Originally Posted by StefanG

And about online porn killing offline porn and tubes stealing and subsequently killing the paysite business:

I know how in the late 1990ties offline porn companies were approached to license their content for web - back then for a lot of money. They said no cause they feared for their DVD sales and so websites started doing their own production.

I also know how tubes in the beginning tried to license content - once again for good money back then - but they were turned down by mostly everyone. I also refused to license to tubes in the beginning. Stupid, stupid mistake.

That tubes then resorted to "user uploads" (haha) delivered a double blow to paysites and producers - no money for existing content and losing their members.

But what also needs to be said: When tubes came up, they simply delivered a superior product: streaming, clean sites, no viruses, no credit card banging and a shitload of content.

Compared to 20 videos in 320x240 for $29.95 a month plus 3 cross-sells - the standard "premium exclusive site" in early 2000...

There are paysite companies who understood and adapted, so it wasn't like tubes forced everyone else to die. Most paysite owners were just not competent enough to run a professional business because making money before was far too easy.