Can the Geeks Save the Porn Industry?

It’s no secret that the porn industry is currently struggling through a very tough time.  While many things have contributed to the decline of the once high-flying adult entertainment industry, nothing has hobbled it as much as online piracy.  And while I have stood, and remain, in firm opposition to anything that even looks like SOPA, I will say that something has to be done to curb the online bootlegging of porn, music, and other forms of entertainment.  The effects that its having on multiple industries is real and devastating.  But this isn’t an anti-piracy blog post.  This is a post on what I think may save, or at least sustain, the porn industry.  Comic and sci-fi geeks, I’m looking at you.

Before getting into why I believe geek culture is going to have an increasingly powerful influence on porn, allow me to first quote from a really interesting article, written by Salon’s Michael Stabile, which talks about the “end of the Golden Age of porn”…

When I entered the industry, we were staying in French chateaus.  Now, companies are struggling to stay alive

The small-time producer, a ubiquitous part of the industry during its boom years, is almost extinct. When I worked in the industry, stars of a certain caliber routinely left studio contracts to launch their own film lines. If each wasn’t as successful as Jameson’s Club Jenna, at least they made enough to survive.

With the loss of the independent producer went some of the fun. The porn industry during the boom years was an ever-changing collection of eccentrics, an endless family reunion with a little too much whiskey. When the industry receded, it became more like a probate hearing, with tipsy relatives bitterly divvying up a shrinking estate. Stars that used to make $1,500 a scene are now making half that. Producers who could shoot two movies a month now need to make six. Online scenes sell for a fraction of what a DVD sale once brought.

Okay, so things are looking less than peachy for the porn industry right now.  Piracy has done the most damage, no doubt, but the rise of mobile and streaming video on demand has also caught many major studios off guard.  Simply put, the traditional business model is failing, a victim of both technology and bootlegging assholes.  That being said, the demand for porn is still there.  And if I learned anything from four years of business school, it’s that where there’s demand, there’s a market and the potential to establish a profitable business model.  And, right now, the biggest marketing opportunity I see is the Geek Culture niche.

Think the porn industry would have trouble fitting in with the world of comic books?

And this is nothing that the industry hasn’t started to figure out.  Axel Braun and his superhero and sci-fi porn parodie are some of the most successful and brightest spots in the porn industry right now.  Movies like Star Wars XXX, Batman XXX, Spider-Man XXX, and This Ain’t Ghostbusters XXX are all doing quite well.  Are they the exception?  Yeah, of course.  But the bottom line is that these movies are making money and generating actual excitement among people.  Studios like Vivid, Bluebird Films, and Extreme Comixxx are all producing some very impressive comic book and Sci-Fi based porn parodies, with a stronger focus on staying truer to the comic books and Sci-Fi source material than most of the major Hollywood studios.  And I think this is just the beginning.

Tanya Tate dressed as Invisible Woman at a comic convention

When I started this website back in 2010, people thought I was crazy (most still do) for deciding to include posts about porn on a geek culture site.  I maintain that it made perfect sense (it does present some troubles in terms of attracting major advertisers), as I see the adult entertainment industry as a growing and increasingly interesting segmented of the “geek” world.  And while, at the moment, the porn industry is primarily focused on producing parodies of existing franchises such as The Avengers, Batman, and Star Wars, I think there’s a lot of potential for them to expand into more original content that still appeals to geeks.  And guess what?  Geeks will pay money for that content, as long as it comes across as sincere and not as something that’s poking fun at them or their interests.

And, yes, something still needs to be done about piracy (the recent arrest of Kim Dotcom and the shuttering of Megaupload had a much bigger impact on the world of piracy than anything SOPA or PIPA could have managed, in my opinion).  However, along with advances in mobile and streaming content, the porn industry stands to greatly expand its audience with a continued focus on geek culture.  Last year, I covered the New York Comic Con and there wasn’t a single adult film star or studio to be found at that event (although, to her credit, Tanya Tate does frequently show up in costume to many other comic cons).  And while I’m not advocating the selling of porn at conventions, I am suggesting that these companies at least make a presence.  Why not have the cast of Avengers XXX or Katwoman XXX show up in costume and mingle with fans.  Sign autographs, pose for pictures, and network with a whole new audience.  Host after parties, hold panels on the subject of geek culture in adult entertainment, ask fans about what kind of movies they’d want to watch.

And not just comic conventions.  Expand the reach to major events like CES and E3.  Again, not just showing up and trying to hock porn, but actually interacting and participating.  If you think people wouldn’t line up and wait for hours for a chance to play Jesse Jane or Belledonna in a round of Call of Duty 3, you would be mistaken, I think.  As I said earlier, the existing business model used by adult media companies is in some serious need of an overhaul.  Additionally, its existing paying customer base is shrinking.  A stronger, and more serious, focus on the world of geek culture will help address both of these problems in some form or another.  It offers more sales and marketing opportunities, a newer and potentially larger audience, and it still provides room to offer the traditional content that its existing customer base enjoys.

So those are my thoughts on the subject of how geeks and pornstars can all get along.  Crazy and/or naive?  Maybe.  But maybe there really is an opportunity there for some enterprising porn studios or pornstars to take advantage of.  And, either way, I’ll continue to post about comic books and porn on the same website in the belief that the two have more in common than maybe either of them realizes.  What do you think?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.