Quote:
Originally Posted by AdultKing
Ok how is this. Porn is not dead, it's never going to die while people like consuming it.
Consumers have had porn in many different forms for millennia, you were a part of that for a fleeting instant that is now pretty much over. There was porn before Paul Markham was born, there will be porn after he dies.
The Internet became a platform on which porn could spread more easily than any platform before it. Like everything, the Internet went through a wild west stage before big money and governments got involved in it.
In the wild west days which I will roughly cite as between 1993 and 2007 a lot of people, myself included, made stupendous amounts of money from their various ventures. It was relatively easy to set up a pretty lousy site and earn money from it.
Post 2007 as consumer expectations changed and smarter money became involved, consolidation within the industry occurred (the Mansef Interhub period) and some smart and somewhat lucky people worked out how to get big money invested in porn through the Colbeck Capital deals. So the Brazzers guys, the Pornhub guys, the YouPorn guys, and so on all ceded to Fabian when he bought it all up. A lot of change occurred during this period. Huge amounts of money changed hands. Fabian came and then he left.
Fast forward even further to the post Fabian, Mindgeek, consolidation continues.
However despite consolidation, the advent of a mountain of 'free porn' that no single person could consume even 1% of, the existence of copyright infringing porn on torrents etc which is rampant, there are still some businesses (independent of Mindgeek) making money shooting and selling porn. There are insanely successful businesses who do business with Mindgeek that are not owned nor are likely to be owned by Mindgeek. There are successful groups and businesses making and selling porn, doing deals and so forth that may never even be involved with Mindgeek.
The people who were making easy money as content producers like yourself, or webmasters like so many now gone from the industry forums, dropped away as they could not any longer make the easy money without the investment of time, purpose, money, technology or business acumen to do something differently.
MindGeek is the first incarnation of really big money, all controlling corporate porn machines. Like all empires things will change over time, they may not remain dominant forever however I think for the foreseeable future they will remain in top spot.
Porn is not just about sex pictures and video anymore, it's about money, it's about consumer reach, it's about data, it's about power. It's changed so much since Paul Markham was making content that it unrecognisable to him. Because Paul doesn't understand it he says porn is dead, but porn will never die, it will simply continue to evolve beyond the understanding of some people.
In the Paul Markham world it's about supply chain production and sales. But in the corporate porn world the dynamics are much more complex and it's just way too easy for people who don't have a grip on those dynamics to throw their hands up in the air, look at the sky and curse tubes and free porn.
|
Porn isn't dead, the porn industry isn't dead and I never said it was. So long as people want to jerk off it will never die. But the porn industry is a shadow of what it was because instead of selling it people now give it away for free. That's now how 95% or more now consume their porn. How many of that 95% would buy if it wasn't free? A good example is dealers giving away free drugs to get people hooked, then turning off the free tap and selling it. Porn has little entertainment value, it's main purpose is to stimulate people to jerk off. $30 a month is a small price to pay for a month's fixes.
But companies like Mansef realised it was easier to give porn away than to sell it. So long as they don't have to buy content or pay high BW/hosting prices. The amount of marketing needed is a fraction of that for selling it, because a free consumer is less likely to switch supplier and pay, than a paid consumer.
There's also another upside to giving porn away. JT in the film acknowledges the damage free porn would do to the industry. It took paying customers and converted them into free consumers and an enormous scale. So reducing the profitability of paysites and making them easier to gobble up. Now as Thommy told us producers are selling off huge numbers of scenes for $50.
The world I knew has gone, this is the new one where if you can give it away with low costs and sell ad space off the back of high numbers of consumers. You win.
But the pot is way smaller for the entire industry.
A good example is TV. Another entertainment medium. Free channels that sell advertising v paid for channels. Who is winning? People will pay for something better if they have to. My point is they no longer have to in porn. Live Cams thrive, paysites dwindle. Dating is another example. Dating sites are falling behind apps like Tinder and Grinder. Why is that? Because one is cheaper than the others.
How long before Dating is free with apps, paid for by advertising? Or is it already happening.