Levelwing: What We Can All Learn From The Porn Industry's Innovations In Advertising And Digital Media - Steve Parker, Jr.

Note This is a SAFE FOR WORK article amp8211 get your head out of the gutter pervertThe industry of Adult Entertainment referenced as AE herein has brought with it many of the advances we use every day in the Internet Digital Media and Advertising Industry Don39t flush red just yet As I said this is a safe for work article However I know the mention of the word quotpornquot brings with it raised eyebrows unsettled seat shifting and for some total damnation It39s a contentious word in parts of the world and a flavorful one in others For some the word conjures quotfree speechquot and for others proof that this obscenity means we should not be so freeLet me clarify the following up frontamp82301 I in no way support the AE Industry and2 I am not stating the AE industry invented all these innovationsHowever I am stating that the AE industry has clearly utilized these innovations to their advantage and does drive technological advancement in all of themTo recap history in the 198039s the AE industry helped usher in the unanimous use of the VHS tape as the standard inhome movie viewing over that of Beta Of course as DVD media format came on the scene in the late 199039s even VHS began to fade in its dominance and it would be fair to estimate that soon digital downloads and streaming will give fade to DVD format just as digital downloads have led to the demise of physical CD or Albumin the music industry Some suggest that digital will all but eradicate DVD format as early as 2015So what are the contributions and innovations of the AE industry to the more mainstream Internet Digital Media and Advertising industry1 Video Downloads ampamp Streaming2 Electronic Billing3 Digital Rights Management4 Popup Ads5 Affiliate Marketing6 Wireless Content Delivery7 Geolocation SoftwareSome of these may be surprising to you Geolocation software You may be thinking to yourself quotno no no that was pioneered by the likes of Foursquare and Gowallaquot Well not really Clearly Foursquare and Gowalla have become darlings of the mainstream industry and VC39s alike but there is a darker side to locationbased services Albeit not unintelligentOver the last few years I have spoken to a number of technology providers that serve both the AE and the mainstream media industries ie companies like Time Warner and Comcast serve both by the way to understand how they are implementing technology and services creating unique revenue models and growing their businesses I do not aspire to work in the AE industry but I will tell you that many of the folks that do are very smart and wellversed on the insandouts it39s ok to laugh of the Internet Digital Media and Advertising Industry Yes we all hear of the seediness of AE but these folks also know their business and their legal limits arguably better than executives of many mainstream companies such as Goldman Sachs Citibank AIG and any other high profile financial institutions that always seem to quotbend the law amp8211 make that break the lawquot Yes that39s a personal jab Advice amp8211 rent the Oscar Award winning documentary quotInside Jobquot amp8211 it39s a financial flick not otherwise Gutter BoyMore importantly these folks in the AE business are specific detailed know what they want what they expect and how to measure it They are wellorganized and do make many very smart decisions Some of their businesses are more profitable and operate more efficiently than many mainstream public ally traded companiesThe following are three examples of how the Adult Entertainment or Porn industry has provided innovation in the Internet Digital Media and Advertising IndustryAffiliate Marketing the industry of Porn has all but conquered the ultimate business model in Affiliate Marketing These companies build multiple platforms from which to share content both owned and from competitors They squeeze every conceivable cent from potential customers all in the name of making a profit in some cases with very advanced methodologiesExample If a customer on company X website doesn39t purchase company X content then company X serves up company Y content Y may happen to be their competitor The focus is on revenue and some is better than none Imagine Jenny Craig sending customers to Weight Watchersamp8211not likely to happen However some mainstream companies have embraced this approach amp8211 Progressive Insurance comes to mind Can39t find a great rate with Progressive they39ll offer you other options from competitorsPopup Ads amp8211 ok so not every technology or deployment from the AE industry would be considered positive or advance the Internet Digital Media and Advertising Industry Most all of us would agree that Popup Ads are akin to junk mail and fairly annoying even potentially harmful to brand reputations Nonetheless the AE industry led the charge to deliver on these ads and to this day continues to thrive off of themSpecial Note In 2002 just a month prior to me cofounding my current company I worked for iVillage We were the first to publicly ban popup ads from our web properties This started a movement that led to the likes of Yahoo The New York Times and WSJ among others following suit This had a great impact on the diminished use of these ads today from what was at the time overwhelmingly commonplaceDigital Rights Management DRM amp8211 this is a key area where the AE industry is possibly further along than most all other mainstream industries in both understanding and usage Ownership and delivery rights related to Porn not only have financial implications but also legal Clearly there are federal and state laws againstfor the use and distribution of this form of content and the content ownerA does not want it stolen by a pirate andB neither do they want it shown somewhere it should not be shared or viewed for legal reasonsTwo companies have driven this innovation further than others they include Vivid Entertainment and Private Media Group Vivid Entertainment and its visionary founder Steven Hirsch I39ll refer to him as a younger Richard Branson was the first to deliver in the DRM area by offering customers onetime downloads burn to DVD from a website This is controlled and limited use of the content by the consumer Vivid aims to vigorously protect its content and ownership credentialsMeanwhile Private Media Group PRVT amp8211 a publicly traded company NASDAQ CEO Ilan Bunimovitz was one of the first to offer HTML5 iPad optimized downloads and is also working on crossplatform delivery across multiple devices for its content Supposedly Private Media Group does not DRM protect any of its content because as their CEO states quotThe way to fight piracy is not to limit who you sell content toamp8230 ie consumersquot but rather fight the piracy sites directlySo the next time you fall in love with that really cool technology or sexy app that helps you through your day consider where it spent the night before youI would enjoy your comments on how you feel the AE industry has driven innovation in these areas and others and how this had benefited the Internet Digital Media and Advertising Industry Please comment below and follow me SParkerJr on TwitterRead more wwwaskingsmarterquestionscomSteve Parker Jr is a CoFounder and Managing Partner of Levelwing a digital advertising agency that provides datadriven marketing solutions Steve can be reached at sparkerlevelwingcomRead all Steve39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at AskingSmarterQuestionscomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

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