the end are marketing staff, and cutting marketing staff to make ends meet is usually a very short term solution.

Play it natural, and the porn business makes money. Get agressive or swing a large appendage, and you are likely to get, well, dicked.