XBiz, the trade newswire for the adult entertainment industry, just released its 2012 market research report.
Don't laugh, this is serious business: Sales are thought to be $14 billion a year, although that number is murky because so many companies are privately held.
And media and marketing executives know that the porn industry tends to precede the mainstream market in the adoption of new technologies and distribution methods: VHS tapes weren't widely adopted until after the adult business began selling movies in that format. Same with DVD. Porn also pioneered e-commerce on the web.
The next frontier for porn appears to be web TV, according to the XBiz survey. Top executives such as Hustler president Michael Klein and Wasteland owner Colin Rowntree expect usage to increase as soon as companies like Google or Apple figure out a way for viewers to switch easily between regular TV and web video. Interestingly, the industry is highly skeptical of 3D movies.
The report is based on a survey of "6,000 adult entertainment industry executives and qualified stakeholders," XBiz says, including "operators of leading adult websites, content producers and licensers, distributors and wholesalers, models and performers, retailers, payment processors, software and IT providers, mobile-solution providers, industry media and associations, providers of legal, marketing and consulting services, traffic vendors and ad networks, and providers of other industry-related products and services."
You can download a full copy of the report here.
3D Porn is not expected to be big.
The report says Hustler Video has already developed a line of 3D movies (including This Ain't Avatar XXX 3D) and has teamed with Funky Monkey Media which only process 3D adult video.
Scott Taylor, president of New Sensations, told Xbiz:
"In terms of saleability on DVD, I have not seen a sufficient demand to warrant a substantial budget. Generally people simply don’t look that good naked — well, close up at least."
"The content of the material will be the driving factor over the gimmicks. Make a better movie and the world will beat a path to your door. The novelty hasn’t worn off on broadcast. I think that drives some studios to make 3D products. But in hard goods, I am not excited by its current potential. That said, I would, love to make a 3D fully interactive product."
The mandatory condom rule is unpopular and regarded as unenforceable.
Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment:
"Our position remains the same. We are a condom-optional company and we believe the current testing procedure works or we would absolutely mandate condoms."
The new .XXX top-level domain is regarded as an unnecessary burden.
Michael Klein, president of Hustler:
"My answer is no, I do not see the value and I do not support .XXX. We have been very vocal in our feelings about .XXX, which we feel all it does is cause an unnecessary financial burden to adult companies having to regis- ter all their domains under .XXX at ridiculously high prices whereas there is no value as consumers can easily find what they want at any .com site. This also leads to the risk of politicians forcing adult websites into this .XXX ghetto and then setting up structures to block all such sites from cities, states or even countries. The only one who benefits from .XXX is ICM."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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