"Porn in the Digital Age: Why Pay?"

Bill · 2010-02-12, 09:41 PM

Now heres the type of porn article we've all come to know and love...

Adult Entertainment Industry Reports Low Profits in Face of Free Content, Piracy
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/porn...ory?id=9795710

"ut being at the forefront of Internet profit-making has made the industry vulnerable to losses from Internet piracy.

"It's a huge issue and it's something that the entire industry is looking at -- and not only the adult industry, but I think Hollywood is looking at it as well," said Steve Hirsch, a top porn producer and founder of Vivid Entertainment.

Hirsch, who has helped make porn mainstream, used to worry about protecting his right to make adult films. Now, he worries about protecting himself from piracy.

"We have two full-time people -- all they do is they're out there on the Internet looking for pirated content," he said. "When they find it, we send a notice, it comes down, then it goes back up and it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game." "

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But as an industry, how do you compete against free content?

"It's very difficult," Hirsch said. "Maybe the best way to fight free is with free, but as of now, the economics don't make sense. You're not able to get enough advertisers to come in where it would really make sense to give your content away, so the key is high quality content, exclusive stars. If you have that, you can sort of carve out a niche for yourself and people would come to your site." "

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"But many porn viewers don't care so much about seeing the top stars rather than what they can find for free.

"A certain percentage of people just don't care. They want it for free. And what we've done is we've educated an entire generation to think that adult material is free," Hirsch said. "Very difficult to change that mindset." "

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"PornoTube Unleashes Pandora's Box of Piracy

The industry's trouble is of its own creation -- or more specifically, of Scott Coffman's. He's president and CEO of the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN).

An adult entertainer dances at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 8, 2010. It's no accident that each year as the Consumer Electronics Show winds down in Las Vegas, the Adult Entertainment Expo heats up.
(Zuma Press/Newscom)

In 2006, he launched the adult industry's version of YouTube, called PornoTube, which has become the leading provider of on-demand adult videos online. Users can upload video clips or photos for anyone to see at no cost.

"We launched PornoTube like everyone else, looking for traffic, and it skyrocketed," Coffman said.

But now Coffman has some regrets, admitting he thought the site would encourage users to purchase porn instead of pirate it.

"That was the worst thing I've done since I was in the adult business," he said. "What I didn't realize is the amount of people who would copy what I was doing and take it to a degree that was unheard of by ... hundreds of sites out there showing stolen content with lengths of clips of 30 to 45 min."

Coffman's creation made him a lot of enemies in the industry. "

2010-02-12, 09:41 PM	#1
Bill Selling porn allows me to stay in a constant state of Bliss - ain't that a trip! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,914	"Porn in the Digital Age: Why Pay?" Now heres the type of porn article we've all come to know and love... Adult Entertainment Industry Reports Low Profits in Face of Free Content, Piracy http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/porn...ory?id=9795710 "ut being at the forefront of Internet profit-making has made the industry vulnerable to losses from Internet piracy. "It's a huge issue and it's something that the entire industry is looking at -- and not only the adult industry, but I think Hollywood is looking at it as well," said Steve Hirsch, a top porn producer and founder of Vivid Entertainment. Hirsch, who has helped make porn mainstream, used to worry about protecting his right to make adult films. Now, he worries about protecting himself from piracy. "We have two full-time people -- all they do is they're out there on the Internet looking for pirated content," he said. "When they find it, we send a notice, it comes down, then it goes back up and it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game." " --- " But as an industry, how do you compete against free content? "It's very difficult," Hirsch said. "Maybe the best way to fight free is with free, but as of now, the economics don't make sense. You're not able to get enough advertisers to come in where it would really make sense to give your content away, so the key is high quality content, exclusive stars. If you have that, you can sort of carve out a niche for yourself and people would come to your site." " --- "But many porn viewers don't care so much about seeing the top stars rather than what they can find for free. "A certain percentage of people just don't care. They want it for free. And what we've done is we've educated an entire generation to think that adult material is free," Hirsch said. "Very difficult to change that mindset." " --- "PornoTube Unleashes Pandora's Box of Piracy The industry's trouble is of its own creation -- or more specifically, of Scott Coffman's. He's president and CEO of the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN). An adult entertainer dances at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 8, 2010. It's no accident that each year as the Consumer Electronics Show winds down in Las Vegas, the Adult Entertainment Expo heats up. (Zuma Press/Newscom) In 2006, he launched the adult industry's version of YouTube, called PornoTube, which has become the leading provider of on-demand adult videos online. Users can upload video clips or photos for anyone to see at no cost. "We launched PornoTube like everyone else, looking for traffic, and it skyrocketed," Coffman said. But now Coffman has some regrets, admitting he thought the site would encourage users to purchase porn instead of pirate it. "That was the worst thing I've done since I was in the adult business," he said. "What I didn't realize is the amount of people who would copy what I was doing and take it to a degree that was unheard of by ... hundreds of sites out there showing stolen content with lengths of clips of 30 to 45 min." Coffman's creation made him a lot of enemies in the industry. "