Porn Industry Threatened By Video-Sharing Websites

After years of booming sales supported by videotapes, DVDs and the Internet, the adult film industry is being challenged by easy video-sharing Web sites offering explicit content for free.

"We're dealing with rampant piracy, tons of free content," said Steven Hirsch, co-founder of privately held Vivid, the best-known studio making sex films.

Vivid once earned 80 percent of its roughly $100 million a year from DVD sales, but last year that fell to 30 percent, Hirsch said in an interview.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[independentrepublicrat]

02:30 PM on 01/14/2008

For cripe's sake, the porn industry still exists; I thought Hillary was railing against them for the children's sake. What has she done during her time in the sentate...

[Libsrule]

03:57 PM on 01/13/2008

Oh give the anti porn crap a rest already. They are not making 11 BILLION a year through a bunch of horny whacked out guys. Porn is very mainstream and millions, let me repeat that for the moronic rightwing prudes who are terrified of sex and their own bodies, MILLIONS of American couples watch porn.

They love it and they like how it adds spice to their sex life so grow the fuck up. It's never going to go away and the idiotic comment that it is unwelcome is just that IDIOTIC. Maybe it's unwelcome in your purantanic backwards home, but for the great majority of Americans....well they LIKE IT.

Porns biggest problem is their refusal to join the 21st Century. I know several people who own businesses in the Valley and they have all resisted going to online downloads instead trying desperately to keep the DVD sales as the main source of revenue.

One owner I know said they just didn't think people would pay to download. BUT if they did do downloads they felt they should get the same sort of money as cable does. 10 to 20 to 30 bucks for an hour or so.

I told him to go online and sell downloads for full length movies as inexpensiviely as they could. They would reach a world wide market and it would not cost them that much for the return.

HE STILL refused to believe it would make money.

I told him if I owned his company it would have been online 5 years ago and would have given downloads for as little as 5 to 10 bucks for full length movies. He could reach every single home with a computer including areas of the country were stores are not allowed to carry porn.

They would open themselves up to millions more people.

They still don't get it.
A really good example of how to do it right is Danni Ashe, who started her site a dozen or more years ago with protected content and has consistently made a fortune. Downloads only.

[VivaZapata]

06:11 AM on 01/13/2008

when stealing intellectual property, shouldn't porn, by definition, be excluded? now, what was the name of that website again?

[olephart]

05:44 PM on 01/12/2008

"We're dealing with rampant piracy, tons of free content," said Steven Hirsch, co-founder of privately held Vivid, the best-known studio making sex films.


Is nothing sacred?

[wadenelson1]

09:57 PM on 01/11/2008

Where is Charlie Wilson when industry needs him?

[wadenelson1]

08:40 PM on 01/11/2008

Where's Charlie Wilson when industry needs him?

[geobushono]

08:36 PM on 01/11/2008

well if this kills this unwelcome industry, maybe cheap legal drugs would get gangs out of *that* business.
It seems like enlighten thinkers have known this economic truth for a long time.
I'm betting against it.

[Dendroica]

08:03 PM on 01/11/2008

All industries have to keep up with the times. They'll have to find a way to keep the money rolling in, or they'll die. Lots of industries die, nothing new. I think this won't, after all, this is after all, the world's oldest profession...

[Smirk]

07:59 PM on 01/11/2008

Good!

[tililek]

07:08 PM on 01/11/2008

How sad! I almost weep for the losses to be faced by a purveyer of meat.