Page 37 - AVN May 2015

tubes is steadily declining, with many videos now
only a few minutes long rather than full length, as
they once were. Others will point to the fact that
major tubes have now taken a stake in producing
their own content with brands being launched
by tube site owners for their own fans. Still, it is
amazing that the void in affiliate marketing traffic
created by tubes when most smaller affiliates were
pushed out of the business has largely been filled by
those same tube sites becoming the largest affiliates
of many paysites via partner programs and premium
tube creations.
“Our content partner program continues to grow
and we send over one hundred thousand joins a
year to our paysite partners” Price said proudly.
“We continue to work with brands and individuals
alike to give them the maximum exposure with ads
and data to make the best content for paying users.
Our Viewshare program also gives content partners
a great way to monetize their full-length scenes to
a restricted subscriber base in Pornhub Premium.
Viewshare pays out some of the highest rates per
view in the industry.”
Today there are about 50 people making up the
Pornhub team, according to Price, ranging from
account coordinators to designers and
engineers He counts every team
member as a large player in
Pornhub’s continued success
and was effusively grateful for
each and every one of them.
It’s a fact recognized
by external experts in
the field as well. “From
a purely social media
perspective, Pornhub
has done an incredible
job of expanding
beyond their core
business,” said social
media strategist Lauren
MacEwen of 7Veils.com.
“They have an awareness
and understanding of their
user community. You see this
mirrored in their creative advertising
and social strategy. Expanding into sex
education is just another step in how they have
been going above and beyond what is expected from
a tube site.”
Another well-known industry professional who
asked not to be named in this article stated plainly
that Pornhub is “a genuinely great crew to work
with. Not sure I can comment on PH in any way
publicly since our brands are supposed to be quasi
underground and anti-everything in a way, but
personally I love the people there. It’s also one of the
few companies that try to run a professional business
on a large scale in this industry. Who else gives you
performance charts, nicely collated, bound, and
branded?”
Still the stigma remains, and it’s very real. Several
others who are normally very outspoken on industry
topics were contacted about this article and asked
to weigh in … but virtually every one of them either
refused to comment at all or would only comment if
they were allowed to do so completely off the record.
That silence gives you a better idea of Pornhub’s
dominance and the undercurrent of distrust many
still harbor toward it than anything any one of them
could have said in a published quote.
TECH NEWS
In the face of resentment, legal battles, ever-
changing trends and every other conceivable
obstacle, Pornhub continues to press forward the
way it always has. “Our most recent announcement
was switching to Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
(HTTPS),” Price said. “This is a part of an ongoing
effort to continue to ensure the confidentiality
and privacy of users, while also offering enhanced
security against hackers and malware. In the next
several months, we will be working with some
partners on integrating content that works with
interactive devices. I can’t provide too many details
on that just yet, but it will be a first for tube sites.
We also have plans to continue to build out our
partnership with Streamate for integrated and
seamless cam shows on Pornhub where models can
share content directly into our burgeoning model
program.”
ModelCentro also recently announced deals
with Pornhub that will allow the giant tube to
leverage its new SnapCentro platform in ways that
should generate more sales for both companies
and the models they support. “We also have a
larger integration with ModelCentro and our model
program in the works,” Price added.
Many continue to wait for the demise
of the entire tube era, and who can
blame them? The rise of tubes
definitely contributed to the
downfall of the industry
as a whole from the
glory days of 2004 and
earlier.
“What will be the
next site after PH is
done?” That’s the
question according
to Chris Rodger of
Payze. “Perhaps not
soon, but it will be
overtaken eventually
like everything. When
something white-hot and
popular hits, it’ll spread
very fast and PH will see
their traffic drop just as fast. I
just wish I had a clue about what’s
to come after PH is worn out. The only sure
things right now are Google and Facebook, in my
opinion.”
Still, for those who are focused on this month
and this year, revenue remains largely consolidated
in the hands of a small few, and much of it in one
way or another travels through one of only a handful
of major tube sites. Convincing yourself that they
just got lucky, or that they had some kind of unique
opportunity, is shortsighted and closed minded
at best. The fact is, anyone could have done what
Pornhub did—and thousands of brands actually
tried. Yet only one managed to become Pornhub, and
thirty years from now—even if the tube era ever does
come to an end—it’s Pornhub that is most likely to
retain the luster of a historic brand the same way
the Playboy and Penthouse brands have managed to
remain premium names in the minds of consumers
long after paper magazines fell out of favor.
To keep tabs on what Pornhub is up to and make
use of the information they now provide about the
adult consumer market, read through the year-in-
review document mentioned at the start of this
article and bookmark Pornhub.com/press.
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