Is adult entertainment losing its edge?

[gonzo]

Pretty good article here from the former AVNonline editor and freelance writer Kathee Brewer....

Check it out at http://business.avn.com/articles/34731.html

[kre8t0r]

Is this "Kath" that used to be at ANS?

[tony404]

I dont think its losing its edge. I think its watered down because anyone and their brother can get in for a few bucks. I dont think adult was meant to sustain the large amount businesses that are in it now. I think we are going to see a real thinning of the herd.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by kre8t0r

Is this "Kath" that used to be at ANS?

Nope. From AVN.

[TheEnforcer]

Originally Posted by tony404

I dont think its losing its edge. I think its watered down because anyone and their brother can get in for a few bucks. I dont think adult was meant to sustain the large amount businesses that are in it now. I think we are going to see a real thinning of the herd.

The business is certainly changing these days.....

[softball]

think we are going to see a real thinning of the herd.

People have been saying that forever and it has only gotten worse. I don't think there will be a thinning of the herd. In this recession, even more are climbing onboard. On a local forum here, there are even Emmy nominated editors and make up artists looking for work in this business. That should tell you something.

[DannyCox]

There won't be a thinning. 99.99% of the people that have Adult websites do it for fun or for beer money. It isn't a career for them, and they could really care less about it, or us. With the price of bandwidth so low, if not free in many cases, the ease of getting billing, and the proliferation of "content plug-ins", we will still have to put up with more and more.

We are getting 2 or 3 people contacting us every day now about starting their own websites, or looking for work in the industry (not as performers, but as photographers, designers, and erotic writers).

I remember way back when, when the US government was talking about licensing websites, I was all for it. I was praying for something like a $100,000. a year, yearly fee to operate. That would have been great! (but not at all practical in the real world)

[Hell Puppy]

Innovation in adult has at the very least slowed since 2000 or so.

Meanwhile, "mainstream" is full of innovation on the web. Why? It's economic. In adult, you either do it for fun, thus the beer money crowd, or you do it for profit. Back in the day, anything that could drum up traffic also meant money would fall from the sky. Now, it's more about lowest common denominator with cookie cutter tours and traffic swaps or cross sells. The innovation you DO see all involves creative liberties with billing to try to extract every possible dollar from the surfer who gives up his credit card number.

Back on the mainstream side, the game is VC and hope for the google buy out. Meanwhile you live in the office with your business partners and buy pizza with what you get from AdSense.

Now, one other thing about adult...there are some theiving mofo's in the industry. So if you do innovate, it is in your best interest to keep it below the radar for as long as you possibly can.

My dumb ass learned that lesson circa 1997, and I dont usually make same mistake twice. Thought I was clever, wanted to get over with the Ynot crew, showed off one of my creations. By the end of the next week, the shit was everywhere and half of the lazy mother fuckers didn't even change the damned colors of the page designs.

Since then, I've had "one of the first..." of many things, and it generally takes at the very least some truth serum, a big steak and a blow job to get a url out of me.

[softball]

Now, it's more about lowest common denominator

Always was. That has not changed. I agree with you on innovation. Fortunately, I have been in the entertainment business forever and learned that lesson years and years ago and entertainment is way more cutthroat than porn will ever be. If you guys don't believe this, try it. I will guarantee you will be swallowed up, spit out, and stomped on before you spend your first 100K. Porn is a walk in the park in the real world. Sometimes we just feel important.

[TheEnforcer]

Yeah.. I would say mainstream definitely is the area whwere you see more innovation these days...

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Now, one other thing about adult...there are some theiving mofo's in the industry. So if you do innovate, it is in your best interest to keep it below the radar for as long as you possibly can.

My dumb ass learned that lesson circa 1997, and I dont usually make same mistake twice. Thought I was clever, wanted to get over with the Ynot crew, showed off one of my creations. By the end of the next week, the shit was everywhere and half of the lazy mother fuckers didn't even change the damned colors of the page designs.

Since then, I've had "one of the first..." of many things, and it generally takes at the very least some truth serum, a big steak and a blow job to get a url out of me.

Boy, I couldn't agree with this more........

[TheEnforcer]

No worse feeling than having a great idea you thought of making someone else rich...

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

Yeah.. I would say mainstream definitely is the area whwere you see more innovation these days...

If by innovations you mean "outright scams like we haven't seen in porn since 1998" then yeah, you are right.

[miz_wright]

I actually think there is some validity to the article. Adult has done a lot in the past as far as embracing technological advances for the advancement of the industry as a whole, but it has seemed to slow down (with a few exceptions). Sadly, there has seemed to be significant growth in adopting techno-strategies that are primarily detrimental to the industry as a whole (pre-checks, anyone?).

As technology has grown at an exponential rate, however, there has been a massive slow down on our side to embrace and move forward as things shift in the marketplace. Mainstream has a major advantage over us here: share-holders and VC push for innovation in a way we don't because haven't got access to the outside funds. It's much more comfortable to do what has worked instead of looking to what may work when it's coming off a single company's bottom line.

I have a lot of ideas that I would love to see implemented to harness shifts in technology and monetise the content in ways that haven't been embraced yet. Don't be shocked when you start seeing AEBN do new and completely different things

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by gonzo

Pretty good article here from the former AVNonline editor and freelance writer Kathee Brewer....

Check it out at http://business.avn.com/articles/34731.html

Kathee IS the best writer, best editor, and the reason AVNOnline had any success. As you see now, the magazine itself has CONSIDERABKY thinned, since she is no longer running a large portion of it. There are some other reasons, but the loss of her talent is the primary doom.

If there was a "top writer" award in our industry, she would have the gold trophy.

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

I actually think there is some validity to the article. Adult has done a lot in the past as far as embracing technological advances for the advancement of the industry as a whole, but it has seemed to slow down (with a few exceptions). Sadly, there has seemed to be significant growth in adopting techno-strategies that are primarily detrimental to the industry as a whole (pre-checks, anyone?).

As technology has grown at an exponential rate, however, there has been a massive slow down on our side to embrace and move forward as things shift in the marketplace. Mainstream has a major advantage over us here: share-holders and VC push for innovation in a way we don't because haven't got access to the outside funds. It's much more comfortable to do what has worked instead of looking to what may work when it's coming off a single company's bottom line.

I have a lot of ideas that I would love to see implemented to harness shifts in technology and monetise the content in ways that haven't been embraced yet. Don't be shocked when you start seeing AEBN do new and completely different things

Hmmmm....I've heard that somewhere before....
New? really......
I look forward to that.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by EmporerEJ

Kathee IS the best writer, best editor, and the reason AVNOnline had any success. As you see now, the magazine itself has CONSIDERABKY thinned, since she is no longer running a large portion of it. There are some other reasons, but the loss of her talent is the primary doom.

If there was a "top writer" award in our industry, she would have the gold trophy.

I am honored that she considers me one of her friends.

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by gonzo

I am honored that she considers me one of her friends.

You and me both.