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image via The Olive Press

The webcam biz will soon be the only financially viable part of the porn industry.

In the future, porno flicks as we know them will still get made but they’ll be loss leaders for the profitable segment of the industry, according to Michael Stabile, author of the above piece. At the heart of the matter is porn fans’ desire to interact personally with their favourite stars and in a way they feel is authentic.

I don’t care how much porn you watch (or don’t watch), but the business’ path speaks to what we like in media content.

These days, it all boils down to two things: the appearance of authenticity and the feeling of personalization.

It’s a sea change. For decades content was mass produced for the masses. There was nothing authentic or personal about it. If you doubt this, go look at advertising from the pre internet era.

Somewhere along the way we collectively said “screw that.” Now we won’t buy the album but we’ll pay out the yin yang to see our favourite musician play a small venue. It feels realer. We visit mass media sites, which we refuse to pay for, to get hard news but go to our favourite blogs for opinion on that news. We like those blogs because we agree with them (read – they  appeal to us “personally”) and because bloggers tend to be open (read – “authentic”) about their biases.

I’ve no plans to visit a webcam porn site anytime soon. Nonetheless, the semblance of authenticity and personal connection that’s driving an industry undergoing dynamic change holds lessons for content marketers.

The simple reason content marketing fails is because we don’t put enough effort into serving it up personal and making it feel real.

That’s all people want from media these days. Too bad creating content that fits the bill is damn hard.

 

 

Join the discussion 2 Comments

  • Rommel says:

    “These days, it all boils down to two things: the appearance of authenticity and the feeling of personalization.”

    Jackson, thank you for calling it what it is. While the bulk of PR literature pushes “authenticity”, you actually have the spine to call it an appearance. In addition, I appreciate the practical point that you make throughout this article.

  • Thanks Rommel. Authenticity is in the eye of the beholder. Those dumb enough to think Jenna Jameson really wants to fuck them after a webcam session are just as silly as those who believe Monsanto cares about farmers after reading the company’s website. In a world of suckers, appearance remains everything.

    I am glad that my point on this came through. Appreciate your comment.

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