educational

Crossing Over

All new technology finds itself starting in adult and moving toward mainstream.

The launch of T3Report.com was no different in its growth process, and in looking back, I wanted to share some experiences that go beyond what I learned during that initial launch period and address the issue of the "crossover" — adult companies trying to get into mainstream and, similarly, mainstream companies trying to get into adult.

Going to conventions is certainly the best way to get your product introduced to perspective clients outside of your given industry. Both adult and mainstream have similar structures of industry and niche events. The differences between the two are very interesting, not just in the difference of the products but of the attitudes toward peers and competitors.

I have been going to both mainstream and adult conventions for the past eight years and the differences are very noticeable.

Vocabulary
The first most noticeable thing that an adult industry person runs up against is the vocabulary difference.

The non-adult industries don’t call themselves "mainstream," but everyone in adult refers to "non-adult" as "mainstream." I get caught up in using the term "mainstream" when attending mainstream events, and those who have already made the crossover into adult, or are aware of the adult market space, can quickly identify who is from "adult."

In mainstream, the differentiating label is "adult" if referring to adult content/entertainment, otherwise the term mainstream means all businesses that are essentially non-adult.

Affiliates Marketing
Affiliate marketing in mainstream is very different, yet similar to adult. In adult, sponsor programs promote their own paysites, with many products for affiliates to promote. In mainstream, the affiliate program is typically to promote one single product or through an affiliate network such as Linkshare, Commission Junction, etc., which aggregate product offerings. The closest thing to an affiliate network in adult was the now defunct Dollars.com.

There are far more than a dozen acronyms to describe pay-per-click, per impression, etc. In addition, there are terms like "publisher," which refers to affiliates, and "advertisers," also known as the merchants. Merchants are the companies that are selling a product and enticing affiliates to promote them.

At mainstream conventions, the competitive nature of companies is very evident in the way people interact with each other. Every communication connection is a selling opportunity to pitch its company product. If a person bumps into a competitor of theirs, they avoid them like the plague. I have chatted with a few adult industry folks who now work for mainstream companies and have noticed immediately the difference in attitude the moment the other person finds out they work for the competitor.

In adult, the attitude is much more relaxed. Competing paysite owners can sit down and talk shop with each other; they even do traffic trades in sending consumers to their competitors.

Mainstream business people also seem to think that adult conventions are wild and crazy — maybe they were in the golden years prior to 2000 — but these days, they are much more business oriented.

Competitiveness
Sales of T3Report.com have been good in adult, but not as great as they should be, and I attribute that to a difference in how the two sides look at their businesses. In adult, a company might not have any problem with shelling out thousands of dollars for a bar tab but would think it strange to invest money in marketing intelligence. But since mainstream is so competitive for finding affiliates, they have grabbed on instantly to the notion of using any kind of tool or information to find them and get ahead of their competitors. There is definitely a thirst for competitive data in mainstream that seems to be a missing DNA strand from adult businesses, which in general have a much more laid-back approach to their overall business conduct.

As adult content becomes more universally distributed, there are increasing opportunities for mainstream companies to enter the space, bringing along with them the corporate culture that will initially make them stand out as wallflowers. But as they are joined by other mainstreamers, they will find themselves forming into mainstream vs. adult groups, ultimately segmenting the industry.

Whether crossing over into adult or mainstream, there certainly are those moments of realizing we are all just small fish in a big pond. Given these distinct and separate experiences, we can all certainly join in the crossover as along as the dynamics are understood and mutated to fit the environment.

Brandon Shalton is the creator of T3Report.com and as a hobby advocates against patent abuse at www.FightThePatent.com.

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

How to Thwart Holiday Fraudsters With Finesse

The holiday season is a prime time for shopping. Unfortunately, it’s also peak season for credit card fraud. With increased transactions both online and in-store, fraudsters have more opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities — and they are getting better at it every day.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

How to Halt Hackers as Fraud Attacks Rise

For hackers, it’s often a game of trial and error. Bad actors will perform enumeration and account testing, repeating the same test on a system to look for vulnerabilities — and if you are not equipped with the proper tools, your merchant account could be the next target.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

VerifyMy Seeks to Provide Frictionless Online Safety, Compliance Solutions

Before founding VerifyMy, Ryan Shaw was simply looking for an age verification solution for his previous business. The ones he found, however, were too expensive, too difficult to integrate with, or failed to take into account the needs of either the businesses implementing them or the end users who would be required to interact with them.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

How Adult Website Operators Can Cash in on the 'Interchange' Class Action

The Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement resulted from a landmark antitrust lawsuit involving Visa, Mastercard and several major banks. The case centered around the interchange fees charged to merchants for processing credit and debit card transactions. These fees are set by card networks and are paid by merchants to the banks that issue the cards.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

It's Time to Rock the Vote and Make Your Voice Heard

When I worked to defeat California’s Proposition 60 in 2016, our opposition campaign was outspent nearly 10 to 1. Nevertheless, our community came together and garnered enough support and awareness to defeat that harmful, misguided piece of proposed legislation — by more than a million votes.

Siouxsie Q ·
opinion

Staying Compliant to Avoid the Takedown Shakedown

Dealing with complaints is an everyday part of doing business — and a crucial one, since not dealing with them properly can haunt your business in multiple ways. Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

Girlsway Celebrates a Decade of Acclaimed Sapphic Erotica

When Girlsway launched back in 2014, Bree Mills had a plan. As head of production for Gamma Entertainment, she set out to up the stakes of all-girl content with the new imprint — and to continually, proactively reinvent the brand and its offerings along the way.

Alejandro Freixes ·
profile

WIA Profile: Patricia Ucros

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Ucros graduated from college with a degree in education. She spent three years teaching third grade, which she enjoyed a lot, before heeding her father’s advice and moving to South Florida.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Creating Payment Redundancies to Maximize Payout Uptime

During the global CrowdStrike outage that took place toward the end of July, a flawed software update brought air travel and electronic commerce to a grinding halt worldwide. This dramatically underscores the importance of having a backup plan in place for critical infrastructure.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Need for Minimal Friction in Age Verification Technology

In the adult sector, robust age assurance, comprised of age verification and age estimation methods, is critical to ensuring legal compliance with ever-evolving regulations, safeguarding minors from inappropriate content and protecting the privacy of adults wishing to view adult content.

Gavin Worrall ·
Show More