“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”

~Charles Darwin

A nearly empty theater darkens, the flapping sound of film spools whirring by at 24 frames per second whispers in the background as a beam of light is projected onto a screen. A velvet curtain is pushed to the side, the back wall of the video store hidden and lined with hundreds of black plastic tapes. A button on the remote control is pushed; a signal is sent charging a fee on a cable bill at the same time a movie races down the same line to the TV screen. The glow of a computer screen falls on fingers that glide a small cursor onto a picture; one click later, a video begins to download.

With all that’s out there, it is the Internet that is becoming America’s number one porn provider. Most people are traditionally private about their sexual fantasies and sharing that information with the clerk behind the counter of a porn store is not always easy. Even walking into a pornography store sends chills down the spines of respectable family men and women. Porn is simply something that the majority would prefer to view in private. It’s the reason why theaters featuring the letter XXX on the side of the marquee have disappeared. On the other hand,the Internet provides privacy, the most varied selection and, without much work, can usually be found for free. As more and more websites appear, how is the old guard surviving? Will DVDs become as obsolete as the porn theater? Can porn stars exist in an environment where hundreds of new aspiring actors are emerging every day?

Pornography has always helped drive new forms of media. The DVDs bought now began as video tapes, which were initially developed to supply the masses with adult programming. Porn pioneered the technology behind pay per view, interactive television, and certainly the Internet; while not invented to supply porn,it certainly owes its growth to the fact it made viewing sex extremely accessible. Even now, porn is expanding to podcasts and could play a part in deciding the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

With all of its advantages, why has it taken so long for the Internet to emerge as the primary medium for porn? The World Wide Web, since its inception, was virtually synonymous with pornography after all. The biggest obstacle the Internet faced was speed, in that it didn’t have much. In the beginning of 2001, roughly 87 percent of Americans were connecting to the Internet on 56K modems or less. This meant that most of the porn watched was in the form of still pictures. Anyone trying to download videos was looking at massive download times and extremely poor video quality. Compare that with the 70 percent of the American public who had cable and capable of buying a pay-per-view movie or subscribe to the Playboy channel. The Internet made strides in 2001 but movies and cable were still the most feasible way to view any kind of pornography that consisted of more than pictures.

Now in 2007, the Internet has reached a point where it has surpassed the other forms of media; that is, as far as pornography is concerned. In February 2007, broadband connectivity in the United States had reached 80.16 percent. For the porn industry, this means that the Internet is no longer confined to pictures. In fact, the Internet can offer more; movies, clips, pictures are purchasable but the Internet can go one step further: interactivity. Web cams allow people to look at and converse with anyone with a camera and a basic understanding of computers. Americans are also no longer confined to rewatching their old porn movies or whatever is offered on pay per view that particular night. The Internet offers limitless possibilities. Blondes, redheads, big tits, young women, costumes, lesbians, orgies, virtually anything imaginable is a click or two away.

The Internet offers advantages on the production side as well. In the April edition of AVN, Internet porn is credited with driving up the prices on talent since Internet producers can post their shoots right after they’re shot as opposed to a studio that needs to shoot, edit, ship it to distributors and then wait for a profit report. Because of the quick turnaround time, the Internet provides producers that can afford to spend more on talent, which makes it difficult for the studios to compete. Amateur homemade porn is also contributing to the influx of Internet porn since anyone with a video camera and a computer can become an overnight adult sensation.

Private Media Group, one of Europe’s largest hardcore adult providers, announced that 50 percent of its first quarter earnings were from new media, which includes wireless, the Internet, and video on demand. CFO Johan Gillborg announced that 2007 would serve as a transitional year for the company. All of their new media increased, wireless went up 65 percent, broadcast 18 percent and the Internet 5 percent, with the Internet netting the largest amount in sales with 1.1 million euros.

Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, recently announced that because of the accessibility of naked images on the Internet readership of the magazine has dropped from at its peak 5 million magazines a month to a paltry 650,000. According to Guccione there is “no future for adult business in mass market magazines. The future has definitely migrated to electronic media.”

So, where does that leave the established producers and suppliers? Will this shift towards the Internet bury them alive in a tidal wave of new sites? In a 2002 PBS interview, Dennis Mcalpine, an investment banking analyst who had spent almost 20 years covering the adult industry, claims companies such as Playboy and Penthouse do have some advantages. “ You're still going to see a substantial benefit to the existing suppliers if they adapt to the times, if they provide Internet programming. And, the good thing for Playboy is that they have the brand recognition. So, they'll stand out from a lot of the den of 30,000 small adult programming providers.”

Evil Angel Productions, for example, found an innovative way to use the Internet. They not only offer their DVDs online but also streamline clips from the movies making it easier for a potential customer to find a movie they’d enjoy.

In spite of this brand recognition advantage that companies like Playboy, Penthouse and Evil Angel have, the porn industry is unique in the amount of competition that is present. For instance, when the Internet took off Ford didn’t have to suddenly compete with thousands of new car manufacturers.

Luckily for everyone involved, the adult entertainment industry is so lucrative as long as the company is well managed there’s money for everyone. The Internet might have increased the competition but if properly used, it also offers the easiest and most profitable way to make money. In spite of the dot-com crash, pornography is still virtually the only thing on the Internet that is making any profit. Ultimately, though, it is the consumer who wins. With all the competition generated by new media and the fact that even with the increased competition everyone is still able to make money, the porn enthusiast never had it so easy or so good.