Vivid Entertainment Group never has been particularly shy about trendsetting. The first adult company to adopt the “contract star” business model popular in mainstream Hollywood at the dawn of the motion picture age also was the first adult company to begin packaging its videos in slick, softcore covers so mainstream retail outlets like Virgin Megastores and Tower Records would stock them. More recently Vivid turned heads when it began marketing branded lines of condoms, snowboards, apparel and explicit comic books.
Founded in 1984, Vivid fairly rocketed to the top of the adult entertainment heap with moves like those. In the late ’90s, the company joined the vanguard of brick-and-mortar companies moving into the Internet realm. Now every single one of the more than 1,500 titles in Vivid’s library has been digitized and is available online. Vivid was the first studio to make that aggressive leap, too.
The next challenge for the video giant is the mobile-wireless sector, and the company’s foot is already well inside that door, according to chief executive Steven Hirsch. “We try to get involved in new technology as early as possible,” he said, noting with a good deal of satisfaction that Vivid already is the largest purveyor of adult content on the wireless airwaves in Europe. Vivid is “on deck” — meaning its content is offered directly to consumers by their mobile carriers — with 30 different cellcos in 13 European nations. Only three or four adult entertainment companies have mastered that feat to date, Hirsch said.
And there’s nowhere for the distribution channel to go but up. “Wireless devices are here to stay,” Hirsch insisted. “It is the third screen. There’s the TV, the computer and your wireless. Over time, we look at it to be part of a very profitable business. We believe that, ultimately, it can account for up to 30 percent of our total revenue.”
That’s no chump change for a company that reportedly rakes in upwards of $100 million a year, an estimated 25 percent of which comes from online sales. (Hirsch predicts the online dollar volume will more than triple over the next several years.) According to Forbes, another $10 million is generated annually by sales of Vivid’s wireless content.
What’s working best for Vivid’s European mobile operation varies widely by country and by carrier, Hirsch revealed. Vodafone Live, the largest player in the content space, accepts only very, very softcore content. What is available to subscribers of other cellcos depends upon the operator’s age verification scheme, the country’s culture and market demand. Some carriers offer hardcore clips and stills.
U.S. cellcos haven’t been as quick to fall under Vivid’s seductive spell, but Hirsch expects them to be in bed together within a year. The primary obstacle stateside is age verification, he said. In Europe, cell phone users register as adults or minors when they sign up for service. U.S. carriers are still trying to figure out a workable access control system that will satisfy everyone involved.
“Age verification is a huge issue,” said Hirsch. “In the political climate here, there is lots of pressure on [the carriers] not to allow adult content.” However, he predicted, at least one of the major American cellcos will allow very soft adult content soon, “and then it will snowball. Ultimately the carriers are in business to be profitable. As operators become more comfortable with adult content and age verification is in place, people will be able to access whatever they like.”
Of course, Vivid plans to be a large part of what people will like to access. The company already is mapping out a strategy to be among the first to provide “on-deck” adult content in the U.S.
“Ultimately we believe our strategy will be working with carriers to get some of our content on their decks,” Hirsch said. “We believe it’s going to be in everyone’s best interest to be on-deck, because it’ll benefit the carriers” financially to offer adult content. That means carriers will make sure their customers know it’s available directly from them, without the added inconvenience of third-party billing or Web browsing on a tiny screen. In the meantime, Vivid, like several other adult entertainment companies, utilizes off-deck mobile delivery strategies to feed consumers’ appetites and their own bottom lines.
One of Vivid’s most compelling strategies is the company’s recent exclusive licensing of Xobile’s LeapScan technology. After downloading a small application from Vivid’s Website, brick-and-mortar shoppers can preview clips of Vivid releases on their camera phones simply by snapping a shot of the bar code on the product’s packaging. The photo includes an imbedded URL, which is translated by the downloaded app and voilá! The Web-hosted clip magically appears on the phone’s screen. The clips are G-rated, but still it’s a pretty impressive marketing device, and it’s all Vivid’s until at least January 2006.
Kathee Brewer is editor at large for AVN Online. Despite her new title, she is not prone to running amok in the streets, but she does actively solicit news and opinions about the mobile-wireless space. Contact her at [email protected].
