Page 55 - AVN May 2016

next years will bring the rise of live content and
VR—both are things that are talked about and been
tried since eternity without proper results.”
Virtual reality is a popular buzzword these
days, much the same way mobile itself had been
years ago. It seems as though most of the industry
believes VR will eventually become a major
force in adult content sales, but there is a lot of
disagreement as to whether that shift is imminent
or still a few years away. Just as with mobile, there
were plenty of companies that lost fortunes moving
too early or too late, and with VR mobile many of
those same timing dangers and opportunities are at
play.
“Virtual reality is already an awesome
development in mainstream mobile,” Laura
Cebrián, affiliate manager of FirstMobileCash,
said enthusiastically. “It is only natural that it has
extended into the adult world. I mean, having the
possibility of not only “watching” your favorite
performers in action, but also “experiencing”
the action in your own flesh ... how cool is that?
The impact of VR can only be positive, in all
areas mobile. Phone producers, for example, are
going strong on VR too because this way they will
increase their sales, for sure...”
However, Carmen Lumina, managing director
of BitterStrawberry.com, cautioned that “The
availability of low-cost virtual reality gear will drive
the creation of VR mobile video content and apps,
and will drive advertisers to experiment with VR
mobile video advertising, but for the moment, from
a consumption perspective, your mobile remains a
two-dimensional information exchange. Once you
require [more] gear to make use of VR, is it really
still what could be considered mobile?
For some, mobile VR is a great idea that is
not yet ripe. “Virtual reality will impact mobile
dramatically ... however, I don’t see it happening for
at least five or more years,” warned Gabra. “It will
be hard for people to enjoy adult products while
wearing a big helmet or funny glasses on their head,
but the helmets and glasses will get smaller and
less awkward over time and people will eventually
learn to appreciate how cool the whole VR thing
can be.” With other aspects of mobile, innovation
comes faster, because so many of the foundational
elements of mobile are already known to people as
opposed to the more speculative VR market.
Due to rapid changes in the way content is
reaching customers, the field of testing and tracking
has become undeniably important to the success of
any mobile campaign. Getting your mind wrapped
around so much data from so many sources, and
making accurate decisions in real time that allow
your company to profit from the information it has
on hand, is simply becoming too complicated for
even the smartest minds to do manually. That’s
where better tools are needed and why companies
“Within adult itself, there are a lot of restrictions
on the kind of content that can be distributed
in-app, but clever companies are finding ways
like Wister are leading the way.
“There is a big movement in how we assess
and utilize and optimize data,” explained Gabra.
“It’s always been an important part of business,
but the tools being used have never been ‘smart’
enough. We have learned that obtaining good data
and having the ability to confidently make good
reliable decisions about how you utilize that data
is becoming more and more significant. The recent
successful launch of our optimization tool KHEPRI
(Khepri.tech) has proven to us that there is a
huge demand for quality tools to assist marketers
scrutinizing data with maximum potential and
minimum risk. We have finally found a powerful
way to fill those demands and the results are
exceptional.”
to push content to app-based audiences without
breaching iTunes or Google Play terms of service,”
said Justin of Monetize.xxx. “Where there is a will,
there is always a way, and as mobile becomes a
larger audience, the will to penetrate that market
is becoming immense. It’s something the gay side
of the industry has done far better so far, but I do
see a fair amount of catch-up taking place right
now.”
It is also becoming apparent that many so-called
adult companies have expanded far beyond the
traditional notion of adult-only content into new
verticals that lend themselves to proliferating their
message in app, online and across any medium
There is a big movement in how we assess and
utilize and optimize data. It’s always been an
important part of business, but the tools being used
have never been ‘smart’ enough.
Ad blocking has also become an important topic
recently, thanks in part to Apple’s decision to
allow ad blocking as a native feature of its IOS9
build, but the impact has been much smaller than
many outsiders expected. “The average usage of
ad-blockers in the US is about 2.5 percent of the
mobile market, while the world’s highest ad-block
using country is Germany with up to 12 percent,”
explained Carmen Lumina. “We believe that
the ad blocking will have no real impact on the
advertising market, but it will more likely hurt the
content providers and site operators rather than
advertisers. Ad blockers affect not more than 5
percent of the business, as they do not interfere
with advertisements within apps, through which
the majority of content consumption is done. There
are already sites like Forbes.com, which are fighting
back and they won’t allow the user to log in while
using ad blocking and for sure this practice will
expand.”
Once mobile traffic finds its way into the app
ecosystem it can be advertised to with native ads
that are unblockable, as the audience becomes
almost entirely agnostic to browser changes, device
hardware differences, carrier anomalies and many
of the other variables that impact mobile traffic.
For that reason many companies are starting to
pursue app development as a new parallel alongside
traditional browser based mobile websites.
—Joey Gabra, Affil4You
without being so obviously from one niche or
another.
As Laura of FirstMobileCash said simply, “At
FMC, we are always innovating and finding new
smart ways to reach our markets accordingly.
A good example is that we are one of the few
companies offering unique products for mobile Wi-
Fi traffic built and managed in-house in several
geos. This is a competitive advantage in the
industry, especially for our affiliates, as the amount
of Wi-Fi traffic keeps growing.”
When mobile first came to prominence it was
all about having a desktop business that offered a
parallel mobile presence. Then the world shifted
and everyone pursued responsive designs that
worked equally well from any device. Now, it
appears a new shift is well underway, and is leading
many brands to build several versions of their
products for the specific purpose of taking every
advantage in each iteration of content.
Perfect Wi-Fi, exceptional content optimized
and translated for each region, the right carrier
relationships, in-app builds, feature-rich versions
for competing devices, future-proofed content
to keep pace with improved displays—and solid
analytical testing of each new campaign. In short, to
succeed with modern mobile you really do need to
be everything for everyone anytime and anywhere
they want.
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