The Future of Online Adult Entertainment: Surging demand, the rise of free porn and the emergence of new business models

Published: December 2009
No. of Pages: 120
  

Report Description:

The adult entertainment industry has long been considered as an early adopter of new technology, and has been responsible for helping to drive of new delivery platforms including VHS, DVD and more recently broadband Internet access. But the rapid increase in consumer broadband penetration has been a double-edged sword for the sector; while new providers have emerged which leverage Web 2.0 to provide popular online services, many established players for whom physical media sales have traditionally accounted for a significant proportion of revenues are struggling to compete against the plethora of free sites.

With DVD and magazine sales falling fast as consumer consumption patterns change, companies must react quickly to retain a pivotal market position. The additional opportunities afforded by mobile, interactive TV and gaming platforms provide new opportunities, but adds to the evident fragmentation of both content services and business models.


Key features of this report

  • Overview of the industry trends, technological evolution and changing business models that have driven development of the online adult entertainment market.
  • Revenue forecasts to 2012 for adult entertainment revenues: includes breakdowns for online, mobile and broadcast services, plus DVD and magazine sales.
  • Market projections for related communications and entertainment products and services including consumer broadband, mobile telephony and smart phone shipments.

Scope of this report

  • Gain a comprehensive understanding of how market trends are boosting the potential of online adult entertainment services, and the impact such developments will have on traditional business models and strategies.
  • Understand how the competitive environment is changing, and specifically how the emergence of adult tube sites has disrupted the traditional status quo.
  • Quantify the adult entertainment market opportunity, gaining an insight into the revenue potential of online, mobile and broadcast adult services, while gauging how demand for physical media will fall.

Key Market Issues

  • Although adult content remains prohibited or strictly controlled in many country markets, in general there has been a relaxation of legal restrictions over recent years. However, some markets – notably China – are strengthening their anti-pornography stances, providing a major challenge for many across the industry.
  • Just like the music industry before it, the adult entertainment sector is seeing rapid declines in its core business (i.e. DVD and magazine sales), with digital distribution essentially needing to fill this void to maintain revenue growth. Consumer consumption of adult content has shifted from physical media to the web, while online usage is changing rapidly as technological advancements allow the deployment of more advanced and interactive multimedia services.

Key findings from this report

  1. Fragmentation is rife. Within the online adult entertainment industry, there are a small number of large firms and a huge number of smaller firms; the rise of tube sites means that this proliferation is more marked than ever before.
  2. The wide range of content available for free will continue to have a negative impact on premium providers’ ability to attract and retain fee-paying clients.
  3. Relative to tube sites, the online destinations of leading established market players attract far lower traffic volumes and usage.

Key questions answered

  1. What are the major trends shaping the online adult entertainment market?
  2. Why are traditional adult entertainment firms investing so heavily in the deployment of online services?
  3. Which factors are likely to restrict the potential of online and mobile adult entertainment services and why?
  4. To what extent will adult tube sites threaten the traditional status quo across the adult entertainment industry?
  5. How will the market for adult entertainment services evolve, and which future trends will impact on developments over the course of the next 2-3 years?

The Future of Online Adult Entertainment: Surging demand, the rise of free porn and the emergence of new business models

Table of Contents

  • The Future of Online Adult Entertainment

Executive summary 10

  • Market context: the rise of online services 10
  • Shifting the balance of power 11

Company profiles 12

  • The future of online adult entertainment 13

Chapter 1 Introduction 16

  • Introduction 16
  • Who is this report for? 16
  • Definitions 17
  • Adult entertainment 17
  • Convergence 17
  • Digital pay-TV (DTV) 17
  • Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) 17
  • Internet TV 17
  • Mobile TV 17
  • Peer-to-peer (P2P) networking 18
  • Social networking 18
  • Tube sites 18
  • User-generated content (UGC) 18
  • Video on demand (VOD) 18

Chapter 2 Market context: the rise of online services 20

  • Summary 20
  • Introduction 21
  • Online adult entertainment market trends 22
  • A highly fragmented market 23
  • DVD and magazine sales fall in the face of rising online uptake 24
  • Echoing developments in the mainstream multimedia market 24
  • Adult movie production and DVD sales on the decline 25
  • The explosion of online services 28
  • Broadband market development drives online adult entertainment opportunities 31
  • Higher speeds bring new content-related opportunities 35
  • Consumers exploit broadband potential 36
  • Long- and short-form content each have their place 37
  • Online video usage is increasing rapidly 40
  • Consumers flock to online adult services 41
  • Online adult content user demographics 43
  • Regulation and censorship provides significant challenges 45
  • Regulation varies considerably by country 46
  • Restrictive measures show varying levels of success 49
  • China’s anti-pornography crack-down 50
  • Age verification comes under scrutiny 53
  • Piracy just as prevalent as in the mainstream entertainment sector 56

Chapter 3 Shifting the balance of power 60

  • Summary 60
  • Introduction 61
  • Shifting the balance of power 61
  • Tube sites make their presence felt 61
  • Low cost of entry results in a crowded market place 62
  • Revenue generation is a difficult task 64
  • Free online content impacts heavily on traditional players 67
  • Traditional players seek to catch up lost ground online 68
  • Tube sites offer some potential for content producers 69
  • Mobile opportunities increase 70
  • Adult mobile services develop apace 71
  • Rising 3G penetration boosts demand for mobile content 72
  • Device evolution boosts mobile content potential 75
  • Mobile TV opportunities limited in the short term 77
  • Alternative portable solutions are gaining more traction 78
  • Major hurdles remain 79
  • Continued demand for digital TV services evident 80

Chapter 4 Company profiles 84

  • Summary 84
  • Introduction 85
  • Private Media Group 86
  • Vivid Entertainment 90
  • Playboy Enterprises 92
  • New Frontier Media 97
  • Beate Uhse 100
  • Conclusions 102

Chapter 5 The future of online adult entertainment 104

  • Summary 104
  • Introduction 105
  • Future adult entertainment market trends 105
  • Generating revenue from tube sites will be a difficult task 105
  • A focus on interactivity and ‘unpiratable’ content 106
  • Consumers seek more interactivity 107
  • Live video chat services show their potential 107
  • Haptic content could become a reality 108
  • Online providers must ensure that content is regularly refreshed 108
  • Repurposing of content for multiple devices increasingly essential 109
  • Adult console games on the horizon? 109
  • High definition content and 3D-TV 110
  • Consolidation is on the cards 111
  • Online services to offset declining DVD sales 112
  • Asia-Pacific to become the largest online adult entertainment market 116
  • Index 120

List of Figures

  • Figure 2.1: Historic US adult video rental/sales revenues ($bn), 1992-2006 26
  • Figure 2.2: Private Media Group’s declining magazine circulation 28
  • Figure 2.3: Worldwide consumer Internet access subscribers, 2007-2012 31
  • Figure 2.4: Consumer Internet subscribers by region, 2008 33
  • Figure 2.5: Internet subscribers by region, 2012 34
  • Figure 2.6: Broadband boosts multimedia usage (2008) 37
  • Figure 2.7: Short-form content still rules in the online world (2008) 38
  • Figure 2.8: Interest in user-generated content declines with age 39
  • Figure 2.9: Proportion of online population streaming online video, December 2008 40
  • Figure 2.10: Online video reaches 80% of US consumers 41
  • Figure 2.11: Adult and advertising account for a growing % of US online video 42
  • Figure 2.12: Demographic comparison of adult sites users: age 43
  • Figure 2.13: Demographic comparison of adult sites users: gender 44
  • Figure 2.14: Browsing location comparison 45
  • Figure 2.15: Legal status of pornography by country 47
  • Figure 2.16: China consumer Internet subscribers (000s), 2007-2012 51
  • Figure 2.17: Chinese adult content censorship appears to be working 53
  • Figure 2.18: UK teenagers accessing adult content 55
  • Figure 3.19: Tube sites drive adult video content usage 64
  • Figure 3.20: Redtube.com premium subscription offering 65
  • Figure 3.21: 3G share of worldwide mobile phone subscriptions & revenues, 2005-2013 73
  • Figure 3.22: Worldwide mobile connections and revenues, 2007-2013 74
  • Figure 3.23: Smartphone shipments by region (000s), 2008-2014 76
  • Figure 3.24: Global VOD revenues ($m), 2007-2012 81
  • Figure 4.25: Private Media Group revenue by sector (€000), 2002-2008 87
  • Figure 4.26: Private Media Group revenue sector share (% revenue), 2002-2008 89
  • Figure 4.27: Vivid Entertainment estimated revenue sector share (% revenue), 2005 and 2008 91
  • Figure 4.28: Playboy Enterprises revenue by sector ($m), 2003-2008 93
  • Figure 4.29: Playboy Enterprises revenue sector share (% revenue), 2003-2008 95
  • Figure 4.30: New Frontier Media revenue by sector, 2003-2008 98
  • Figure 4.31: New Frontier Media revenue sector share (% revenue), 2003-2008 99
  • Figure 4.32: Beate Uhse revenue by sector (€000), 2003-2008 100
  • Figure 4.33: Beate Uhse revenue sector share (% revenue), 2003-2008 102
  • Figure 5.34: Worldwide adult entertainment revenues by sector ($m), 2008-2012 114
  • Figure 5.35: Worldwide adult entertainment revenue sector share (% revenue), 2008-2012 115
  • Figure 5.36: Online adult entertainment revenues by region ($m), 2008-2012 117
  • Figure 5.37: Online adult entertainment revenue regional share (% revenue), 2008-2012 118

List of Tables

  • Table 2.1: Historic US adult video rental/sales revenues ($bn), 1992-2006 27
  • Table 2.2: Worldwide consumer Internet access subscribers, 2007-2012 32
  • Table 2.3: Consumer Internet subscribers by region, 2008 33
  • Table 2.4: Forecast consumer Internet subscribers by region (000s), 2012 35
  • Table 2.5: Adult and advertising account for a growing % of US online video 42
  • Table 2.6: China consumer Internet subscribers (000s), 2007-2012 52
  • Table 3.7: 3G share of worldwide mobile phone subscriptions & revenues, 2004-13 73
  • Table 3.8: Worldwide mobile connections and revenues, 2007-2013 75
  • Table 3.9: Worldwide smart phone shipments by region (millions), 2008-2014 76
  • Table 3.10: Global VOD revenues ($m), 2007-2012 82
  • Table 4.11: Private Media Group revenue by sector (€000), 2002-2008 88
  • Table 4.12: Playboy Enterprises revenue by sector ($m), 2003-2008 94
  • Table 4.13: New Frontier Media revenue by sector ($m), 2003-2008 98
  • Table 4.14: Beate Uhse revenue by sector (€000), 2003-2008 101
  • Table 5.15: Worldwide adult entertainment revenues by sector ($m), 2008-2012 114
  • Table 5.16: Worldwide adult entertainment revenue sector share (% revenue), 2008-2012 116
  • Table 5.17: Online adult entertainment revenues by region ($m), 2008-2012 117
     
Published By: Life Science Analytics
Product Code: Life Science Analytics4656


Did you find what you are/were looking for ? If not, read below and browse through other relevant pages for similar market research reports OR get in touch with us through the form/contact info in your right navigation panel and we’ll share relevant market report titles for you to explore.

Related Reports:


Connect With Us
Email: sales@reportsandreports.com Call : + 1 888 391 5441
Subscription Option

Using our subscription option, you get access to market research reports and industry data of IT & Telecommunication market as per your needs. Get the best of IT & Telecommunication research reports by utilizing your research budgets in an optimum way.

More about our Subscription option
Email Alerts

Get Email alerts about market research reports from industries and publishers of your interest:

Live Chat
Live Chat by Comm100