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Internet Porn Tolls DVD's Death Knell

by Tim Stevens on June 6, 2007 at 04:37 PM

It should be obvious by now that the Internet will eventually become the world's premiere delivery system of video to consumers. DVD? Already obsolete. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD? Please. If either format survives another decade, it'll be a niche fascination for circles of home theater geeks.

When it comes to the future of technology, there's no better crystal ball than the porn industry. After all, many believe it was pornography's availability on VHS that helped the format beat Betamax into submission. And, good or bad, look what it's done for the Internet: Pop-up windows, e-commerce, members-only content and streaming video were all pioneered by smut.

Likewise, the extinction of DVD and its circular brethren is being foretold by what's happening in porno today. According to USA Today, sales of dirty DVDs are plummeting as perverted eyes turn their focus toward the Internet. All told, porn DVD sales have fallen by 15 percent since last year, which had already seen a drop of 15 percent over the year before. Meanwhile, online porn sales are up 14 percent, which has left companies such as Hustler and Vivid scrambling to set up shop online while their brands can still be salvaged.

But, it might already be too late. As with traditional media companies, these brands are also finding themselves threatened by the democratization of the Web. YouTube knock-off PornoTube, for example, offers thousands of short, user-submitted videos for no charge. The site isn't even a year old and already nets between 10 and 15 million hits per day, which places it within the Web's top 200 sites.

That said, there's still some hope for DVD, as not everything in porn is an indication of things to come. Thankfully, the mainstream has done just fine so far without cardboard dialog, virtual bodily functions, crotchless clothing and really bad mustaches.

From USA Today

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Tags: DVD, Internet Porn, InternetPorn, pornography

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