| For years people have been been suggesting that | | | | at roughly the same time. |
| adult websites are single-handedly driving | | | | What few people realize is that adult websites helped |
| advancements in technology but what does that really | | | | perfect two other major online technologies; online |
| mean? Aside from sexually explicit content what has | | | | billing including PayPal and stats and analytics programs |
| the industry really contributed to the world and how | | | | like those sold by Visual Sciences LLC, a publicly |
| has it improved your life? These are good questions | | | | traded company under the symbol VSCN. PayPal and |
| and worth answering if for no other reason than | | | | other billing companies found their perfect match with |
| cocktail conversation at your next party. | | | | online adult video. For one thing, users were willing to |
| One of the earliest examples of this phenomenon was | | | | spend a lot of money on adult sites. Where there was |
| the rivalry between Beta Max and VHS. Sony | | | | some hesitation to buy books, sneakers and |
| introduced ‘Beta’ in 1975 beating | | | | silverware online, there was not a moment of doubt |
| JVC’s rival format of VHS to the market by | | | | when it came to consuming adult content online. |
| over a year. During that crucial year Sony was able to | | | | Because there were so many transactions billing |
| capture a significant number of early adopters and | | | | companies were able to perfect fraud tracking |
| introduce the world to the concept of watching movies | | | | systems, ‘chargeback’ thresholds and |
| at home and recording content to watch later. But they | | | | rebilling programs. PayPal eventually abandoned their |
| made one big mistake that caused the market to | | | | hugely profitable porn business when they were |
| abandon their video player and move to the new | | | | acquired by EBay because it conflicted with |
| technology-VHS by end of the decade. Sony refused | | | | EBay’s corporate culture. Other companies like |
| to allow adult film makers to distribute their smut on | | | | CCBill and Paycom stayed in the adult space and |
| Beta. That meant that anyone interested in watching | | | | continue to thrive. |
| adult content from the confort of their own home was | | | | Stats tracking was essential in order to optimize web |
| forced to buy a VHS player, even if they already had | | | | sites, content delivery and retention tools. Free sites |
| a Beta Max. Adult video made VHS the only choice | | | | were less worried about funneling users to the most |
| and drove the adoption of movie rentals and mail | | | | profitable pages but adult sites that charged for |
| orders in a country that had been obsessed with going | | | | membership made it a science. By tracking use |
| to the movies- even seedy adult theaters. | | | | patterns the sites have been able to present offerings |
| The technology push accelerated with the arrival of | | | | likely to appeal to individual users and therefore |
| the internet. Pornographers were the first to widely | | | | increase conversions. Retention stats have helped with |
| distribute video over this new system. In the early | | | | financial forecasts and valuation. |
| years that meant a grainy postage stamp size clip that | | | | Adult continues to innovate, leading the way into mobile |
| was hard to see even if you had the time to wait for it | | | | content, anonymous billing and alternative payment |
| to download or buffer. Quality issues forced improved | | | | technologies like ACH (online checks), SMS billing and |
| video compression technology and delivery methods | | | | phone cards. Other sites like are using revolutionary |
| long before YouTube and others joined in the online | | | | video delivery tools to give each user a fully |
| video land grab. | | | | customizable experience. Members can choose what |
| Another constraint faced and, ultimately, overcome by | | | | part of a scene they want to watch and then edit |
| online adult content was bandwidth. With dial-up | | | | those clips into cohesive adult mix tapes. |
| connections it took a very long time to download and | | | | There is no telling what advancements adult will deliver |
| watch short video clips, whether those were sports | | | | next but some of today’s most popular sites |
| highlights or skin flicks. The proliferation of broadband | | | | owe their success to trails blazed by adult sites. It will |
| internet access changed all of that and while it would | | | | be fascinating to see if any of those technologies can |
| be impossible to say that adult content alone drove the | | | | cross out of entertainment and contribute to medicine, |
| move to broadband, there is a direct correlation | | | | space exploration or public safety. It does not look like |
| between broadband adoption and the explosive | | | | there is anything like that on the horizon but it is too |
| revenue growth in the online adult industry. Coincidently | | | | early to count them out. Adult has proven that they |
| the offline adult industry began to loose market share | | | | are full of surprises. |