Thankful to Porn Industry: How Adult Websites Drive Technological Innovations

MindGeek was accused of supporting and distributing child abuse content a few years ago. Now, MindGeek's subsidiary, Pornhub, is developing its own technologies, including fingerprint and image recognition, to ensure that only verified users can upload content to the platform.

Perhaps biometrics is the next technology the porn industry will invest in developing? Or maybe we're already seeing something more than dry engineering - addressing ethical and security issues online? We'll see.

What else do we owe to the adult entertainment industry regarding technology? The next time you share your favorite meme with a friend on WhatsApp, thank the porn industry. After all, they have contributed a lot to developing chat rooms, the mobile internet, and so on.

Learn more about how the porn industry has driven many technological innovations in our research.

Cable TV

The adult entertainment industry played a crucial role in the technological boom of the 1980s as cable companies struggled to attract subscribers. Companies like Playboy and Penthouse provided a solution by offering pay-per-view adult movies, quickly becoming popular among cable subscribers. It led to the development of more adult-oriented channels, such as Spice and The Hot Network, which proved very profitable for cable companies. The success of these channels helped drive the growth of cable TV, contributing to the development of new technologies and changing the media landscape.

Throughout its evolution, the porn industry has continually welcomed and incorporated technological advancements, so it's only fitting to acknowledge its role in driving technological progress.

VHS VCR

A VCR (video recorder) is a device that people used to record TV shows and films in the 70s. It used cassettes to store recordings, like having your little movie theater at home.

VHS is a type of VCR cassette that became popular in the 80s and 90s before DVDs and streaming services became widespread.

Pornographic films were among the first to be released on VHS cassettes. The industry recognized the potential of this format to reach a wider audience than adult cinemas.

People appreciated the convenience of watching movies at home, including porn, which rapidly increased demand for VHS players. And where there is demand, there is supply.

DOT.COM internet explosion

Who created the Internet? That's right, the military. But it was the porn industry that brought it to the attention of a wider audience. The dot.com explosion of the Internet occurred in the late 1990s. It became easy and affordable to put and retrieve any information in a huge database, and porn sites and users took advantage of this. Cassettes and cable TV were left behind. However, new problems such as low network bandwidth, online copyright protection, and privacy issues have arisen.

The solution to new problems gave rise to monthly subscriptions, online transactions, and a reassessment of marketing in general. Distributors were actively monetizing, and technology went far beyond the porn industry.

Online payment systems

The relative anonymity of online transactions has allowed people to buy adult content without fear of shame or judgment. Of course, the industry has only benefited from this.

In the early 2000s, many porn sites relied on third-party payment systems such as PayPal. However, these processors often had strict policies on adult content. Therefore, the porn industry began to develop its own payment systems, such as CCBill, Epoch, and Verotel.

Of course, ethical issues that arose 20 years ago are still relevant today. For example, in 2020, Visa and Mastercard blocked their services on PornHub to avoid being involved in distributing illegal porn, which sharply highlighted the critical issue of content moderation on PornHub. Despite the denial of the major payment systems to work with adult-related websites, it is clear that they've made a huge impact in understanding that digital items can be bought securely online.

Streaming technology

What about streaming? The first streaming technology was developed in the mid-1990s when RealNetworks created RealAudio to transmit audio content over the Internet. It was quickly followed by RealVideo, which streamed video. Around the same time, Microsoft developed Windows Media Player, and in the early 2000s, Apple introduced QuickTime Streaming.

Porn sites began using and investing in streaming technology from its inception when it was not yet widely adopted by mainstream websites. People watched videos on porn sites in real time without downloading the entire file, which was the actual gamechanger not only for the adult industry. No wait time to download. Seamless user experience. Naturally, consumers began to expect a similar experience from other sites and online services.

This sparked a wave of mass popularity for streaming platforms back then. Now such services like Youtube, Vimeo, Netflix, Roku, and others are the biggest providers of video content to consumers worldwide. And yes, it is not just about porn anymore, it's a powerful direct competitor to TV channels.

Live video chats

The first widely used video chat program was CU-SeeMe, released in 1992 and allowed users to communicate over the internet using video and audio.

In the early 2000s, Skype, Google Hangouts, and FaceTime appeared. At the same time, adult video chat platforms such as LiveJasmin and MyFreeCams emerged.

According to a Business Wire report from 2019 citing Technavio data, the global live video chat market is expected to grow by 15% from 2019-2023. The report also notes that the adult entertainment industry is one of the key drivers of market growth. Of course, this was not the only driver: growing internet coverage, 5G, COVID-related lockdowns, freelance market growth and remote work culture, each of these factors made its push to video chat improvements. But let's not forget who gave the initial boost.

Back then, video chat was a geek feature to communicate between co-workers and sometimes with relatives. Nowadays, it's essential for almost every social media, messenger or big corporation to have its video chat. From old-fashioned Skype to Zoom, WhereBy, Telegram, and Instagram - people got used to communicating with their friends, teammates, and close ones daily.

Digital cameras adoption

In the mid-2000s, digital cameras became cheaper than film, leading to a democratization of production and a surge in amateur and independent porn production. It became easier to generate and upload photo content on the Internet, increasing demand for high-quality shots. As a result, the porn industry spurred the development of improved digital camera sensors and image processing software.

This era also saw the rise of websites like Clips4Sale and ManyVids, where performers sell their own content directly to consumers. However, rapid development also created new challenges, such as piracy. Once again, the porn industry needed to find new solutions.

Digital content rights management & software

No one likes piracy except pirates. Digital rights management (DRM) and software emerged in the early 2000s to protect copyrighted content from unauthorized distribution (digital watermarks, encryption technologies, and licensing agreements).

One of the first examples of DRM in the porn industry was the use of software to protect DVDs from copying and distribution. Porn websites and platforms use DRM software to control access to their content, ensuring that only paying customers can view and download their content.

After the successful use of DRM by the porn industry, music and film companies also took notice of this software. Now you can instantly verify and block if sounds or videos created by you are at risk of using by someone. Put paywalls on special content for your audience to monetize your creative efforts. Probably nothing of those would have been possible if the adult industry didn't care about the licensing rights to the content.

High-speed mobile internet

20% of all searches on mobile phones are for porn. It would be bold to say that 3G, 4G, and 5G were born solely because of porn. But along with other players for consumer attention, the porn industry has significantly contributed to the development of the high-speed mobile internet.

But firstly, it was still hard to receive all the benefits of adult websites with low-speed connection. As streaming, video chats, and online payment systems have made it easier for people to access and purchase premium pornographic content on mobile devices, mobile traffic has increased. It has turned developers on optimizing mobile traffic usage and a greater focus on creating high-quality, mobile-optimized content. At the same time the telecommunication industry realized that it has to catch up with the demand for high-speed mobile connectivity.

Online advertisement and marketing

Pornographic websites are once again ahead of the curve. They have started using online advertising to generate revenue: banner ads first appeared on porn sites in 1994. Affiliate marketing is a significant source of income for the porn industry: according to some estimates, affiliates account for up to 80% of all porn site traffic.

The porn industry has also been at the forefront of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and new forms of online advertising, including pop-up, bottom-of-page, and interstitial advertising. Now we are at the age of intelligent programmatic advertising, where ads are displayed on the categorized detailed data about each user.

Well, no need to explain how adult sites can categorize their users. But you can surely see similar approaches in big companies like Google, Amazon, eBay, Uber, and online publishers.

Virtual and augmented reality

Is VR older than the Internet? Surprisingly, VR was first used in a pornographic film back in 1993 in the movie Virtual Valerie. Today, companies such as Naughty America and BaDoinkVR offer porn videos in virtual reality, with full 3D, a 180º viewing area, and immersive binaural sound.

Let's be honest. You've heard about at least one geek that ordered VR glasses to watch porn in it. While it started from cases like that, the demand for more realistic and immersive experiences has led to the development of haptic feedback technology, more efficient VR/AR glasses, more advanced virtual reality games, and interactive avatars.

For example, even Huggies now has a 'maternity belt' that allows the expectant father to feel the baby kicking in the womb.

Artificial intelligence

How could the porn industry miss out on AI? The sector has innovated, using AI for various purposes, such as content creation, recommendation systems, and chatbots. One of the first examples of AI applications in porn was the development of 'deep fakes' technology. The ethics of the technology are controversial, but from a development perspective, it is a powerful feature that has now evolved into creating digital avatars that can speak, act and look like ordinary people, at least on the screen.

Today, natural language processing based on AI allows us to recognize people's moods by voice, although this mechanism was initially applied in chatbots on porn sites.

Bottom line

We communicate with our loved ones via video calls from different continents. We have Netflix movie nights with friends at home. Lovers have remote-controlled sex gadgets and don't have to share their intimacy at a distance. Technology brings us closer to each other and helps us fight loneliness.

What will happen next? The Internet needs new changes that are happening right before our eyes. To make the Internet inclusive, we must talk about online safety loudly and provocatively. We believe that the porn industry is responsible for its contribution to the development of modern technologies and should raise the issue of online ethics on a global level.

The example of Pornhub, which is developing its user verification technology, proves that the next step is for everyone to be ethical and safe online.

Curious about how free websites and apps generate revenue? Learn more about their business models and strategies here: How Do Free Apps Make Money?