LOS ANGELES—Missing the networking, drinks, and social aspects of the canceled or driven-virtual adult industry conferences globally, all because of the pandemic social distancing and lockdowns? Then what better way to see some familiar faces, chat, and share insights on the last four months than to host a gay Zoom group? In an attempt to revive the feeling of being in a crowded conference venue bar, Lukas Taylor, who's in charge of sales and partnerships for DigiRegs, co-hosted a virtual gay forum called "Protection and Prediction" over Zoom on Thursday, July 23, in collaboration with a payments and data partner.
The virtual red carpet included some popular names in gay porn, many of whom are clients of DigiRegs, including NakedSword, Male Revenue, Halfway House, Mr. Man, KristenBjorn, CockyBoys and BelAmi.
On entry to the Zoom conference, guests were assigned a "waiting room," then assigned into groups so as to allow for easier management of the audience, and any polls, commentary or infographics shared could be funneled into each group.
Stated Taylor, “The objective of the first ‘Prediction and Protection’ virtual event was to gather peers from the gay and LGBTQ side of adult entertainment in a fireside-like gathering. We then wanted to share insightful and valuable data like COVID-19 statistics using key adult pay-site metrics, to understanding the impact on piracy and how to position/prepare for what is to come."
The meetup presented somewhat predictable yet positive results, based on the aggregated data insights for Europe, USA and Asia comparing the post-lockdown period versus pre-lockdown.
The aftermath of lockdown showed traffic surging to 25 percent, conversion remaining flat, "members net change" (how many new users versus how many people have expired/left) at a high of more than 45 percent, reflecting the fact that people were hanging onto their memberships, with fewer people canceling. This was 10 days before and 10 days after a lockdown in Italy. At 40 days into lockdown, Italy saw traffic maintaining at 20 percent and conversion remaining steady.
As Italy began to re-open and people began to move around and consume, traffic moved up by 16 percent with conversion dropping by 18 percent; showing more browsers with fewer buyers. The net member change was still positive at 16 percent, again indicating people were hanging onto their subscriptions. Cancellations dropped by a welcome 13 percent. On July 23, as Italy continued to reopen, traffic fell by 9 percent, conversions were down 11 percent, and the "net member change" down 9 percent. Taylor considers these figures to be consistent with people returning to going out and about, and summer vibes.
On March 14, Spain went into a severe lockdown. Ten days into that lockdown, traffic was up 25 percent, conversions up 25 percent, and that was indicative of a compounding positive effect which reflected the net member change surging by 326 percent. At 40 days into the lockdown, traffic in Spain was still up at 22 percent, with conversion maintaining at 22 percent. The figures for June 23 saw movement, with traffic up 23 percent, though conversion dropped by 26 percent; members net stayed flat, though cancellations were still down, dropping by 10 percent. By July 23, traffic was flat, conversion flat, net members up at 10 percent, though the cancellation rate was still down from earlier, at a 5 percent increase.
In the USA, March 20 lockdowns began on a state by state basis, and though traffic remained flat, conversions were up 7 percent. At 40 days into the lockdowns, both traffic and conversions were up 25 percent.
By June 23, traffic was down 7 percent, conversion flat, and net members down 8 percent. Over the last month across the USA, as the states began to re-open, traffic has remained flat, conversion moved slightly up at 6 percent, and net member change was up at 14 percent, again reflecting lower cancellation of subscriptions.
According to Taylor, the team at DigiRegs has paid attention to the impact the lockdown has had on content piracy, downloads and illegal, free content, and he considers the company's mission to be to combat piracy on behalf of its clients and the industry as a whole.
Andy Fair, business manager at NakedSword, was interviewed by Taylor in a candid chat, during which both "named and shamed" piracy tube sites they deplored most. Fair mentioned icegay.tv as his number one offender and remarked that their responses were "ingenious," analyzing how many piracy hubs attempt to escape legal repercussions and any removal of pirated material. Fair also mentioned the contradictory practice of legitimate adult companies advertising on tube piracy sites, with major adult brands actively running such campaigns. However, Fair noted that in some cases, such partnerships can be symbiotic, providing both parties with benefits that outweigh the costs and allowing them to work together in an otherwise inhospitable environment—almost a necessary evil in some situations.
"Participating in the Name and Shame Q&A was fun and insightful," Fair stated in a post-event survey. "The breakout rooms are a great idea for networking and discussing topics in real-time as they come up. I'm looking forward to even more during the next event."
According to Taylor, the impact of COVID-19 has had a profound effect on piracy globally. The consumption of pirated streaming content doubled in two months. Italy showed a 66 percent increase in piracy, the UK showed 43 percent, and the USA showed a 41 percent increase. Around 10 percent of these numbers were found to be first time offenders. Visits to pirate sites in the USA hit a massive 1.1 billion visits in March 2020, with Russia not far behind at 727 million, the United Kingdom at 300 million, and Canada at 285 million visits in March alone.
Piracy infringements have seen massive spikes over recent months.
After sharing some of the above-stated statistics with the Zoom meeting audience, Anton Bilobrov, CEO and developer of DigiRegs, spoke to the future, delivering a message for all adult entertainment production studios and performers to consider using all tools available to them to ensure that they are one step ahead of the fast-moving piracy environment. Using systems such as trademark and brand metadata detection, forensic watermarking, digital fingerprinting, and SEO management tools are just some of the approaches that can be taken to protect content and help companies grow their brands within the changing landscape.
“We must act as an industry and collectively work on containing it, mitigating it, and working together to minimize the damage being caused. We must look to the future of our industry,” Bilobrov commented.
Phil Henricks, marketing director at MrMan, commented, “It's always incredibly valuable to get a baseline of how other businesses in our space are performing. I also thoroughly enjoyed the interactive bits such as the live survey—very engaging and very valuable.”
Overall, the pandemic period has been devastating to many people and for global economies. However, if viewed through an e-commerce lens, the effects have been very positive for subscription-based adult businesses and retail alike, at least currently. The key has been, and will be, to adapt and work together. Taylor's advice? "Remember to safeguard your brand and show you care by acting on piracy; engage a service provider like DigiRegs to help you protect the content that you work so hard to create."
Lukas Taylor at DigiRegs may be contacted to inquire about content protection, brand management, SEO optimization and much more at [email protected].
