CYBERSPACE—As somewhat of a counterpoint to the op-ed it ran last weekend by porn luminary Kayden Kross decrying the effect of tube sites on the adult industry, the UK's International Business Times the same day published an extensive profile of tube titan PornHub.
Quoting critics of "the YouTube of sex" and parent company MindGeek—including Kross, Adult Empire's Megan Wozniak and industry blogger Mike South—the story also proffers defenses of the PornHub business model from MindGeek vice-president of global communications Catherine Dunn and former owner Fabian Thylmann (who sold the company in 2013).
Touching on both the Adult Empire-launched and Kross-backed #PayforYourPorn campaign and the pending lawsuit brought against MindGeek by Hush Hush Entertainment for alleged copyright infringement on PornHub's sister paysite PornHubPremium.com, here equal play is given to PornHub's side of the story, which contends that it's not the industry-decimating steamroller so many have made it out to be.
"There's been a lot of noise around the rise of free content and how it's hurting the industry," MindGeek's Dunn said. "I'd say there is a lot of misinformation out there about how tube sites actually function."
Added Thylmann, "I would not say that my website destroyed or diminished the market in any way shape or form—I would say that it grew it, simply because there are more people in the market now. Yes, they may be getting free stuff here and there but this would've happened anyway."
He continued, "The industry has done this for the last 20 years. From the very beginning they gave away stuff for free because it always, always worked. We just made it easier and more compact in one location." He went on to say, "In terms of companies suing MindGeek because of their tube sites, from everything I have seen I don't see anything they are doing that breaks the law."
Read the full IBT story here.
