Porn Is Tougher Than It Looks

Browsing Wired.com, I found a story from 2002 about how tough it is to make money in the porn business. Edward Cone did the reporting.

“It’s still possible to make a modest income by posting some free pictures and links as part of an affiliate program. “If you have some expertise at getting search engine traffic or using thumbnail galleries,” says Ron Levi, one of the principals at Voice Media, owner of Cybererotica, “you can make a couple of hundred bucks per month.”

But even that’s harder than it was. Until last year, most pay sites dished out $50 per conversion. Now $40 is the norm. According to a July 2000 poll taken by YNOT, half of porn sites gross less than $20,000 per year. “The number of adult webmasters who aren’t making money is higher than ever,” says Oz, president of TheAdultWebmaster.com.

And taking on the big companies is near impossible. PrimeXTC, the most-hyped entrant of recent years, capped a lavish trade show launch with a private concert by David Lee Roth – then quickly disappeared. “The guys in charge didn’t have a clue,” says former webmaster Charles Kindall. “They wanted to meet chicks, but they failed to build the business.”

Even the part with the nude models turns out to be a drag. “Content acquisition is a pain in the butt,” Adam says. “It’s constant hand-holding. I have one photographer in New Jersey – I say to set up a shoot, then the model backs out. I send money, harass the guy with email, and get my hundred shots three months later.” And don’t even ask how Adam’s wife feels about it.

Not even a legendary brand can guarantee riches. Playboy.com has lost almost $50 million in the past two years and last October laid off more than a third of its employees. “We underestimated the cost of creating inventory for the Web,” says Playboy.com CEO Larry Lux. To keep the site alive, it’s diversifying into online gambling in Europe and Asia.

Levi pities anyone dreaming about breaking into porn these days. “When we started in late ’95, our conversions were about 1 of 20. Now our average is 1 of 200,” he says. “If you started now in this business with $5 million and didn’t make a single mistake, I still don’t know if you’d make it.”