What is the Future of Porn?
It’s probably not 3D or 4K — or anything particularly high tech.
2013 was a difficult year for the porn industry. Still reeling from the 2012 passage of Measure B, a Los Angeles County regulation mandating on-set condom use, many production companies made plans to shift production out of the city they’d long called home (or at least figure out a way to film without a permit). Then there was the matter of performer health: in the second half of 2013, four different performers tested positive for HIV (believed to have been contracted off set), leading to three separate production hiatuses. And, of course, porn producers are still battling piracy and declining profits, two things that have plagued them for years.
You don’t need a crystal ball to realize that this situation isn’t sustainable. Sooner or later, something is going to give, and for better or worse, porn as we know it will be permanently changed. But what, exactly, will it change into? Here are three different things you may see more of in the future:
More indie, more diffuse. Porn may have gone on hiatus in recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean that no one, anywhere, was shooting porn. There are plenty of smaller, more indie companies that operate completely separate from the major studio system: companies like the Canadian-based The Art of Blowjob, or the Netherlands-based Abby Winters, or even the real couple focused Make Love Not Porn. These types of projects tend to have isolated performer pools that don’t interact with the cohort generally classified as professional porn performers, meaning that when someone in the LA porn scene tests positive for HIV, they’re completely uneffected. If the mainstream adult industry starts to seem less safe, this model could provide an appealing alternative for those who want to make porn in a more controlled feeling environment. Though if the industry gets too indie, it might not be able to sustain the top notch clinics that currently provide performers with rigorous testing — which would make performers less safe, no matter how much they feel they can trust their chosen partners.
More one-on-one interaction. When people talk about the decline of the porn industry, they’re usually talking about one thing: the studios who shoot prepackaged adult content that can be purchased on DVD or through a website (whether it be membership, VOD, or download driven). But there are other ways of consuming adult content that don’t require shelling out — or stealing — something that someone’s already shot. Yes, porn scenes may be on the decline, but many performers have found that they can still make money by reaching out more directly to their fans in the form of cam shows. A livestreamed, impromptu sex performance may not have the polished, edited feel of a porn DVD, but it’s still adult content. And if it continues to be adult content that people are actually paying for, get prepared to see more and more of it.
Ad supported porn. In some ways it’s strange that the adult industry has had a difficult time monetizing free content: after all, television’s been doing it for years. Granted, the stigma of being associated with anything adult means that porn projects have a more limited pool of advertisers, but some outlets are looking to figure out a way for sponsors to pay for the content that the audience can enjoy for free. Comedy/porn site WoodRocket.com* has been experimenting with the format: their recent “Game of Thrones” parody series featured toys from Evolved Novelties, while the “Parks and Recreation” parody offered a product placement slot to Jack-Aide lube. If remains to be seen how consumers will adapt to ads in their porn: but if that advertising allows them to enjoy free, high quality adult content in the same way they currently enjoy free, high quality television programming, will they actually mind?
*Disclaimer: The author has provided consulting services to WoodRocket.com.
