You’ve changed, man! Gone are the days when a couple of bouncers from Amsterdam were running around trying to peddle live sex feeds to companies that didn’t know what live feeds were. Those guys are now invisible. The content feeds that were once the business are now an arm’s length away from the core.
Python , however, carries on. It’s an entirely different operation today than before, but as a credit to forward thinking and adaptation, Python is still one of the top operations in the adult business.
The changing of the guard
Today, Mike Tran, who directs the company’s adult business, and Chad Molden, the adult operation’s director of marketing, oversee the Python Empire. Recent addition Steve Jukes, a sort of jack-of-all-trades, also plays a key role. Not exactly household names in the world of adult, but they are clearly individuals who share a vision for maintaining Python’s constricting hold on their spot at the top of the adult pile. Python has shifted gears throughout the years, moving from content provider to websites to affiliate programs as its dominant product, even branching into mainstream. Snakes are known to shed their skin but not known for having radically evolved over the years.
Molden, who has been with the company since 1997, says there are three accounts of Python’s story: a 30-second, a half-hour, and a three-hour version.
“Our first iteration of the business was as a content provider. At the same time, we were testing the waters in the pay site business, which was growing throughout the industry. As our portfolio of sites grew, marketing them as an affiliate program was the next step. Once that was successful we branched off into programs with individual specialties—straight and gay, megasites versus niche-specific. The goal was to provide as wide of an array of destinations for traffic as there were traffic types,” Molden says. “Our philosophy today is not so different, just on a much broader scale.”
Another difference between today and the early years of the Web – the days Python was selling content – is the number of players in the marketplace. In the mid-to-late ’90s everyone knew who Python was. Today, those running the company don’t necessarily make as much noise as their predecessors did, but they insist Python is still at the top of the adult heap.
“Absolutely! Have you seen the cars we drive?” Tran jokes, before he gets serious. “Our programs are a brand. Most people recognize Python or DollarMachine.”
Jukes is a bit more expansive.
“Python is as strong as ever,” he says. “We’ve gone through changes like everyone else, experienced the peaks and valleys that all businesses experience through the usual cycles. I think the difference today is that because the industry has grown so much, there is more room at the top for big players. More than one company can be a leader.”
Although Python has diversified into an expanding array of areas, its affiliate programs – Python, DollarMachine, and PythonPays – are still the bread and butter.
While most companies have been content to cram all kinds of different sites into one affiliate program, Python has created programs around related sites. Python, the flagship program, now carries four general high-definition sites. DollarMachine is home to more than 70 niche sites, while PythonPays holds 30 gay sites.
“DollarMachine, PythonPays, and Python.com are the present and future of our business,” Jukes says. “Dollar- Machine is one of the larger programs out there in terms of sign-ups per day.”
If that is indeed true, it’s quite an interesting statement, particularly when you consider DollarMachine isn’t promoted in the TGP realm and offers no webmaster referral program.
For Molden, the affiliate programs are simply a way to make everyone a lot of money, something Python has always been known for. Even if the delivery models change, the focus will remain the same.
“Even with so much diversification, our primary focus is still on providing the best solutions within our various affiliate programs. Of course, with so many new technologies, what those products are changes very quickly,” Molden says. “Our bread and butter is still about building good products that webmasters make money with. With mobile, video iPod, high-definition, and others on the rise, the shape of the solutions change, but our focus has not.”
The changing face of those solutions has led Python to high-definition. At the end of 2005, Python.com was relaunched entirely in HD. DollarMachine and PythonPays are slated to follow.
“High-def will be the next natural step in adult. It will be the new standard codec,” Tran says. “We are excited about it. I compare the feeling to when VHS players were launched—it was a total paradigm shift in viewing pleasure for adult content.”
Python expects the move to put them at a competitive advantage and, although it wasn’t the first program to go highdef, the move exemplifies the forward thinking that brought the company this far.
“We want to capitalize now on the consumer buzz surrounding HD and capture some of the early-to-market advantage,” Jukes says. “We also believe this puts us at a strategic advantage by learning the ins and outs of HD technology early so we can adapt more quickly as the whole industry – all video production, not just adult – moves over to HD.”
Forging ahead
After all these years and all these changes, if you think Python is going to rest on its laurels now, well, you’d be a damn fool.
The company has forged into the mainstream with products in the mobile and alternative billing markets (SMS and direct debit), to name a few.
In the next year the goal, according to Molden, is to combine Python’s various assets into one super program that increases the opportunity scale for its clients beyond anything currently available.
Python is also looking at new technologies, billing methods, and platforms – especially in the portable porn realm – to drive the company into the coming years.
“Devices like the PSP and video iPod are a glimpse into the future of personal video devices. We believe that people will access the Internet wirelessly from anywhere and will demand video content. We want to be in a position to push our content wherever and whenever people want it,” Jukes says. “With regards to billing, the subscription model of today is not going to carry the industry in the future. A la carte billing is the future, not only of our industry, but also of the media delivery business in general. The rise of VoD in the adult space is an indicator of a move to a pay-for-what-you-want kind of attitude.”
It’s that type of statement that personifies what Python is about these days. No longer cowboys trying to capitalize on a land rush, today’s Python is focused and in-touch with an everchanging market.
“It’s ironic, but the one thing that is constant in this business is in fact our biggest challenge: change. Adaptation, destruction, and re-creation, over and over again is the only way we have survived so many years,” Molden says. “Our webmasters have been a big part in our success, as well, and some have worked with us for over 11 years in building business together. Keeping our eyes off our feet and merging our products to match the new technologies and their distribution will be key in the next few years.”
David, you’re in good hands.
Pictured: Mike Tran, director of adult business for Python, at the wheel.
